Montcalm

Montcalm is a federal electoral district in the Lanaudière region northeast of Montreal. The riding comprises the entire Montcalm Regional County Municipality, the city of Mascouche, and the districts of La Plaine and Lachenaie within the city of Terrebonne. It stretches from the rapidly urbanizing southern fringe of Lanaudière—where suburban growth has been intense—northward into more rural agricultural territory. The population is overwhelmingly francophone, and the riding blends commuter suburbs with small-town Quebec.

Candidates

Luc Thériault (Bloc Québécois) — Born in Montreal, Thériault earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in political philosophy from UQAM, followed by a graduate diploma in bioethics from the Université de Montréal. He taught philosophy at Collège de Maisonneuve from 1985 to 2003 and served on the ethics committee of Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital. Elected provincially for the Parti Québécois in 2003, he was defeated in 2007 before winning the federal Montcalm seat for the Bloc in 2015. He served as Bloc House Leader from 2015 to 2017.

Javeria Qureshi (Liberal) — Qureshi was the Liberal candidate for Montcalm in the 2021 contest and ran on the party’s national platform.

Gisèle Desroches (Conservative) — A human resources consultant with over 20 years of experience specializing in compensation management and salary equity, Desroches brought a private-sector perspective to the campaign.

Oulai Goué (NDP)

Mathieu Goyette (Green)

Bruno Beaudry (People’s Party)

About the Riding

Montcalm reflects the demographic transformation of Lanaudière’s southern tier over the past two decades. Mascouche, with a population exceeding 51,000, and the Terrebonne districts of La Plaine and Lachenaie have experienced explosive suburban growth as young francophone families seek affordable housing within commuting distance of Montreal. The 2001 municipal merger that united Lachenaie, La Plaine, and the old city of Terrebonne made the combined municipality the tenth-largest in Quebec.

North of the suburban fringe, the Montcalm Regional County Municipality—population roughly 58,000—retains a more rural character, with agriculture and small manufacturing sustaining local economies. The flat plains of central Lanaudière support dairy farming, field crops, and market gardening, giving the riding a mixed suburban-rural identity.

Transportation infrastructure is a perennial concern. Commuters depend heavily on provincial highways and the exo commuter bus network to reach Montreal’s job centres, and congestion on routes like Autoroute 25 and Autoroute 640 shapes daily life. Access to health care, school capacity for growing communities, and the protection of remaining farmland from development pressure are recurring issues in local political discourse.

The Bloc Québécois has held Montcalm federally since 2015, benefiting from strong francophone sovereigntist sentiment and skepticism of federal parties in a region where Quebec identity politics resonate deeply.