Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie

Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie is an urban federal riding in the centre-east of the Island of Montreal, covering the neighbourhood of La Petite-Patrie and the portion of Rosemont south of Pie-IX Boulevard. The riding takes in some of Montreal's most vibrant and culturally distinct urban villages, including Little Italy—home to the Jean-Talon Market, one of North America's largest open-air markets, founded in 1929—and the rapidly evolving Technopôle Angus, a mixed-use redevelopment on the site of former Canadian Pacific Railway shops. The borough has a population of approximately 142,000, with French as the dominant language at roughly 74%, followed by English, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, and Italian—reflecting successive waves of immigration. More than half of the borough's families have children living at home.

Candidates

Alexandre Boulerice (NDP) — Born in 1973 in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Boulerice studied sociology at the Université de Montréal and earned a master's degree in political science from McGill University. He worked as a television journalist for LCN and TVA while serving as vice-president of CUPE Local 687. He later became a communications consultant for the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Active in the NDP since the late 1990s, he first won the riding in the 2011 Orange Wave, defeating longtime Bloc incumbent Bernard Bigras. He was re-elected in 2015, 2019, and 2021. He was appointed deputy leader of the NDP in 2019 and serves as the party's Quebec lieutenant.

Nancy Drolet (Liberal) — A former Olympic athlete, Drolet won six gold medals at the Women's World Hockey Championship between 1992 and 2001 and a silver medal with Team Canada at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. She became the first person in IIHF women's championship history to score two overtime gold medal–clinching goals. After retiring from hockey, she founded a preventive health clinic and worked as a public speaker and hockey analyst for TVA Sports.

Shophika Vaithyanathasarma (Bloc Québécois) — Vaithyanathasarma represented the Bloc Québécois in the riding.

Surelys Perez Hernandez (Conservative) — Perez Hernandez carried the Conservative Party banner.

Franco Fiori (Green) — Fiori represented the Green Party of Canada.

About the Riding

Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie is one of the most progressive federal ridings in Quebec and the only NDP-held seat in the province heading into the 2021 election. The riding's political character is shaped by its urban density, its young and educated population, its strong tenant and cooperative housing tradition, and its historically working-class roots. La Petite-Patrie was long a neighbourhood of French-Canadian factory workers and tradespeople; beginning in the early 2000s, it underwent significant gentrification as young professionals and artists moved in, drawn by affordable rents, vibrant commercial streets like Beaubien and the Promenade Masson, and proximity to the Plateau-Mont-Royal.

The borough's economy is anchored by health care and social assistance—the largest employment sector—along with retail, hospitality, and the creative industries. The Technopôle Angus, a pioneering social economy development project, has attracted technology firms, community organizations, and mixed-income housing to a former industrial brownfield. The Jean-Talon Market and the surrounding Little Italy district remain vital cultural and commercial landmarks, though rising commercial rents and the pressures of gentrification have fuelled debate over neighbourhood preservation.

Local political discourse tends to focus on housing affordability, public transit, cycling infrastructure, and environmental policy—issues that align with the NDP's platform and Boulerice's personal advocacy. The riding's linguistic diversity and immigrant communities add concerns about immigration policy, francization services, and access to settlement programs. Boulerice's decade-long incumbency and his role as the NDP's Quebec figurehead have made the riding a bellwether for the party's broader fortunes in the province.