Laurentides—Labelle

Laurentides—Labelle covers a vast stretch of the Laurentian Mountains northwest of Montreal, taking in the Regional County Municipalities of Antoine-Labelle and Les Laurentides as well as the eastern portion of Les Pays-d'en-Haut. Its principal towns include Mont-Tremblant, Saint-Sauveur, Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Mont-Laurier, and Val-David. Created in 2004 from parts of three former ridings, the district extends from the resort villages near Montreal's northern fringe deep into the boreal hinterland of the Haute-Laurentides.

Candidates

Marie-Hélène Gaudreau (Bloc Québécois) — Born in Mont-Laurier in 1976, Gaudreau holds a bachelor's degree in communication and human relations and an international certification in management coaching. Before entering politics, she served as director general of the Corporation for Community Development of Hautes-Laurentides and sat on the Caisses Desjardins council in Les Hautes-Laurentides. First elected in 2019, she became president of the Bloc Québécois caucus and critic for tourism and children and families after her re-election.

Antoine Menassa (Liberal) — Menassa is a construction entrepreneur and founding president of JAC Construction & Rénovation in Laval. Of Lebanese origin, he brought municipal political experience from a 2017 campaign in Laval as an Action Laval candidate. His candidacy drew scrutiny over alleged ties to Lebanese political organizations.

Kathy Laframboise (Conservative) — Laframboise carried the Conservative banner in the riding, competing for the centre-right vote in a region where the party has historically trailed the Bloc and Liberals.

Éric-Abel Baland (NDP) — Baland stood as the NDP candidate, seeking to build the party's presence in a predominantly rural and semi-rural riding.

About the Riding

The Laurentians have served as Montreal's four-season playground for generations, and tourism is the economic backbone of much of the riding. Mont-Tremblant, whose permanent population of roughly 11,000 swells by thousands of seasonal visitors, anchors the region as an internationally recognized ski destination with year-round resort amenities including golf, a casino, and outdoor festivals. The P'tit Train du Nord linear park — a 232-kilometre cycling and cross-country skiing trail following a former rail corridor — links many of the riding's communities.

Saint-Sauveur and Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts serve as commercial and cultural hubs for the lower Laurentians, while Mont-Laurier, the seat of the Antoine-Labelle MRC, anchors the more remote northern portion of the riding. Val-David, known for its arts community and rock-climbing sites, adds to the region's cultural appeal.

The riding's vast geography creates distinct realities — the southern resort towns face pressures from seasonal tourism and real estate development, while the northern communities contend with limited services, aging populations, and reliance on forestry. Access to health care, broadband internet in rural areas, and the economic sustainability of small municipalities are recurring themes in local political debate.