Rivière-du-Nord

Rivière-du-Nord is a riding in the lower Laurentians northwest of Montreal, centred on the city of Saint-Jérôme and encompassing the municipalities of Sainte-Sophie, Prévost, Saint-Hippolyte, and Saint-Colomban within the La Rivière-du-Nord Regional County Municipality. Saint-Jérôme, located roughly 45 kilometres from downtown Montreal along the Autoroute des Laurentides, serves as the gateway to the Laurentian Mountains and its ski resorts and cottage country. The riding’s population is predominantly francophone, and the area blends suburban residential development with a semi-rural hinterland of rolling hills and forests.

Candidates

Rhéal Fortin (Bloc Québécois) — Born in Laval-des-Rapides, Fortin began working at 18 and earned a CEGEP diploma as an electrician before spending eight years as a factory worker in Laval. He subsequently studied law and began practising in Saint-Jérôme in 1992. First elected in 2015, he was named interim leader of the Bloc Québécois following Gilles Duceppe’s resignation and served in that role until 2017. He briefly left the Bloc caucus in 2018 during an internal dispute over Martine Ouellet’s leadership but rejoined later that year. He has served as the party’s critic for justice, human rights, and intergovernmental affairs.

Mary-Helen Walton (Liberal) — A resident of Saint-Jérôme, Walton was acclaimed as the Liberal candidate. Described as a community leader with a track record of bringing people together to solve local challenges, she campaigned on federal investment in the Laurentians and on strengthening the riding’s economic ties to the broader Montreal region.

Patricia Morrissette (Conservative) — A native of Prévost, Morrissette has been active in Conservative politics for several years, having participated in Andrew Scheer’s and Erin O’Toole’s campaigns and mentoring other candidates across Quebec. She ran in the riding in the 2021 election and subsequently served as co-director for Quebec in Pierre Poilievre’s leadership campaign.

Christel Marchand (NDP) — Marchand carried the NDP banner in Rivière-du-Nord, campaigning on pharmacare, affordable housing, and environmental protection in the Laurentians.

About the Riding

Saint-Jérôme is the judicial, administrative, and commercial capital of the lower Laurentians, home to the regional courthouse, a hospital centre, and a Cégep. The city has historically served as the departure point for travellers heading north into the mountains—the legacy of Curé Antoine Labelle, the 19th-century colonization priest who championed the settlement of the Laurentian interior. Today, the Autoroute des Laurentides and the P’tit Train du Nord linear cycling park connect Saint-Jérôme to both Montreal and the resort towns further north.

The riding’s economy mixes suburban retail and services, healthcare and education, and a tourism sector that benefits from proximity to ski hills and outdoor recreation. Construction and residential development have accelerated as families priced out of Montreal and Laval look to the lower Laurentians for more affordable housing, though even here prices have risen sharply.

In 2025, the campaign was shaped by cost-of-living pressures, particularly housing affordability in a market transformed by Montreal-area spillover demand. Healthcare wait times and physician shortages at the regional hospital, the economic impact of US trade tensions on Quebec’s forestry and manufacturing sectors, and the protection of the French language were also prominent themes. The Bloc Québécois’s strong incumbency advantage in the riding, built over four consecutive elections, made it one of the safer Bloc seats in the lower Laurentians even as the party lost ground elsewhere.