Spotlight on Montreal ridings: Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Westmount
Newly redrawn riding and longtime Liberal stronghold may not be a sure thing in 2015
This riding, a historically anglophone-heavy enclave of Montreal, underwent a significant makeover in the 2013 redistribution.
It lost its eastern wing, which was comprised largely of Montreal's downtown, and spread west to take in the municipality of Montreal West.
- Canada Votes 2015
- Spotlight on ridings in Quebec
- Elections Canada voter information: Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Westmount
It's an affluent and highly educated riding. According to the 2011 National Household Survey, 47.1 per cent of the population had earned a university-level certificate, diploma or degree at bachelor level or above.
A longtime Liberal stronghold, the riding's various incarnations have only briefly been in the hands of other parties before turning once again red.
Former astronaut Marc Garneau has represented the riding since 2008. But the last two elections saw the NDP closing in on the Liberal territory. In 2008, Garneau defeated the NDP's candidate Anne Lagacé Dowson, now running against Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in Papineau, by more than 9,100 votes. In 2011, that win narrowed to 642 votes.
After a heated nomination race flooded with recognizable faces, the NDP selected James Hughes, the former head of the Old Brewery Mission and the former deputy minister of social development in New Brunswick.
Richard Sagala, a Montreal-born entrepreneur with a background in the wine trade, is running for the Conservatives.
Riding History
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Liberal since the riding was established in 1976 (then Saint-Henri-Westmount).
Riding snapshot
Population: 104,705
Language: French (25 per cent), English (43.3 per cent), Non-official languages (31.7 per cent, largest linguistic groups are Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Chinese)
Average household income: $131,353 (2011 National Household Survey)
Results last election (Westmount - Ville-Marie)
Liberal 15,361
NDP 14,703
Conservative 7,216
Bloc Québécois 2,290
Green 1,508
Rhinoceros 148
Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada 81
Candidates 2015
- Simon Quesnel, Bloc Québécois
- Richard Sagala, Conservative Party of Canada
- Melissa Kate Wheeler, Green Party of Canada
- Lisa Julie Cahn, Independent
- Marc Garneau, Liberal Party of Canada
- James Hughes, New Democratic Party
- Rachel Hoffman, Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada