Federal by-election in Quebec, Canada
A by-election was held in the federal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun in Quebec, Canada, on September 16, 2024, following the resignation of incumbent Liberal MP David Lametti.
While the riding was considered a "stronghold" for the Liberals, the by-election was expected by some to be a close race between the Liberals and the NDP, who ran "well known" Montreal city councillor Craig Sauvé. The by-election was expected to be a three-way marginal with the Bloc Québécois also having strong support in the riding.
The by-election was held on the same day as one in Elmwood—Transcona in Manitoba and was considered a test for the government of Justin Trudeau. After results were announced, Trudeau said that his party had "a lot of work to do".
Background.
The riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun was vacated on February 1, 2024, following the resignation of Liberal MP David Lametti. Lametti, who previously served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General in the government of Justin Trudeau, won the seat in 2015.
Constituency.
The constituency is an urban Francophone riding located in the southwestern part of Montreal containing parts of the boroughs of Le Sud-Ouest, Verdun and LaSalle. The riding has been held by the Liberals since its creation in 2015. Prior to 2015, this area of the city was split into two different ridings, with Verdun being in one riding (Jeanne-Le Ber from 2004 to 2016) and the LaSalle and Ville-Émard areas being in another (LaSalle—Émard from 1988 to 2015). Both ridings went NDP during the "orange wave" of the 2011 Canadian federal election. Prior to 2011, the LaSalle—Émard area has been reliably Liberal, while Verdun has been less-so, with the Bloc holding it from 2006 to 2011.
Candidates.
The total of 91 candidates broke the record for the longest list of candidates in a federal by-election.
On July 19, Montreal city councillor Laura Palestini was selected by the Liberals as their candidate over others seeking the nomination such as Eddy Kara, a political strategist, Christopher Baenninger, Quebec Liberal candidate in Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques in 2022 and Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne in 2023, and Lori Morrison, Electoral Division 1 Commissioner of the Lester B. Pearson School Board. The party approached Charles Milliard, president of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec, to run as their candidate in the by-election. He ultimately declined to run, preferring running in the 2025 Quebec Liberal Party leadership election.
On March 28, Craig Sauvé, independent city councillor for the district of Saint-Henri—Little-Burgundy—Pointe-Saint-Charles announced that he was standing for nomination for the New Democratic Party's candidate. He was officially nominated as the NDP candidate on April 28.
On July 19, the Conservative Party announced that their candidate would be Louis Ialenti, a small business owner. He was previously the Conservative candidate for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel in 2021.
The Bloc Québécois candidate was Louis-Philippe Sauvé, a party staffer and the former communications and administration coordinator at the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economics.
Gregory Yablunovsky was the PPC candidate. He was previously the party's candidate in Saint-Laurent in 2021 and La Prairie in 2019.
On May 27, it was announced that Jency Mercier had won the nomination race for the Green Party.
Alain Paquette was the Christian Heritage Party candidate.
On July 17, the Rhinoceros Party announced that party leader Sébastien CoRhino would be the candidate.
The Longest Ballot Committee announced that they are targeting the LaSalle—Émard—Verdun by-election resulting in 77 independent candidates affiliated to the organization running in this seat.
On August 14, the newly formed Canadian Future Party announced their candidate in the election, Mark Khoury.
Campaign.
It was reported that Liberal campaign materials omitted the image of Justin Trudeau, unlike other parties which used their party leader's picture. The unpopularity of the federal government has been a consideration. Senior Liberal figures considered the by-election a "must-win".
Results.
11,000 people voted in advance polling.{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible " style="width:px;"
! colspan="9"|Canadian federal by-election, September 16, 2024: LaSalle—Émard—VerdunResignation of David Lametti
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! width="250px" |Candidate
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2021 results.
! colspan="9"|2021 Canadian federal election: LaSalle—Émard—Verdun
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! width="250px" |Candidate
! width="48px" |Votes!! width="43px" |%!! width="52px" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%!! width="90px" |Expenditures
References.
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