LaSalle--Émard--Verdun

LaSalle--Émard--Verdun is an urban riding in southwest Montreal comprising the borough of Verdun (excluding Nuns' Island), most of the Sault-Saint-Louis area of LaSalle, and the neighbourhoods of Ville-Émard, Angrignon, and Côte-Saint-Paul in the Le Sud-Ouest borough. With a population of approximately 111,000, the riding blends working-class francophone roots with an increasingly diverse population. The district gained national attention when the Bloc Québécois won a September 2024 by-election here -- a stunning upset in what had been a Liberal stronghold since the riding's creation in 2015.

Candidates

Claude Guay (Liberal) -- A seasoned business executive with over 40 years of experience in digital transformation and governance, Guay served as president and CEO of IBM Canada. He holds expertise in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and quantum computing. He lives in Montreal with his wife, Carol Anne Mazerolle, and has a son serving in the Canadian Armed Forces. The Liberals recruited Guay as a heavyweight candidate to reclaim the riding after their 2024 by-election loss.

Louis-Philippe Sauvé (Bloc Québécois) -- Sauvé won the September 2024 by-election by a margin of 250 votes, becoming the riding's first non-Liberal MP. A former staff member in the Bloc Québécois' parliamentary research department and communications coordinator at the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economics, the young politician sought to defend the seat he had won just months earlier.

Zsolt Fischer (Conservative) -- A veteran real estate broker with over two decades of experience in the Montreal market, Fischer focused his campaign on housing affordability and the challenges facing first-time homebuyers in Montreal's expensive southwest neighbourhoods.

Craig Sauvé (NDP) -- A well-known Montreal municipal politician, Craig Sauvé served as city councillor for Saint-Henri--Little-Burgundy--Pointe-Saint-Charles from 2013 to 2025 with Projet Montréal. He also ran in the September 2024 by-election, finishing third. A musician and community organizer, he campaigned on affordable housing and social justice.

Bisma Ansari (Green Party) -- Ansari represented the Green Party in the riding, running on the party's environmental and social-justice platform.

Gregory Yablunovsky (People's Party) -- Yablunovsky carried the PPC banner, campaigning on reduced government intervention and fiscal restraint.

About the Riding

Verdun is one of Montreal's most storied neighbourhoods, a former independent city with a working-class francophone identity that has undergone significant gentrification along its Wellington Street commercial corridor and the Verdun waterfront promenade on the St. Lawrence. LaSalle, to the west, retains a more suburban feel with shopping centres, residential streets, and parks along the Lachine Canal. Ville-Émard and Côte-Saint-Paul, in the riding's northern section, are traditionally working-class neighbourhoods experiencing rising rents and demographic shifts.

The September 2024 by-election result reshaped the 2025 campaign dynamic entirely. The Bloc's upset victory signalled vulnerability for the Liberals in a riding they had long taken for granted, while the NDP's strong showing from municipal councillor Craig Sauvé suggested a three-way competition. In 2025, housing affordability was the defining issue, as rents in Verdun and Le Sud-Ouest have climbed steeply. Cost of living, healthcare access, and the impact of US trade tensions on Montreal's manufacturing base also featured prominently. The riding's diverse population -- including growing immigrant communities alongside long-established francophone families -- made language policy and integration services relevant campaign topics.