Summary: The NDP incumbent here, Pierre Jacob, is not re-offering, passing the torch to his aide, Catherine Lusson, to try to hold the seat. She’ll have to defeat Liberal Denis Paradis, who held this seat from 1995 to 2006, and who also ran unsucessfully in both 2008 and 2011.
Boundaries: This riding, in the south of the province, extends along the American border between Montreal and Sherbrooke, straddling the Quebec regions of Montéregie and Estrie. Its main towns are Cowansville, Magog, and Brome Lake.
Last Election: The NDP’s Jacob won with 42.6 per cent of the vote. Liberal Paradis finished second, with 22.1 per cent.
History: The Bloc Québécois won this seat in the party’s first election in 1993. But when MP Gaston Péloquin was killed in a car accident less than a year later, voters switched allegiances to the Liberals, electing Denis Paradis four times. The Bloc won again in 2006 and 2008.
Candidates
Conservative: Charles Poulin, retired hockey player
NDP: Catherine Lusson, aide to NDP MP Pierre Jacob
Liberal: Denis Paradis, lawyer, former MP (1995-2006)
Bloc Québécois: Patrick Melchior, youth worker
Green: Cindy Moynan
Strength in Democracy: Patrick Paine