Hochelaga

Located in the east end of the city of Montreal, this riding is bounded by the St. Lawrence River in the east, Rue de Cadillac, Rue du Quesne and Boulevard Langelier in the north, Rue Bélanger in the west and Boulevard Pie IX, Sherbrooke Street East, Rue Sheppard and Rue Dufresne in the south.

This lower-income riding depends heavily on the manufacturing industry, followed by retail trade and the service sector. Most people, about 75 per cent of households, rented their dwellings. Twenty per cent of residents over age 25 have a university certificate or degree. The average family income was $57,468 and unemployment was 9.2 per cent.

According to the 2006 census, more 77 per cent of residents have French as their mother tongue, while three per cent cited English. The total immigrant population is over 18 per cent, with large groups of Italian, Chinese, Arabic. Portuguese and Spanish-speaking people.

In 2004, the riding became Hochelaga and boundaries were moved to add 11 per cent of Laurier-St-Marie in the southeast, while the northern part of the riding was moved into neighbouring Anjou and Mercier ridings. The riding of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve was created in the 1976 redistribution from 51 per cent of Maisonneuve-Rosemont, 41 per cent of Hochelaga and eight per cent from Lafontaine. In 1996, the redistribution added portions of St-Léonard, Mercier and Anjou-Rivière-des-Prairies ridings.

Population: 100,915 (2006 census; no change since 2001)

Political History

In 2006, the Bloc Québécois's Réal Menard continued to dominate the riding, winning his fifth term with 55 per cent of the vote. In 2004, Menard defeated Liberal Benoît Bouvier, winning his fourth term.

The former riding of Maisonneuve-Rosemont or Maisonneuve was Liberal from 1935. The former riding of Hochelaga was Liberal from 1917 and has elected several prominent Liberals. Gérard Pelletier, a minister of communications under Pierre Trudeau, won from 1965 to 1975. Pierre Juneau, then chairman of the Canadian Radio-Television Commission, was appointed to replace Pelletier as minister of communications in 1975 before being elected. But in the 1975 byelection, Juneau was defeated by Progressive Conservative Jacques Lavoie. Lavoie joined the Liberals in 1977, but lost the riding nomination in 1979. Juneau was appointed president of the CBC.

Liberal Serge Joyal, incumbent from Maisonneuve-Rosemont, won in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in 1979 and 1980. He was appointed minister of state in 1981 and secretary of state in 1982. In 1984, PC édouard Desrosiers defeated Joyal. In 1988, Desrosiers resigned and withdrew as the 1988 candidate after it was revealed he had been convicted of bank robbery 30 years before. In 1989, Desrosiers was fined $3,000 and put on a year's probation after pleading guilty to pocketing $7,463 in parliamentary funds. PC Allan Koury won in 1988, but came in third in 1993.

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