Quebec election: Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard wins in Roberval

Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard has been re-elected in Roberval.

Geography

The riding of Roberval is the most rural riding of the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean area.

It includes the following municipalites: Albanel, Chambord, Dolbeau-Mistassini, Girardville, Lac-Bouchette, La Doré, Normandin, Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Péribonka, Roberval, Saint-André-du-Lac-Saint-Jean, Saint-Augustin, Saint-Edmond-les-Plaines, Saint-Eugène-d’Argentenay, Saint-Félicien, Saint-François-de-Sales, Sainte-Hedwidge, Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc, Saint-Prime, Saint-Stanislas and Saint-Thomas-Didyme.

It also includes the Mashteuiatsh reserve, as well the unorganized territories of Lac-Ashuapmushuan and Rivière-Mistassini and a portion of Passes-Dangeureuses, also an unorganized territory.

The four candidates from parties serving in the National Assembly at dissolution:

Coalition Avenir Québec: Denise Trudel
Parti Québécois: Thomas Gaudreault
Quebec Liberal Party: Philippe Couillard
Québec Solidaire: Luc-Antoine Cauchon

The incumbent heading into the 2018 election was Philippe Couillard, who was elected as premier in April 2014.

He was first elected in 2003 as a Liberal MNA for Mount Royal and re-elected in Jean-Talon in 2007. Couillard served as minister of health and social services until he resigned in 2008.

He returned to politics in 2012 and succeeded Jean Charest as Liberal leader in 2013.

Towards the end of the 39-day election campaign, the Liberals gathered steam with polls showing a heated race between François Legault’s Coaltion Avenir Québec and Couillard’s Liberals.

History

The Roberval riding was created in 1930 and named after Jean-François de La Rocque de Roberval, the first lieutenant-general of New France.

Since the 1970s, the riding has flip-flopped between the Liberals and the Parti Québécois. Prior to the 1970s, voters went back and forth between the Liberals and the now-defunct nationalist and conservative-leaning Union National.