2007 Canadian federal by-elections
On September 17, 2007, three federal by-elections were held in the Canadian province of Quebec to fill vacancies in the House of Commons. Each of the three by-elections was won by a different political party.
The by-elections in Outremont and Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot were originally announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on July 28, 2007.[1] The third vacancy, in Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, occurred after the other two by-election campaigns were already underway, but Harper announced the by-election in that riding on August 11, scheduling it for the same date.[2]
Outremont
The riding of Outremont was left vacant by the resignation of Liberal Party MP Jean Lapierre. The by-election resulted in a victory for the New Democratic Party on a substantial swing, whose candidate Thomas Mulcair became only the second New Democrat ever elected from Quebec and the first in seventeen years. The Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot by-election and the Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean by-election were held on the same day.
The by-election was triggered when Lapierre resigned from the House on January 28, to accept a position as a political analyst with Quebec television network TVA and Montreal radio station 98.5 FM. The Prime Minister of Canada has six months to call by-elections, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the by-election on the last possible day, July 28.
Candidates
Finally, Liberal leader Stéphane Dion appointed candidate Jocelyn Coulon on July 18.[3] Prior to his current position as an international affairs expert, professor at the University of Montreal and director of the Francophone Research Network on the Operations of Peace (Reseau francophone de recherche sur les operations de paix), Coulon was a journalist for Le Devoir and a director of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre's Montreal campus.
The Liberal announcement was not without controversy, and was condemned by Jewish lobby group B'nai Brith, even asking for the nomination to be revoked. The group cited Coulon's views on Israel, the United States and Hamas as being "out of step with current Liberal policy."[1] The Quebec-Israel Committee stated that B'Nai Brith's statements were exaggerated and that Coulon had every right to be the Liberal candidate. Though the riding is only 10 per cent Jewish, past Liberal candidates have traditionally relied heavily on the faithful support of this important voting block.
The Bloc Québécois, which came in second in the seat in 2006, selected Belgian-born, Lacanian psychoanalyst Jean-Paul Gilson as their candidate. Gilson immigrated to Canada in 1993.
The New Democratic Party, third place in 2006, selected Thomas Mulcair. Mulcair is a former Liberal Member of the National Assembly of Quebec. He served as Jean Charest's Minister of the Environment from 2003 to 2006, leaving cabinet amidst the controversy surrounding privatisation plans for Mont Orford provincial park. He was the MNA for Chomedey in Laval, Quebec from 1994 to 2007.
On April 20, Mulcair announced he was joining the New Democratic Party during a joint press conference with NDP Leader Jack Layton on Mont Royal.[4] He currently serves as the NDP's Quebec spokesperson. Mulcair was nominated in an uncontested race on June 21 as the NDP candidate.[5]
The Conservatives, selected former Ambassador Gilles Duguay. Mr. Duguay is a former Rhodes scholar of Oxford University in Great Britain, former law professor at the National University in Kinshasa, author of much of Rwanda's constitution, former ambassador to Cameroon, Morocco, Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova, and former professor at McGill University and the University of Montreal.
The Green Party, fifth place in 2006, reselected their 2006 candidate, François Pilon, while the Canadian Action Party selected biochemistry student Alexandre Amirizian. The newly-formed Neorhino.ca, successor to the Rhinoceros Party of Canada, fielded party founder François Gourd on August 7. Gourd wished to finish last in the election.
Several Independent politicians also announced their candidacy, including Romain Angeles, who is running on a platform to abolish political parties; Mahmood Raza Baig, a former Canadian Action candidate in Repentigny and Papineau; Régent Millette, an Independent in Outremont in 2006; John C. Turmel, record holder for most elections contested and for the most elections lost; and Jocelyne Leduc.
Results
| By-election on September 17, 2007 Resignation of Jean Lapierre | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||
| New Democratic Party gain from Liberal | Swing | –18.3 | ||||
2006 Results
Template:CanElec4 Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Tot |- bgcolor="white" |align="right" colspan=3|Difference |align="right"|2,504 |align="right"|6.2 |align="right"| |- bgcolor="white" |align="right" colspan=3|Rejected Ballots |align="right"|282 |align="right"|0.7 |align="right"| |- bgcolor="white" |align="right" colspan=3|Turnout |align="right"|40,875 |align="right"|60.8 |align="right"| |- bgcolor="white" Template:Canadian politics/party colours/Liberal/row |align="left" colspan=2|Liberal hold |align="right"|Swing |align="right"| -0.7 |align="right"|
|}
The electoral district of Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean was left vacant by the resignation of Michel Gauthier (Bloc). Although Gauthier resigned after the other two by-elections had already been called, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the by-election on August 11 for the same date as the others.[2]
Notably, Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean was a district which the Tories had heavily targeted in the 2006 election but had narrowly lost. It was seen as the district most likely to be winnable for the party in the by-elections — and thus the by-election Harper was most eager to actually schedule.
