Gatineau

Gatineau is a federal riding in western Quebec, covering a large portion of the city of Gatineau on the north bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Canada's capital. The riding corresponds roughly to the former pre-amalgamation city of Gatineau and its surrounding territory, situated within the broader Outaouais administrative region. With the city of Gatineau's total population surpassing 265,000 in 2011, the riding encompasses a substantial share of the National Capital Region's Quebec-side population.

Candidates

Françoise Boivin (NDP) — Born in Hull, Quebec, in 1960, Boivin was a labour lawyer who held degrees in social sciences and civil law from the University of Ottawa and had been a member of the Quebec Bar since 1984. She co-founded the law firm Letellier & Associés and also worked as a broadcaster. Boivin had previously represented Gatineau as a Liberal MP from 2004 to 2006, serving as chair of the Liberal women's caucus, before losing to Bloc candidate Richard Nadeau. She ran again in 2008 under the NDP banner but was narrowly defeated. She was making her third attempt to reclaim the seat in 2011.

Richard Nadeau (Bloc Québécois) — Born in 1959, Nadeau was a teacher and education professional who had studied history, political science, and education at the University of Ottawa. He had also worked as an adviser and director of educational programs, a researcher, and an archivist. He taught at Gisèle Lalonde High School in Orleans, Ontario, where he supervised the student debate club. In 2006, he became the first Bloc MP elected in the National Capital Region, defeating Boivin. He narrowly held his seat in 2008 and was seeking a third term.

Steve MacKinnon (Liberal) — Born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, in 1966, MacKinnon had studied business at the Université de Moncton and Queen's University. He served as an adviser to New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna from 1988 to 1995 and later held senior roles within the federal Liberal Party, including national director under Prime Minister Paul Martin. By 2011, he was a senior vice-president at a global public affairs consultancy. This was his first run for a seat in Parliament.

Jennifer Gearey (Conservative) — Gearey had worked as a communications adviser within the federal government, including in the office of Treasury Board President Tony Clement and with the Department of National Defence's public affairs branch.

Jonathan Meijer (Green Party) — Meijer ran as the Green Party candidate in the riding.

About the Riding

Gatineau sits at the heart of Canada's National Capital Region, and the federal government is by far the dominant employer. Thousands of the riding's residents work in federal departments and agencies located on both sides of the Ottawa River, making public-service employment the central economic reality of the community. The riding's economy was historically rooted in pulp and paper production, but by 2011 the public sector had long since eclipsed the resource economy.

The population is predominantly Francophone, with approximately 77 percent of residents reporting French as their mother tongue, though the riding also has a significant anglophone minority and a growing population of immigrants whose most common mother tongues include Arabic, Spanish, and Portuguese. The riding's demographics skew younger than the Quebec average, with a median age of about 38 in 2011.

Major institutions within or near the riding include the Canadian Museum of History (then known as the Canadian Museum of Civilization) in Hull, and the Casino du Lac-Leamy. The Gatineau Park, a 361-square-kilometre federal conservation area managed by the National Capital Commission, borders the riding to the north and west.

Heading into the 2011 election, key local concerns included the future of federal public-service employment given government austerity measures, bilingualism requirements in the federal workplace, interprovincial bridge congestion, and the quality of local infrastructure. The riding's unique position straddling the Quebec sovereignty question and National Capital Region politics gave it a distinctive character among Quebec ridings.