Tom Mulcair has kept his Outremont riding in Montreal, earning 43.3 per cent of the vote (with 36 per cent of the polls reporting) in what was predicted to be a tight race.
The NDP leader first won the riding in a 2007 by-election, and then retained it in the 2008 federal election.
Prior to 2007, the riding was a Liberal stronghold. It was also the only riding in Quebec to be held by the NDP until the 2011 election. Mulcair easily won that one, beating former Liberal cabinet minister Martin Cauchon by 12,712 votes.
This time around, Mulcair’s competition included:
- Rachel Bendayan, a lawyer, representing the Liberals (who earned 33.4 per cent of the vote)
- Roger Galland Barrou, a restaurant owner, running for the Bloc Quebecois
- Rodolphe Husny running for the Conservatives
Some polls put Bendayan ahead of Mulcair, who was said to have often been in other ridings across the country — something his opponents tried to capitalize on.
“We’ve made over 80,000 calls, I’ve knocked at over 12,000 doors,” Bendayan said over the weekend. “Our outreach in the community has really paid off.”
The Outremont riding is, demographically, the youngest in Quebec with a median age of 34.3. And many voters had expressed their desire for change.
The last conservative elected here was Jean-Pierre Hogue, for the Progressive Conservative party. He lasted just one term from 1988-1993.
Full results from the 2015 Federal Election.
More information about the Outremont riding.
With files from Gloria Henriquez, Global News
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