Lac-Saint-Louis

Lac-Saint-Louis occupies the southwestern tip of the Island of Montreal, covering a cluster of affluent West Island suburbs hemmed in on three sides by water — Lac Saint-Louis to the south, Lac des Deux Montagnes to the west, and the Riviere des Prairies to the north. The riding includes the cities of Beaconsfield and Pointe-Claire, the towns of Baie-d'Urfe, Kirkland, and Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, the municipality of Senneville, and the western portion of the borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro within the city of Montreal.

Candidates

Francis Scarpaleggia (Liberal) — First elected as MP for Lac-Saint-Louis in 2004, Scarpaleggia had previously worked for a decade as legislative assistant to Clifford Lincoln, a former Quebec environment minister who went on to serve as a federal Liberal MP. Scarpaleggia became known in Parliament for his focus on water policy, chairing a national Liberal caucus on water since 2005 and serving as the Liberal critic for Water Policy from 2007 to 2009 and again from 2010. He also served on House of Commons committees dealing with public safety, Canadian heritage, transport, and government operations. Raised in the Town of Mount Royal, he entered the 2011 campaign as a three-term incumbent.

Alain Ackad (NDP) — An engineer by training, Ackad spent more than 20 years working in business software before entering federal politics. He ran as the NDP candidate in Lac-Saint-Louis in 2011, seeking to ride the party's province-wide momentum in what had traditionally been safe Liberal territory.

Larry Smith (Conservative) — A prominent Montreal sports and business figure, Smith was the first overall selection of the 1972 CFL draft and played nine seasons as a running back with the Montreal Alouettes, winning Grey Cups in 1974 and 1977. After his playing career, he held executive positions at John Labatt Ltd. and Ogilvie Mills before becoming the CFL's eighth commissioner in 1992. He later served as president of the Montreal Alouettes from 1997 to 2001 and again from 2004 to 2010. Appointed to the Canadian Senate by Prime Minister Harper in December 2010, Smith resigned his seat to seek election in Lac-Saint-Louis.

Bruno Tremblay (Green Party) and Eric Taillefer (Bloc Quebecois) also ran in the riding.

About the Riding

Lac-Saint-Louis is one of Montreal's most affluent federal ridings, characterized by established residential suburbs with strong family demographics. The low-income rate across the West Island sits well below the Montreal average, and the area has a notably higher share of family households than the city as a whole. Pointe-Claire, with a population of roughly 31,000, hosts the Fairview Pointe-Claire shopping centre and several corporate offices, while Beaconsfield and Kirkland — each home to roughly 20,000 residents — are primarily residential communities. Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, at the western tip of the island, is home to the Macdonald Campus of McGill University and the Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Veterans' Hospital.

The riding's economy is anchored by the service sector, retail, and a concentration of pharmaceutical and technology firms along the Trans-Canada Highway corridor. The area is heavily anglophone and bilingual, giving it a distinct political character within Quebec — the riding has consistently elected Liberal members at the federal level. Transportation infrastructure, environmental protection of shoreline areas, and health care services for the area's growing seniors population were among the recurring local concerns heading into the 2011 election.