Results
| Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean by-election, September 17, 2007 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | +/– | |
| Conservative Party | Denis Lebel | 17,463 | 59.7 | +22.5 | |
| Bloc Québécois | Céline Houde | 7,830 | 26.8 | –18.4 | |
| Liberal Party | Louise Boulanger | 2,795 | 9.6 | +1.8 | |
| New Democratic Party | Éric Dubois | 675 | 2.3 | –3.2 | |
| Green Party | Jean-Luc Boily | 499 | 1.7 | –2.6 | |
| Total | 29,262 | 100 | |||
| Conservative Party gain from Bloc Québécois | |||||
2006 Results
Template:CanElec4 Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row |- bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3|Total valid votes !align="right"|38,903 !align="right"|100.00% !align="right"| |- bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3|Total rejected ballots !align="right"|397 !align="right"|1.01 !align="right"| |- bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3|Turnout !align="right"|39,300 !align="right"|62.15 !align="right"| |- bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3|Difference !align="right"|3,123 !align="right"|8.03 !align="right"| |- bgcolor="white" Template:Canadian politics/party colours/BQ/row |align="left" colspan=2|Bloc Québécois hold |align="right"|Swing |align="right"| -21.4 |align="right"|
|}
The by-election in Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, resulting from the resignation of Yvan Loubier, was won by BQ candidate Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac, Loubier's former constituency assistant and the first Vietnamese Canadian ever elected to the Canadian House of Commons. However, Thi Lac's 1,478-vote margin of victory over Conservative candidate Bernard Barré was the narrowest victory for the BQ since the party first won the riding in the 1993 election. As in the other two ridings up for election, the Liberals were shut out; their candidate, Jean Caumartin, placed fourth, after the NDP's Brigitte Sansoucy.
Results
| Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot by-election, September 17, 2007 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | +/- | |
| Bloc Québécois | Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac | 13,443 | 42.1 | -13.9% | |
| Conservative Party | Bernard Barré | 11,965 | 37.5 | +12.7% | |
| New Democratic Party | Brigitte Sansoucy | 2,538 | 7.9 | +2.4% | |
| Liberal Party | Jean Caumartin | 2,376 | 7.4 | -2.4% | |
| Green Party | Jacques Tétreault | 1,169 | 3.7 | -0.2% | |
| Neorhino.ca | Christian Willie Vanasse | 384 | 1.2 | ||
| Canadian Action Party | Michel St-Onge | 61 | 0.2 | ||
| Total | 31,936 | ||||
| Bloc Québécois hold | ' | ||||
2006 Results
Template:CanElec4 Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row Template:CanElec4Row |- bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3|Total valid votes !align="right"|49,693 !align="right"|100.00% !align="right"| |- bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3|Total rejected ballots !align="right"|827 !align="right"|1.6 !align="right"| |- bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3|Turnout !align="right"|50,520 !align="right"|66.4 !align="right"| |- bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3|Difference !align="right"|15,515 !align="right"|31.2 !align="right"| |- bgcolor="white" Template:Canadian politics/party colours/BQ/row |align="left" colspan=2|Bloc Québécois hold |align="right"|Swing |align="right"| -10.1 |align="right"|
|}
References
- ^ a b "Harper calls byelections in two Quebec ridings". CTV News, July 28, 2007.
- ^ a b "Harper calls third Quebec byelection for Sept. 17". CTV News, August 11, 2007.
- ^ "Coulon to run as Outremont's Liberal". Canoe.ca. 2007-07-18. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
- ^ "Layton recruits ex-Quebec environment minister to carry NDP banner". Canoe.ca. 2007-04-20. Retrieved 2007-07-29. [dead link]
- ^ "Former Quebec cabinet minister to run in Montreal riding as NDP candidate". Yahoo News Canada. 2007-07-20. Retrieved 2007-07-29. [dead link]