Montarville

Situated on Montreal's South Shore in the Montérégie region, Montarville was a newly created federal riding for the 2015 election, carved from parts of the former Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, Verchères—Les Patriotes, and Chambly—Borduas districts. The riding encompasses the suburban communities of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Saint-Basile-le-Grand, Sainte-Julie, and portions of Saint-Hubert in the city of Longueuil. Mont Saint-Bruno, one of the Monteregian Hills, anchors the western portion of the riding, while the largely francophone suburbs spread eastward across a landscape of residential developments and commercial corridors.

Candidates

Michel Picard (Liberal) — A consultant and financial crime expert, Picard had joined the Liberal Party in 2009 and contributed to the development of the party's platform on financial crime. He brought expertise in fraud investigation and white-collar crime to his candidacy in this new South Shore riding.

Catherine Fournier (Bloc Québécois) — At twenty-three years old, Fournier was the youngest candidate fielded by the Bloc Québécois in the 2015 campaign. An economics graduate from the Université de Montréal with a minor in political science, she had worked as a political blogger and columnist for 103.3 FM and as a speaker on public policy topics.

Djaouida Sellah (NDP) — A physician by training, Sellah had served as the NDP member of Parliament for the predecessor riding of Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert since 2011. During her time in the House of Commons, she sat on the Standing Committee on Health and tabled Bill C-523, the Mandatory Disclosure of Drug Shortages Act, aimed at addressing prescription drug supply issues.

Stéphane Duranleau (Conservative) — A lawyer practising in civil and commercial law at both the local and international level, Duranleau carried the Conservative banner in this new riding on the South Shore.

About the Riding

Montarville sits at the heart of one of Quebec's fastest-growing suburban corridors. Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, a town of roughly 27,000, is known for its proximity to Mont Saint-Bruno National Park and its reputation as an affluent commuter community. Sainte-Julie, with about 30,000 residents, and Saint-Basile-le-Grand, home to approximately 17,000, round out the riding's major population centres. The riding is overwhelmingly francophone, with nearly ninety percent of residents listing French as their mother tongue. The proposed Energy East pipeline, which would have carried crude oil from western Canada through Quebec to New Brunswick, was a prominent local concern, as were commuter transit connections to Montreal and the cost of living in the South Shore's growing suburbs.