Manicouagan

This easternmost Quebec riding borders on Newfoundland and Labrador. It runs from the St. Lawrence River in the south to north of Shefferville in the north. The riding contains the regional county municipalities of Manicouagan, Sept-Rivières, Caniapiscau, Minganie and the Lower North Shore. It contains many native reserves including Betsiamites No. 3, Lac-John, Matimekosh, Mingan, Natashquan, Maliotenam No. 27A, Uashat No. 27, Romaine No. 2 and the Indian settlement of Pakuashipi. Anticosti Island is also in the riding.

Iron ore mining, aluminum smelting, tourism and fishing are important sources of employment. Manufacturing, retail trade and the service sector are also significant. The average family income is $72,022 and unemployment is 11.2 per cent.

According to the 2006 census, the aboriginal population is 14 per cent. The majority of the population live in Sept-Îles. Almost 83 per cent of residents are francophone, while almost six per cent speak English as a first language. The total immigrant population is about one per cent. This riding voted 63 per cent in favour of sovereignty in the 1995 referendum.

In 2004, all the riding was retained and 43 per cent of Charlevoix in the southeast was added. Manicouagan riding was established in 1966. The 1996 redistribution kept 95 per cent of the riding.

Population: 83,608 (2006 census; a decrease in 1.5% since 2001)

Political History

Bloc Québécois incumbent Gérard Asselin won another easy victory in 2006, beating Conservative Pierre Paradis.

In 2004, Asselin won with more than twice the votes of his closest opponent, Liberal Anthony Detroio. The Bloc's Ghislain Fournier served two terms in Manicouagan from 1997-2004.

The former Saguenay riding was Liberal from 1949 to 1958, then elected a Progressive Conservative for a single term and a Social Credit MP in 1962, again for one term. Liberal Gustave Blouin won in 1963 and 1965 in Saguenay, then went on to win another three terms in Manicouagan. Liberal André Maltais won in 1979 and 1980.

Progressive Conservative Brian Mulroney won the riding in 1984 and was sworn in as prime minister shortly after. Mulroney ran in Charlevoix in 1988. In 1988, PC Charles Langlois won in Manicouagan. In 1993, Bernard St. Laurent of the BQ defeated Langlois, but St. Laurent was found guilty of illegally listening to conversations of an assistant in 1997. He was given a discharge, fined $1,000, and put on probation. He then resigned from caucus and announced he wouldn't run again.

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