Saint-Lambert

Saint-Lambert sat on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, directly across from Montreal. The riding encompassed the city of Saint-Lambert, the former city of Greenfield Park, the former town of LeMoyne, and the western portion of the pre-2002 city of Longueuil. With a population of approximately 94,500 as of the 2006 census, it was a predominantly residential area whose commuters relied on proximity to the Champlain Bridge and public transit connections to reach Montreal's employment centres.

Candidates

Sadia Groguhé (NDP) — Born in Istres, France, Groguhé held a master's degree and had practiced as a psychologist in France, where she worked in social and occupational integration for youth and adults in distress. She served as a municipal councillor in Istres from 1995 to 2000, responsible for integration policy. She and her husband immigrated to Canada in 2005 and she became a Canadian citizen in 2010, entering the 2011 campaign as a first-time federal candidate.

Josée Beaudin (Bloc Québécois) — The incumbent MP, Beaudin had won the riding in the 2008 federal election, defeating the Liberal candidate by a substantial margin. She served one term in the House of Commons as the BQ's representative for Saint-Lambert heading into the 2011 campaign.

Roxane Stanners (Liberal) — A lawyer and Crown attorney, Stanners was making her second run in Saint-Lambert, having previously contested the 2008 general election after the riding's scheduled by-election was cancelled and folded into the general election following Maka Kotto's resignation. She had finished second in that contest.

Qais Hamidi (Conservative) — Hamidi was a consultant and business owner from the South Shore who had also run in the riding in the 2008 election as the Conservative standard-bearer.

Carmen Budilean ran for the Green Party.

About the Riding

Saint-Lambert was one of the most established residential communities on Montreal's South Shore, known for its tree-lined streets, heritage homes, and the Saint-Lambert lock—the gateway to the St. Lawrence Seaway. The city of Saint-Lambert itself had a population of roughly 22,000 and was characterized by a relatively affluent, well-educated population with a median household income well above the provincial average.

Greenfield Park, a borough of Longueuil included in the riding, had historically been one of the most anglophone communities on the South Shore, with English speakers making up more than a third of the population. LeMoyne, a small former town wedged between Saint-Lambert and Longueuil, added a more modest residential character to the riding.

The riding was primarily a commuter suburb, with the majority of residents travelling to Montreal for work in professional, health-care, and service-sector occupations. Local commerce was concentrated along boulevards like Victoria and Taschereau. The riding's proximity to Montreal, combined with its bilingual character and suburban affluence, had traditionally made it competitive among the Bloc Québécois, Liberals, and, increasingly in 2011, the NDP. Federal issues of local concern included transportation infrastructure—particularly the aging Champlain Bridge—and the future of the St. Lawrence Seaway corridor.