Honoré-Mercier

Honoré-Mercier is a federal riding in eastern Montreal, covering the Borough of Anjou, the eastern portion of the Borough of Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, and the northern part of the Borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. The riding sits on the eastern end of the island of Montreal, bounded by the Rivière des Prairies to the north and industrial and residential areas to the south and east.

Candidates

Paulina Ayala (NDP) — Born in Santiago, Chile, in 1962, Ayala was a history teacher who had been active in the student movement and citizens' rights organizations in Chile before immigrating to Canada in 1995. She settled in Montreal and earned a certificate in French as a second language and multicultural education from the Université du Québec à Montréal, in addition to holding a diploma in education, history, and geography. She was a first-time federal candidate in the 2011 election.

Pablo Rodriguez (Liberal) — Born in Argentina in 1967, Rodriguez came to Quebec as a child when his family fled the military junta. A graduate in business administration, he had worked in international development, including as vice-president of the board of Oxfam-Québec, and later became a vice-president at a public affairs firm. First elected as the Liberal MP for Honoré-Mercier in 2004, he had been re-elected in 2006 and 2008, serving as chair of the Standing Committee on Official Languages and as the Official Opposition critic for the Francophonie and Official Languages. He was one of the few Liberal MPs representing eastern Montreal during the Bloc Québécois's years of dominance in the area.

Martin Laroche (Bloc Québécois) — Laroche was an actor who had studied theatre at Collège Lionel-Groulx after completing a minor in political science at Université Laval. He had appeared in Quebec television productions and films before entering federal politics as a first-time candidate.

Gérard Labelle (Conservative) — Labelle ran as the Conservative candidate in the riding.

The remaining candidates — Gaëtan Bérard (Green Party), Valery Chevrefils-Latulippe (Rhinoceros), and Jean-Paul Bédard (Marxist-Leninist) — also contested the seat.

About the Riding

Honoré-Mercier is anchored by the Borough of Anjou, a largely residential area with a significant commercial and industrial presence. The Anjou industrial park houses more than 600 enterprises spanning manufacturing, wholesale trade, transportation, and professional services. The Galeries d'Anjou, one of Montreal's major regional shopping centres with over 175 stores, serves as a commercial hub for the eastern end of the island. The borough also includes Les Halles d'Anjou, a popular public market.

The riding extends into Rivière-des-Prairies, a residential neighbourhood along the river of the same name that separates Montreal Island from Laval. The population is predominantly Francophone but includes a significant and growing immigrant community; more than half of Anjou's residents have an immigration background, with communities from Latin America, North Africa, and Haiti particularly well established.

Politically, Honoré-Mercier had been more contested than other eastern Montreal ridings, with Rivière-des-Prairies tending to lean Liberal and Anjou having stronger Bloc Québécois support. Heading into the 2011 election, local concerns included public transit access in the riding's more suburban-density areas, immigration settlement services, the economic vitality of local commercial areas, and infrastructure investment for the aging road network.