Saint-Laurent

Coextensive with the Borough of Saint-Laurent on the Island of Montreal, this riding covers roughly 43 square kilometres in the city's northwest. Saint-Laurent is one of Montreal's most linguistically diverse districts, with significant francophone, anglophone, and allophone populations — Arabic, Mandarin, and Spanish among the most commonly spoken languages after French and English.

Candidates

Stéphane Dion (Liberal) — A political scientist by training, Dion earned his doctorate in sociology from Sciences Po in Paris before joining the Université de Montréal as a professor of political science in 1984. Recruited by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in 1996 to serve as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, he won a by-election in the riding that year and held the seat continuously thereafter. He served as Minister of the Environment from 2004 to 2006 and led the Liberal Party from 2006 to 2008 before stepping down following the 2008 general election. Heading into 2015, Dion was seeking his seventh consecutive re-election in what was considered one of the safest Liberal seats in Quebec.

Jimmy Yu (Conservative) — Yu was the director general of the Chinese Association of Commerce and Restaurants in Quebec, giving him strong ties to the riding's business community.

Alain Ackad (NDP) — Ackad ran for the New Democrats in a riding where the party had surged to second place during the 2011 orange wave but faced a steep challenge against Dion's long-established presence.

Pascal-Olivier Dumas-Dubreuil (Bloc Québécois) — Dumas-Dubreuil represented the Bloc in a riding where the party's support had eroded significantly since its peak years.

About the Riding

The Borough of Saint-Laurent is home to a concentration of aerospace, pharmaceutical, and technology firms, with companies such as Bombardier Aerospace and CAE maintaining major facilities in the area. The borough's industrial parks make it one of Montreal's most important employment centres. Nearly half the population is foreign-born, reflecting successive waves of immigration from North Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and the Caribbean. The riding had been a Liberal bastion for decades, and Dion's stature as a former party leader and cabinet minister made it one of the least competitive seats in the province. Federal issues of particular local concern included immigration settlement services, infrastructure investment, and support for the aerospace sector.