In what ended up being an integral part of the Liberal Party’s victory, much of Western Quebec either maintained their incumbents or flipped to elect Liberal candidates, resulting in much of the region being dominated by either the Liberals or the incumbent Bloc Québecois.
Despite concerns that Mark Carney’s limited French-speaking skills would inhibit his party’s chances in Quebec, the Liberals were able to flip Les Pays-d’en-Haut, Thérèse-De Blainville, Riviére-des-Mille-îles, Châteauguay-Les Jardins-de-Napierville and La Prairie-Atateken from the Bloc and hold their other seats in the region. Terrebonne appeared to be flipped, but will be going to a judicial recount.
Montreal was washed in red by the end of the night, save for Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, where NDP incumbent Alexandre Boulerice was re-elected — one of only won by the NDP across the country.
Liberal incumbents were also successful in holding their seats, and with comfortable margins; Sophie Chatel was re-elected in Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi with 54.6 per cent of the vote, Stéphan Lauzon in Argenteuil-La Petite-Nation with 47.5 per cent, Peter Schiefke in Vaudreuil (57.9 per cent), Eric St-Pierre in Honoré-Mercier (60.4 per cent), Angelo Iacono in Alfred Pellan (54.6). Greg Fergus was also re-elected in Hull-Aylmer and Steven MacKinnon in Gatineau.
Liberal strategist John O’Leary told Ottawa Compass MacKinnon’s win was “somewhat stunning” with over 60 per cent of the vote, and the NDP in fifth place, behind even the People’s Party.
The Liberals also flipped the Northern Québec riding Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou, previously held by the Bloc.
In the end, concerns over Carney’s connection to Québec and the French language were beat out by more national concerns, said O’Leary.
“Ultimately in an election where voters sought stability rather than disruption, it benefitted incumbents overall in western Quebec,” he said. “Other ridings were close overall. Likely the ground game mattered, but the parties will all stay active and engaged given this is now a minority government.
“The central campaign is designed to give lift and help local candidates running strong local campaigns get over the top,” he added. “It’s clear that Mark Carney did that in his campaign and it helped make a difference in close races.”
