Salaberry—Suroît

Salaberry—Suroît covers a broad swath of southwestern Quebec, south and west of Montreal, encompassing the regional county municipalities of Beauharnois-Salaberry, Le Haut-Saint-Laurent, and a portion of Vaudreuil-Soulanges. The riding stretches from the agricultural communities along the upper St. Lawrence River and Lake Saint-François to the rural townships along the New York and Ontario borders. Major population centres include Salaberry-de-Valleyfield (population approximately 42,000), Beauharnois, Châteauguay-area communities, and the towns of Huntingdon, Ormstown, and Coteau-du-Lac. Created by the 2012 redistribution, the riding came into effect with the 2015 election.

Candidates

Claude DeBellefeuille (Bloc Québécois) Born in 1963, DeBellefeuille worked as a social worker and manager in Quebec's public health network before entering politics. She was first elected to the House of Commons in 2006 in the former riding of Beauharnois—Salaberry and re-elected in 2008. She served as Deputy Whip and then Chief Whip of the Bloc Québécois caucus from 2010 to 2011. Defeated in the 2011 NDP wave, she returned to Parliament in 2019 in the reconfigured Salaberry—Suroît riding and was named Chief Whip of the Bloc Québécois shadow cabinet following the 2021 election.

Linda Gallant (Liberal) Gallant carried the Liberal banner in a riding where the party has faced an uphill battle against the Bloc's deep roots in francophone rural Quebec.

Jean Collette (Conservative) Collette represented the Conservative Party in the riding.

Joan Gottman (NDP) Gottman ran as the NDP candidate in Salaberry—Suroît.

About the Riding

The Beauharnois generating station is the riding's most prominent industrial landmark. A run-of-the-river hydroelectric facility along the Saint Lawrence Seaway, it comprises 36 turbines capable of producing up to 1,903 megawatts of electrical power—one of the largest generating stations in Quebec. Hydro-Québec's presence in Beauharnois, along with Rio Tinto's aluminum operations, has made the town an industrial anchor for the region. The vast industrial park adjacent to the power station continues to attract companies in high-technology and advanced manufacturing sectors.

Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, located at the junction of Lake Saint-François and the St. Lawrence River, is the riding's commercial and service centre. The city's economy has diversified from its textile-manufacturing origins into sectors including recycling, agri-food processing, chemical production, and metallurgy. Agriculture is a major economic force across the riding, with 79% of the territory designated as permanent agricultural zone. The fertile lands of the Beauharnois-Salaberry MRC support intensive farming operations, particularly in dairy, grain, and market vegetables.

The riding's Anglophone minority—concentrated in Huntingdon, Ormstown, and the townships of Le Haut-Saint-Laurent—gives the area a distinct bilingual character unusual for a predominantly francophone rural Quebec constituency. The Gleaner, an English-language newspaper serving the region, has published since 1863. Cross-border proximity to Ontario and New York State also shapes the local economy and culture, with seasonal tourism and cross-border commerce contributing to the communities along Lake Saint-François.