Repentigny

Located on Montreal's eastern fringe where the L'Assomption and des Prairies rivers meet, Repentigny serves as the gateway to the Lanaudiere region. The riding takes in the city of Repentigny itself along with the neighbouring municipality of Charlemagne, forming a densely populated suburban corridor northeast of the Island of Montreal.

The Bloc Quebecois held this seat from its creation in 1997 until 2011, when the NDP's Jean-Francois Larose swept it with over 50 percent of the vote. Larose subsequently left the NDP in 2014 to co-found the short-lived Forces et Democratie party, leaving the riding without a strong incumbent heading into 2015. The contest became a test of whether the Bloc could reclaim suburban Montreal territory it had lost four years earlier.

Candidates

Monique Pauze (Bloc Quebecois) — A retired teacher with decades of classroom experience, Pauze had been active in environmental advocacy, serving as vice-president of the Coalition Eau Secours since 2013. She had also served as president of the Syndicat de Champlain, representing more than 10,000 teachers, before retiring in 2013. She participated in the Etats generaux sur la souverainete as a commissioner.

Adriana Dudas (Liberal) — Dudas was a businesswoman in the Repentigny area.

Rejean Bellemare (NDP) — Bellemare carried the NDP banner in a riding the party had won decisively four years earlier but now faced the challenge of defending without its previous MP.

Jonathan Lefebvre (Conservative) — Lefebvre represented the Conservative Party in the race.

Johnathan Cloutier (Forces et Democratie) — Cloutier ran for the fledgling Forces et Democratie party that the riding's former MP had helped create.

About the Riding

Repentigny grew rapidly in the second half of the twentieth century as Montreal's suburban ring expanded eastward. By 2015 the city's population exceeded 80,000, making it one of the largest municipalities in the Lanaudiere region. Many residents commute to Montreal for work, and the riding's economy mixes retail, light industry, and service-sector employment. Local federal concerns in 2015 included the state of the Le Gardeur Bridge connecting the area to the Island of Montreal, commuter rail service, and environmental stewardship of the rivers that define the city's geography. The riding's francophone character and suburban demographics made it a bellwether for the Bloc's ability to recover ground in the greater Montreal area.