Montcalm

Northeast of Montreal in the Lanaudiere region, the federal riding of Montcalm spans the city of Mascouche, the La Plaine and Lachenaie sectors of Terrebonne, and the rural municipalities of the Montcalm Regional County Municipality. The riding bridges Montreal's expanding northern commuter belt and the quieter agricultural parishes of the Lanaudiere interior. Bloc Quebecois MP Luc Theriault had held the seat since winning it in 2015, following the NDP's loss of its 2011 gains across Quebec.

Candidates

Luc Theriault (Bloc Quebecois) — The incumbent MP, Theriault had previously served as a Parti Quebecois member of Quebec's National Assembly for Masson from 2003 to 2007. A philosophy professor at College de Maisonneuve for nearly two decades before entering politics, he held a bachelor's degree and a master's in political philosophy from UQAM and a graduate diploma in bioethics from the Universite de Montreal. In Ottawa, he served as the Bloc's health critic.

Isabel Sayegh (Liberal) — Sayegh carried the Liberal banner in Montcalm, a riding where the party faced an uphill battle against a resurgent Bloc Quebecois.

Gisele Desroches (Conservative) — A human resources advisor specializing in compensation management and pay equity, Desroches had lived in Mascouche for more than twenty years and had also run as the Conservative candidate in Montcalm in 2015. She launched her 2019 campaign with the support of Senator Claude Carignan.

Julian Bonello-Stauch (NDP) — Bonello-Stauch represented the NDP in a riding where the party had seen its support collapse after its 2011 high-water mark.

Mathieu Goyette (Green Party) — Goyette stood as the Green Party candidate. Hugo Clenin (People's Party) and Marc Labelle (Pour l'Independance du Quebec) also ran.

About the Riding

Mascouche, the riding's largest population centre with over 46,000 residents by 2016, functions as a bedroom community for Montreal, with rapid residential growth placing pressure on local services and commuter infrastructure. La Plaine and Lachenaie, within the city of Terrebonne, share similar suburban characteristics. To the north, the Montcalm MRC encompasses smaller towns such as Sainte-Julienne, Saint-Calixte, and Saint-Lin—Laurentides, where agriculture and forestry remain significant to the local economy. The riding is predominantly francophone. Highway congestion on routes into Montreal, the extension of commuter rail service, and support for local agriculture were persistent local issues. Quebec sovereignty remained a live political question in Lanaudiere, and the riding's heavily francophone demographics made it receptive to the Bloc Quebecois resurgence under leader Yves-Francois Blanchet. Federal health-care transfers and the protection of supply management for dairy farmers also featured in local campaign debates.