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Canada Votes 2008

Results, Ridings and Candidates

Mégantic - L'Érable

2008 Results

Mégantic-L'Érable
Party Candidate Votes Status
Updated: Nov. 7, 2008 5:00 PM EST 219/219 polls
CON Christian Paradis 20,696 Elected
BQ Pierre Turcotte 12,283
LIB Nicole Champagne 6,185
NDP Bruno Vézina 4,191
GRN Jean-R. Guernon 959

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 is located in southeast Quebec along the Canada-U.S. border. It contains the regional county municipalities of L'Amiante and L'érable, and part of the regional county municipality of Le Granit. The major population centres include Plessisville, Princeville, Lac-Mégantic and Thetford Mines.

The major industries in the riding are manufacturing, retail trade and health and social services. The average family income is $56,835 and unemployment is 6.7 per cent.

According to the 2006 census, about eight per cent of residents over age 25 have a university certificate or degree. Ninety-seven per cent of the population cited French as a mother tongue, while only one per cent were anglophone. The total immigrant population is just 1.5 per cent.

In 2004, the riding became Mégantic-L'érable, combining 92 per cent of Frontenac-Mégantic with 35 per cent of Lotbinière-L'érable. In the 1996 redistribution, Mégantic-L'érable riding was created from 66 per cent of Frontenac, 32 per cent of Mégantic-Compton-Stanstead, and seven per cent of Richmond-Wolfe.

Population: 87,078 (2006 census; a decrease of 0.1% since 2001)

Political History

The Conservative party took the riding for the first time in 2006, as Christian Paradis unseated Bloc Québécois incumbent Marc Boulianne.

Boulianne defeated incumbent Liberal Gérard Binet in 2004. In 2000 in Frontenac-Mégantic, Binet had defeated BQ incumbent Jean-Guy Chrétien by 1,366 votes. Chrétien had won the previous two terms in Frontenac-Mégantic and Frontenac.

In Frontenac, Liberal Léopold Corriveau won the 1970 byelection and served until 1984. In 1984, Progressive Conservative Marcel Masse defeated Corriveau. He was appointed minister of communications in 1984, but resigned in 1985 in a conflict involving his finances from the 1984 campaign. He was exonerated and reappointed to cabinet in 1985 and appointed minister of energy, mines and resources in 1986. After winning the 1988 election, Masse was appointed minister of communications in 1989 and minister of defence in 1991. He resigned in 1993 and announced he wasn't running again.

  • 1997 - BQ
  • 2000 - LIB
  • 2004 - BQ
  • 2006 - CON