Québec

The riding of Québec covers the historic heart of Quebec City, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Old Quebec with its Upper Town and Lower Town districts. The riding takes in the borough of La Cité-Limoilou south of the Saint-Charles River, the southern portion of the borough of Les Rivières, and a sliver of Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge. It encompasses neighbourhoods such as Vieux-Québec, Cap-Blanc, the colline Parlementaire (home to the National Assembly), Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Saint-Roch, and Montcalm.

Candidates

Annick Papillon (NDP) — Born in 1980 in Rimouski and raised in Quebec City, Papillon held a bachelor's degree in public communications, law, and history from Université Laval and had pursued advanced studies in journalism, including a stint at the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium and an internship at Belgian public broadcaster RTBF. At the time of the 2011 election, she was working at the Institut de la statistique du Québec. This was her first electoral campaign.

Christiane Gagnon (Bloc Québécois) — Gagnon had held the Québec riding since 1993, winning six consecutive terms for the Bloc. Born in Chicoutimi, she had worked as a real estate agent before entering politics. In Parliament, she served as deputy leader of the Bloc Québécois caucus and as the party's spokesperson on intergovernmental affairs, housing, health, social development, and culture. She also served as the Bloc's spokesperson for the National Capital region.

Pierre Morasse (Conservative), François Payeur (Liberal), and Yvan Dutil (Green Party) also contested the riding. Stefan Jetchick ran for the Christian Heritage Party.

About the Riding

The riding of Québec is among the most historically significant in the country, centred on the only walled city north of Mexico and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985. The Château Frontenac, the Plains of Abraham, and the Citadelle of Quebec are all within its boundaries, making tourism a central pillar of the local economy. The Port of Quebec, one of the oldest in North America, handles bulk cargo and cruise ship traffic along the St. Lawrence. The neighbourhood of Saint-Roch had undergone a significant revitalization in the years before 2011, emerging as a hub for technology firms, creative industries, and small businesses.

The riding's population skews younger and more urban than much of the Quebec City region, with a high proportion of renters in the dense central neighbourhoods. Université Laval, while located just outside the riding's boundaries, exerts a strong influence on the area's student and academic population. The provincial government, headquartered on the colline Parlementaire within the riding, is a dominant employer. Federal issues in 2011 included heritage preservation funding, the future of the Port of Quebec, urban infrastructure, arts and culture funding, and housing affordability in the city's rapidly gentrifying central neighbourhoods.