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Canada Votes 2008

Results, Ridings and Candidates

Roberval - Lac-Saint-Jean

2008 Results

Roberval-Lac-Saint-Jean
Party Candidate Votes Status
Updated: Nov. 7, 2008 5:00 PM EST 194/194 polls
CON Denis Lebel 16,054 Elected
BQ Claude Pilote 14,549
LIB Bernard Garneau 3,721
NDP Catherine Forbes 1,746
GRN Jocelyn Tremblay 737

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 rural riding surrounds Lac St-Jean. Lac Péribonka and Rivière Péribonka form part of the eastern boundary. It contains the regional county municipalities of Le Domaine-du-Roy and Maria-Chapdelaine and part of Lac-St-Jean-Est. The Mashteuiatsh Indian Reserve is in the riding. The main population centres are around Lac St-Jean itself in the southeast and include Roberval and St-Félicien.

The economy in this riding is based on manufacturing, forestry and some agriculture. The average family income is $60,327 with an unemployment rate of 11.5 per cent.

According to the 2006 census, the total immigrant population is only 0.6 per cent. Just over five per cent of the riding's residents are aboriginal.

More than 98 per cent of the population cited French as a mother tongue, while 0.3 per cent cited English. This riding voted 66 per cent in favour of separation in the 1995 referendum.

In 2004, 85 per cent of the riding was retained and 31 per cent from Lac-St-Jean-Saguenay was added in the southeast. This riding was established in 1947. There was no change in the 1996 redistribution.

Population: 78,895 (2006 census; a decrease of 3% since 2001)

Political History

Conservative Denis Lebel, the Mayor of Roberval, took this riding from the Bloc Québécois in a byelection in September, 2007. The byelection was called after the 2006 winner, Michel Gauthier, resigned for health reasons.

The 2006 election had been much closer than the previous one, but Michel Gauthier and the BQ still won their fifth straight race in the riding.

In 2004, Gauthier defeated Liberal Michel Mallette with 59 per cent of the vote, to win a fourth term of office. He was elected BQ leader in 1996, but announced later that year that he would step down as leader in 1997.

Social Credit's C.A. Gauthier won in 1962 and was MP until 1980, although he won in 1965 and 1968 as a member of the Ralliement Créditiste. Liberal Suzanne Beauchamp-Niquet won in 1980. Progressive Conservative Benoît Bouchard won in 1984 and 1988. He was appointed minister of state for transport in 1984, secretary of state in 1985, minister of employment and immigration in 1986, minister of transport in 1988, minister of industry, science and technology in 1990 and minister of health and welfare in 1991. He announced he wouldn't be running again for the 1993 campaign and was named Canadian ambassador to France.

  • 1949 - LIB
  • 1952 byelection - PC
  • 1953, 1957 - LIB
  • 1958 - PC
  • 1962-79 inclusive - SC / RC
  • 1980 - LIB
  • 1984, 1988 - PC
  • 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 - BQ
  • 2007 byelection - CON