Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount

Created by the 2012 redistribution, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount combined the affluent anglophone enclave of Westmount with the broader, more socioeconomically mixed neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and the Town of Montreal West. The new riding drew primarily from the former Westmount—Ville-Marie district, where Liberal Marc Garneau had been the incumbent since the 2008 general election, and from portions of the old Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine riding.

Candidates

Marc Garneau (Liberal) — A naval officer turned astronaut, Garneau became the first Canadian in space in 1984 aboard the shuttle Challenger on mission STS-41-G, and flew two subsequent shuttle missions. He earned a PhD in electrical engineering from Imperial College London and rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Canadian Navy. After leaving the Canadian Space Agency, where he served as president, Garneau entered politics and was first elected in Westmount—Ville-Marie in the 2008 general election. He briefly sought the Liberal leadership in 2013 before withdrawing in favour of Justin Trudeau.

James Hughes (NDP) — Hughes had served as president and CEO of the Old Brewery Mission, one of Montreal's largest homeless shelters. He was also a former deputy minister of social development in New Brunswick and the founder of Youth Employment Services (YES), a Montreal organization.

Richard Sagala (Conservative) — Sagala ran as the Conservative candidate in a riding where the party has historically struggled to gain a foothold against the deeply entrenched Liberal brand.

Melissa Kate Wheeler (Green Party) — Wheeler represented the Green Party in a riding where environmental and urban sustainability issues resonated with a portion of the electorate.

About the Riding

Westmount, a self-governing municipality of about 20,000, is one of the wealthiest communities in Canada, its tree-lined streets climbing the southern slope of Mount Royal. Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, known universally as NDG, is a working-to-middle-class district of roughly 68,000 that has experienced steady gentrification. Montreal West is a small anglophone town of about 5,000. The riding is highly educated—nearly half of residents held a university degree at the bachelor level or above—and predominantly anglophone. Major institutions include Loyola Campus of Concordia University and the Monkland Village commercial strip. Transit, cycling infrastructure, and the preservation of Westmount's heritage housing stock were among local preoccupations in 2015.