La Prairie

La Prairie sits on Montreal's South Shore, straddling the southern bank of the St. Lawrence River at the foot of the Lachine Rapids. The riding comprises the cities of Candiac, Delson, La Prairie, Sainte-Catherine, and Saint-Constant, along with the municipalities of Saint-Mathieu and Saint-Philippe. It also includes the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (Indian Reserve No. 14), one of Quebec's most prominent Indigenous communities. The district is overwhelmingly francophone — close to 84% of residents list French as their mother tongue — with a small but growing immigrant population, many arriving from France and China.

Candidates

Alain Therrien (Bloc Québécois) — Born in Verdun in 1966, Therrien is an economist who taught at HEC Montréal and UQAM before entering politics. He represented the provincial riding of Sanguinet in the National Assembly from 2012 to 2018 as a Parti Québécois member, serving as parliamentary assistant to the finance minister. He was first elected federally in La Prairie in 2019 and became the Bloc's House Leader in the 44th Parliament.

Caroline Desrochers (Liberal) — Desrochers grew up on the South Shore and earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Concordia University. She spent nearly 25 years in the federal public service at Global Affairs Canada, including postings as a political and public affairs officer at the Canadian embassy in Haiti and as director of political and cultural affairs with the Canadian delegation in New York.

Lise des Greniers (Conservative) — Des Greniers is an artist-painter who studied political science and psychoanalysis. She previously worked as a political advisor at the National Assembly of Quebec and served as a municipal councillor in Granby from 2002 to 2007.

Victoria Hernandez (NDP) — Hernandez carried the NDP standard in La Prairie, competing in a riding where the party has historically drawn single-digit support on the South Shore.

About the Riding

La Prairie's municipalities function as bedroom communities for Montreal, with many residents commuting across the Champlain or Victoria bridges daily. The area has experienced significant population growth — the city of La Prairie alone saw a 9.5% population increase between the 2016 and 2021 censuses — driven by new residential developments in Candiac and Saint-Constant.

The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, whose name means "place of the rapids," occupies a substantial portion of the riding's riverfront. The community of over 7,000 residents has deep historical roots in the area, dating to a Jesuit mission established in the seigneury of La Prairie de la Madeleine in the seventeenth century. Kahnawake maintains its own governance structures and has been a focal point for Indigenous sovereignty issues in Quebec.

Politically, the Bloc Québécois draws its strongest support from Saint-Constant, Sainte-Catherine, Delson, and the riding's rural areas, while the Liberals compete more effectively in Candiac and the city of La Prairie itself. Transportation infrastructure, commuter rail service, and the cost of housing in a rapidly growing suburban corridor are persistent local issues.