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Canada Votes 2008

Results, Ridings and Candidates

Laurier - Sainte-Marie

2008 Results

Laurier-Sainte-Marie
Party Candidate Votes Status
Updated: Nov. 7, 2008 5:00 PM EST 214/214 polls
BQ Gilles Duceppe 24,082 Elected
LIB Sébastien Caron 8,799
NDP François Grégoire 8,170
GRN Dylan Perceval-Maxwell 3,746
CON Charles Langford 2,317
NR François Gourd 445
ML Serge Lachapelle 118
IND Daniel Laforest 94
COM Samie Pagé-Quirion 86

Unofficial results were updated at the time shown following judicial recounts in six ridings. For more recent results, visit Elections Canada. The CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites. External links will open in a new window.

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This riding includes part of downtown Montreal and is located on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, which is its eastern boundary. The western boundary is the CP line. The riding runs from Boulevard St-Laurent in the south to the CP line, Sherbrooke Street East, Rue Sheppard and Rue Dufresne in the north.

It takes in part of downtown, affluent parts of Plateau Mont-Royal and the working-class neighbourhoods south of Sherbrooke Street East. The Université du Québec à Montréal is located in the riding.

The service industry is predominant in this riding, followed by educational, health and social services. Almost 42 per cent of residents over age 25 have a university certificate or degree. The average family income is $67,310 with an unemployment rate of 7.9 per cent. More than 74 per cent of the occupied dwellings are rented.

According to the 2006 census, about 74 per cent of the population is francophone, while eight per cent is anglophone. There are significant Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Chinese communities. The total immigrant population is 21 per cent.

In 2004, the riding remained 89 per cent the same, with the addition of 12 per cent of Outremont in the southwest. The riding was established in 1986 as Laurier-Ste-Marie and became Laurier in 2004. The riding was created in 1986 from 61 per cent of Montreal-Ste-Marie, 41 per cent of Laurier and 30 per cent of St-Jacques. In 1996, a part of Rosemont was added.

Population: 101,758 (2006 census; an increase of 1.3% since 2001)

Political History

Bloc Québécois party leader and incumbent Gilles Duceppe saw his votal total drop a bit in 2006, but still won this riding handily. Duceppe beat the NDP's Francois Gregoire by over 18,000 votes.

Duceppe won by more than 20,000 votes in 2004, easily outdistancing Liberal Jean-Francois Thibault.

Duceppe was first elected in a 1990 byelection following the death of Liberal Jean-Claude Malepart, defeating Liberal Denis Coderre and becoming the first BQ member elected to House of Commons on that platform. (Previous MPs had left other parties to form a BQ caucus in the House.) He became leader of the Bloc in 1997.

Laurier riding was Liberal from 1935. Liberal David Berger was elected in 1979, 1980 and 1984. In 1995, he became Canada's ambassador to Israel.

Laurier:

  • 1988 - LIB
  • 1990 byelection, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 - BQ