Lévis—Lotbinière

Lévis—Lotbinière stretches along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River southwest of Quebec City, taking in the western portion of the city of Lévis — including the former municipalities of Saint-Nicolas, Charny, Saint-Jean-Chrysostome, Saint-Rédempteur, and Sainte-Hélène-de-Breakeyville — and extends upriver through the Lotbinière regional county municipality as far as Sainte-Agathe-de-Lotbinière and Saint-Sylvestre. With a population of roughly 113,000, the riding is overwhelmingly francophone, though a notable pocket of residents trace their ancestry to Irish immigrants who arrived during the Great Famine of the 1840s, a heritage reflected in place names such as Saint-Patrice-de-Beaurivage, Craig Road, and Gosford Road. Only about 2% of residents are immigrants and fewer than 1% identify as Aboriginal.

Candidates

Jacques Gourde (Conservative) — Born in 1964 in Saint-Narcisse-de-Beaurivage, Gourde holds a diploma in farming management and built a career as a hay producer and exporter before entering politics. He was first elected in 2006 and promptly appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. By 2021 he was seeking his sixth consecutive mandate, making the riding a Conservative stronghold.

Samuel Lamarche (Bloc Québécois) — A 23-year-old Lévisien originally from Amos in Abitibi, Lamarche worked in sales after pausing his economics studies following the birth of his daughter. He was the founder of the independent political media outlet L’Agenda and a former member of the Parti Québécois’s political commission.

Guylaine Dumont (NDP) — One of the top Canadian women’s volleyball players of all time, Dumont was born in Saint-Étienne-de-Lauzon — within the riding — and competed on the national team from age 17. She and partner Annie Martin recorded Canada’s best-ever Olympic women’s beach volleyball result with a fifth-place finish at the 2004 Athens Games. A longtime resident of Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, she had served as an analyst for beach volleyball at the Tokyo Olympic Games shortly before the campaign.

Ghislain Daigle (Liberal) — Daigle carried the Liberal banner in a riding where the party had struggled to gain traction against the Conservative incumbent.

Charles-Eugène Bergeron (Green) — Bergeron represented the Green Party of Canada.

Benoit Simard (People’s Party) — Simard ran for the People’s Party of Canada.

About the Riding

The Chaudière-Appalaches region that forms the riding’s backbone is heavily agricultural, but its economic base is diversified across manufacturing, health care and social assistance, retail trade, and public administration. Lévis is home to the headquarters of the Desjardins Group — the largest federation of credit unions in North America — making financial services a significant regional employer. The Davie Shipyard in nearby Lévis, Canada’s largest shipbuilding facility founded in 1825, was a recurring campaign issue as the federal government weighed contracts for new naval vessels and icebreakers.

The Desjardins Entreprises—Lévis-Lotbinière-Bellechasse centre supports local businesses across agriculture, agro-processing, manufacturing, and real estate, underscoring the cooperative movement’s deep roots in the region. Heading into 2021, labour shortages, rural broadband connectivity, and the cost of living were prominent local concerns. The riding’s agricultural producers faced pressure from supply management debates at the federal level, while residents in the more rural Lotbinière end of the riding pressed for improved cellular coverage and high-speed internet access.