The Conservative Party of Canada and the Green party won no seats on the island
Like most of the country, Montreal ended the election dripping red.
In 2011, Montreal—and much of Quebec—turned to the New Democratic Party (NDP) in a phenomenon that would be dubbed “the Orange Wave.” The province handed the party the official opposition, propelling the New Democrats to 103 seats. The NDP ends this election with 42 seats nationally, with many Montreal seats swinging to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.
Only five seats on the island resisted the “crimson tide”: Thomas Mulcair’s riding of Outremont and three other ridings flew the orange banner, including Gille Duceppe’s riding of Laurier—Sainte-Marie. One riding, La Pointe-de-l’Île, was claimed by the Bloc Quebecois.
Both ridings with Concordia University campuses, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount and Ville-Marie—Le-Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs representing the Loyola and Sir George Williams campuses respectively, voted Liberal.
Successful Liberal candidates across the city took over 50 per cent of the popular vote in their respective ridings, with some—such as Saint-Léonard-Saint-Michel—electing a Liberal with nearly 65 per cent of the vote.
Some areas which were considered to be close races found their incumbents stonewalled by Liberal challengers. Ahuntsic-Cartierville, where incumbent-turned-NDP Maria Mourani was expected to weather the storm, was ultimately defeated by former mayoral candidate Melanie Joly. Joly won by over 6,000 votes.
The entirety of Laval, which went NDP last election, turned unanimously red. The West Island, which had long been a Liberal stronghold, returned to its roots: the riding of Pierrefonds-Dollard elected Liberal candidate Frank Baylis by over 15,000 votes.
The Conservative Party did not gain a single seat in Montreal, though Robert Libman—Conservative candidate for the riding of Mount-Royal—was at times projected to take the seat, but was ultimately defeated by Liberal Anthony Housefather. Libman came in second place with over 35 per cent of the vote.
Justin Trudeau held his riding of Papineau, defeating NDP challenger Anne Lagacé-Dawson. The Liberal Party’s victory continues the tradition of Prime Ministers holding seats in Montreal, following in the footsteps of Paul Martin (Lasalle—Émard) and his father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Mount Royal).
