Abitibi - Baie-James - Nunavik - Eeyou

This riding covers all of northern Quebec. It begins just south of the town of Val d'Or and runs north along the west bank of James Bay and Hudson Bay. Ungava Bay forms part of its northern border and Labrador forms part of its border in the east. The riding contains the regional county municipality of Vallée-de-l'Or and the territories of Jamésie and Kativik. It includes Lac-Simon Indian Reserve, the Indian Settlement of Grand-Lac Victoria, the Cree villages and reserved lands of Chisasibi, Eastmain, Mistissini, Nemiscau, Waskaganish, Waswanipi and Wemindji, the Cree village and reserved land of Whapmagoostui, the village municipalities of Akulivik, Aupaluk, Inukjuak, Ivujivik, Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kangiqsujuaq, Kangirsuk, Kuujjuaq, Kuujjuarapik, Puvirnituq, Quaqtaq, Salluit, Tasiujaq and Umiujaq, the Naskapi village of Kawawachikamach and the Indian Settlement of Oujé-Bougoumou. Population centres in the south include Val d'Or, Malartic, Amos and Senneterre.

The industries in this riding include the service sector, manufacturing, mining, forestry, farming and retail trade. The riding is also home to the James Bay hydro project. The average family income is $70,953 and unemployment is 11.1 per cent.

According to the 2006 census, one-third of the riding's population is aboriginal. The total immigrant population is just over one per cent. Just under nine per cent of residents over age 25 have a university certificate or degree. Almost 66 per cent list French as their mother tongue, while less than three per cent list English.

In 2004, Nunavik-Eeyou was created from 74 per cent of Abitibi-Baie James-Nunavik and 15 per cent of Roberval. Abitibi-Baie James-Nunavik riding was created in 1966 from Chapleau, Saguenay and Villeneuve. In the 1996 redistribution, a small part of Manicouagan was added.

Population: 80,894 (2006 census; an increase of 1.1% since 2001)

Political History

In 2006, voters returned Bloc Québécois candidate Yvon Lévesque for a second term, choosing him over Liberal Armand Caouette and Conservative Gilles Gagnon.

In 2004, Lévesque earned his first term as MP, defeating Liberal Guy St. Julien by just 572 votes. St. Julien was first elected as a Progressive Conservative in 1984 and 1988. He was defeated by the BQ's Bernard Deshaies in 1993, then won again, running as a Liberal, in 1997 and 2000.

The Social Credit's Gérard Laprise won in Chapleau in 1962, 1963 and 1965 and in Abitibi in 1968, 1972 and 1974. Créditiste Armand Caouette won in 1979, but was defeated in 1980 by Liberal René Gingras who served only one term.

• 1968-1979 inclusive - SC
• 1980 - LIB
• 1984, 1988 - PC
• 1993 - BQ
• 1997, 2000 - LIB
• 2004, 2006 - BQ