Spotlight on Montreal ridings: Papineau

The various incarnations of this central Montreal riding have been Liberal red for decades. But some of those wins came down to the wire, and theBlocQubcois did manage to wrestle the ridingaway from a Liberal cabinet minister in 2006.

• Canada Votes 2015
• Spotlight on ridings in Quebec
• Elections Canada voter information:Papineau

The former riding of PapineauSaint-Michelwas represented by a sole Liberal MP for 26 years. AndrOuellet held several cabinet posts overmore than two decades in office, including minister of foreign affairs. After he resigned in 1993, Ouellet was appointed to chairCanada Post.

Three years later, his successor,PierrePettigrew, won the seat in a byelection. He also went on tohold several high-profile cabinet positions in his years in office, includingforeign affairs.

In 2006,Pettigrewwas defeated by theBlocQubcois candidate. Two years earlier, he had held on to his seat by fewer than 500 votes.

The riding only stayed in Bloc hands for two years.

In 2008, Justin Trudeau entered the political arena.Theson of the late former prime minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and the current Liberalleaderwas his party'sstar candidate in Papineau. It was no landslide, however. Trudeau won his seat by slightly more than 1,200 votes.

In 2011,Trudeau managed to hold back the Orange Wave that washedover the province, keeping the NDP at bay and securing the riding by more than 4,000 votes.

This election, Trudeauwill face off against some familiar faces in Montreal.

A journalist and one-timecandidate for the NDP (inWestmountVille-Marie), Anne Lagac Dowson will attempt to unseat the Liberal leader, propelled by the party's strong showing in Quebec in 2011. Most recently, LagacDowson mounted an unsuccessful bid to chairthe English Montreal School Board.

The Bloc is running music teacher and composerMaximeClaveau, a longtime activistin the movement for Quebecsovereignty.

Also running in this riding is independent Chris Lloyd, originally slated to run as theConservative Party candidate. He made national headlines after it was revealed that his candidacy was actuallypart of what he described as anart project.

• See a larger version of the riding map here

Riding History

• The riding was created in 1996, combining portions of theSt-Denis andPapineauSt-Michelridings.
• The ridingand its former incarnationshave been mostly Liberal for nearly a century.
• The Bloc won the riding in 2006, but it has gone to the Liberals since 2008, when the party first ran JustinTrudeau as a star candidate.

Riding snapshot

Population: 108,975 (2013 Census)

Mother tongue: French (47 per cent), English (5.7per cent), Non-official languages (47.3 per cent; largest linguistic groups areArabic, Greek, Italianand Spanish)

Average household income: $57,715 (2010 National Household Survey)

Results last election

Liberal 16,429
NDP 12,102
Bloc Qubcois 11,081
Conservative 2,021
Green 806
MarxistLeninist 228
Communist League 95

Candidates 2015

• Maxime Claveau, Bloc Qubcois
• YvonVadnais,Conservative Party of Canada
• DannyPolifroni,Green Party of Canada
• Chris Lloyd, Independent
• KimWaldron,Independent
• JustinTrudeau,Liberal Party of Canada
• Peter Macrisopoulos, Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada
• AnneLagacDowson,New Democratic Party
• BeverlyBernardo,No Affiliation
• Tommy Gaudet,Rhinoceros Party

See other key ridings