Québec

The federal riding of Québec covers the historic urban core of Quebec City, encompassing the borough of La Cité-Limoilou south of the Saint-Charles River and the southern portion of the borough of Les Rivières below Highway 40, as well as the parish municipality of Notre-Dame-des-Anges. This is the heart of the provincial capital—home to Old Quebec, a UNESCO World Heritage Site enclosed by seventeenth-century fortifications; the Parliament Hill precinct with the National Assembly; the Plains of Abraham; the Old Port; and the Petit Champlain shopping district. Université Laval, one of Canada's oldest and largest universities, exerts a significant institutional influence on the riding's economy and demographics. The riding is compact and densely populated by Quebec standards, with a mix of heritage neighbourhoods, student housing, government office complexes, and commercial corridors.

Candidates

Jean-Yves Duclos (Liberal) — An economist born in 1965, Duclos earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Alberta and completed graduate and doctoral studies at the London School of Economics. He joined Université Laval as a professor of economics in 1993, eventually becoming department director. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2014, he entered federal politics in 2015 and served as Minister of Families, Children and Social Development before being appointed President of the Treasury Board in 2019. He secured a third mandate in the Québec riding in 2021.

Christiane Gagnon (Bloc Québécois) — A veteran Bloc politician, Gagnon represented the Québec riding from 1993 to 2011 before losing her seat during the NDP's Orange Wave. She returned to challenge Duclos in 2019—losing by just 215 votes—and ran again in 2021.

About the Riding

The riding of Québec is defined by the institutions and landmarks of the provincial capital. The walled city of Old Quebec, perched on the promontory of Cap Diamant above the St. Lawrence, is the symbolic centre of French-speaking North America and a major international tourist destination. The Chateau Frontenac, the Citadelle, and the basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec anchor a historic district that draws millions of visitors annually. Beyond the walls, the riding extends into the Saint-Jean-Baptiste and Saint-Roch neighbourhoods—the latter having undergone significant urban renewal to become a hub for technology startups and creative industries.

Université Laval and its affiliated research centres contribute a large student and academic population that shapes the riding's demographics and political character. The federal and provincial public service is the other dominant employer, with thousands of civil servants working in the Parliament Hill precinct and surrounding office towers. This combination of government, academia, and tourism gives the riding a white-collar economic profile distinct from Quebec City's suburban ridings.

The contest between the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois has been the riding's defining political rivalry. In 2019, Duclos held the seat by a razor-thin margin of 215 votes over Gagnon, making Québec one of the closest races in the country. Housing affordability, the vitality of the downtown core, and the management of mass tourism in Old Quebec have emerged as persistent local concerns.