It’s provincial by-election day this Monday in the riding of Marie-Victorin, on the south shore of Montreal.
The electoral division comprises the part of the Ville de Longueuil situated in the borough of Vieux-Longueuil.
The seat in the National Assembly has been vacant since the departure of MNA Catherine Fournier. She was first elected under the banner of the Parti Québécois (PQ) before becoming an independent MP. She then gave up her seat to successfully run for mayor of Longueuil last fall.
Elections Quebec has authorized twelve candidates for the by-election in Marie-Victorin. The main candidates are Anne Casabonne of the Conservative Party of Quebec, Shirley Dorismond of the Coalition avenir Québec, Pierre Nantel of the Parti Québécois, Émilie Nollet of the Liberal Party of Quebec, Martine Ouellet of Climat Québec and Shophika Vaithyanathasarma of Québec solidaire.
The Party for the Independence of Quebec, the Green Party of Quebec, the Union Nationale, the Access to Property and Equity Party and the Autonomist Team are also presenting candidates, and there is one independent candidate.
A total of 45,558 electors are invited to exercise their right to vote during this by-election. According to Statistics Canada, 83.4% of the population said that French was the language most often spoken at home. Visible minorities account for 19.5% of the population of Marie-Victorin; among them, 43.8% have black skin, 16.2% are Latin Americans and 16% are of Arab origin.
The average income and the median income in Marie-Victorin are lower than the Quebec average.
Marie-Victorin, a riding of just over 14 square kilometers, has been a stronghold of the PQ since its creation in 1980 and the party is fielding a star candidate there, Pierre Nantel. The Liberals only managed to win it once, in 1984, in a by-election, and that for only one year.
Since it is a by-election, the vote in Marie-Victorin also represents a form of plebiscite for the Legault government, just under six months before the general election.