Spotlight on Montreal ridings: Laurier—Sainte-Marie

The seat in the riding of Laurier–Sainte-Marie belonged to Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe for 21 years.

He first won his seat in a byelection in 1990, beating out then-Liberal candidate and current Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, by more than 12,000 votes.

• Canada Votes 2015
• Spotlight on ridings in Quebec
• Elections Canada voter information: Laurier–Sainte-Marie

Duceppe, who won the BQ leadership in 1997, held on to the riding for about two decades — until an orange wave swept across the province of Quebec.

The seat turned orange in 2011, when the NDP's Hélène Laverdière took it away from the Bloc by about 5,000 votes. That election night, Duceppe announced his resignation.

• Voter's Voice in Laurier–Sainte-Marie

Laverdière, who served as the NDP critic of International Cooperation and deputy critic for Foreign Affairs, is seeking re-election in the riding that encompasses downtown Montreal and part of the Plateau.

Christine Poirier, an entrepreneur who co-founded a company the designs apparel for breastfeeding women, is running for the Liberals. Poirier received a Small Business Entrepreneur Award in 2013 at the Quebec businesswomen's gala.

Daniel Gaudreau is the candidate running for the Conservatives.

• See a larger version of the riding map here

Riding History

• Established in 1986.
• NDP since 2011. Riding was Bloc Québécois from 1990 to 2011.
• In 2013, riding was extended to include an area formerly part of Hochelaga. Southern boundary also includes a section of Westmount—Ville-Marie. A small area was lost to Outremont.

Riding snapshot

Population: 107,030 (2011 Census)

Mother tongue: French (71.35 per cent),  English (10.5 per cent), non-official languages (18.13 per cent, largest linguistic groups are Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Arabic)

Average household income: $60,636 (2011 National Household Survey)

Results last election

NDP: 23,373
Bloc Québécois: 17,991
Liberal: 4,976
Conservative: 1,764
Green Party: 1,324
Rhinoceros: 398
Communist: 137
Marxist–Leninist: 77
Independent candidate: 73

Candidates 2015

• Gilles Duceppe, Bloc Québécois
• Pierre Fontaine, Communist Party of Canada
• Daniel Gaudreau, Conservative Party of Canada
• Cyrille Giraud, Green Party of Canada
• Julien Bernatchez, Independent
• Christine Poirier, Liberal Party of Canada
• Stéphane Beaulieu, Libertarian Party of Canada
• Serge Lachapelle, Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada
• Hélène Laverdière, New Democratic Party

See other key ridings