Mount Royal

Mount Royal is one of Canada's most storied federal ridings, held continuously by the Liberal Party since 1940 -- a streak that includes Pierre Trudeau's tenure as its MP from 1965 to 1984. Located on the Island of Montreal, the riding encompasses the City of Cote-Saint-Luc, the Towns of Mount Royal and Hampstead, the neighbourhood of Snowdon, and the western portion of Cote-des-Neiges. It is one of the most linguistically diverse ridings in the country, with substantial anglophone, francophone, and allophone populations. The riding is also home to one of Canada's largest Jewish communities, with roughly 28,000 community members comprising more than a quarter of the population.

Candidates

Anthony Housefather (Liberal) -- Born in 1970, Housefather is a lawyer and politician who holds law degrees from McGill University and an MBA from Concordia. He served as mayor of Cote-Saint-Luc from 2005 to 2015, winning three terms by large margins, before being elected to Parliament in 2015. He chaired the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights from 2016 to 2019. In 2024, he was appointed special adviser to the government on Jewish community relations and antisemitism, a role that followed his vocal criticism of what he perceived as insufficient support for the Jewish community within the Liberal caucus after October 2023.

Neil Oberman (Conservative) -- A litigation lawyer and partner at Spiegel Ryan with over 25 years of legal experience, Oberman holds law degrees from Universite Laval and Universite de Montreal. He gained public attention in 2024 after successfully obtaining injunctive relief to protect over 30 Jewish institutions from demonstrations and acts of aggression. Pierre Poilievre personally recruited him to contest Mount Royal in an effort to break the Liberal hold on the riding.

Adam Frank (NDP) -- Born in Canada and educated in Britain and France, Frank is a teacher of history, music, English, and French who has taught at international schools in several countries. He has been a lifelong political enthusiast who entered active politics upon returning to his native country.

Yegor Komarov (Bloc Quebecois) -- Komarov represented the Bloc Quebecois in the riding, carrying the sovereigntist message in one of Quebec's most federalist constituencies.

Diane Johnston (Marxist-Leninist) -- Johnston ran for the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada on the party's platform of democratic renewal and workers' empowerment.

About the Riding

Mount Royal's political identity has been shaped by its extraordinary ethnocultural diversity. Cote-Saint-Luc and Hampstead are home to large Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish populations, while Cote-des-Neiges is one of Canada's most multicultural neighbourhoods, with significant Filipino, South Asian, East African, and Latin American communities. The Town of Mount Royal, a planned community laid out in 1912 with a distinctive garden-city design, adds an anglophone and historically Protestant dimension.

In 2025, the riding became the focal point of a national debate about Jewish political alignment. The Conservative Party mounted an unprecedented effort to win the seat, arguing that the Liberal government had failed to adequately address rising antisemitism since October 2023. Housefather's decision to remain with the Liberals -- despite publicly expressing frustration with his caucus's position on Middle East policy -- and his eventual victory underscored the complexity of the riding's political dynamics. Beyond the question of antisemitism, the campaign addressed housing affordability, healthcare, cost of living, and the impact of US trade tensions on Montreal's economy. The riding's deep Liberal roots and its diverse electorate ultimately held for the incumbent, though the Conservatives more than doubled their previous share of the vote.