by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

was held in the federal riding of

Lac-Saint-Jean Lac-Saint-Jean (, ) is a federal electoral district in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, northeast Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 2004, and has been represented since 2015. Demographics ...

in the

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada on 23 October 2017 following the resignation of

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Denis Lebel Denis Lebel (born May 26, 1954) is a Canadian politician who served as mayor of Roberval, Quebec, and deputy leader of the Official Opposition. Lebel was born in Roberval, Quebec. Political career Lebel was elected to the House of Commons ...

. The

Deputy Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

announced in June 2017 that he would be stepping down from Parliament. The seat was gained by the Liberals by

Richard Hébert Richard Hébert is a Canadian politician who served as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Lac-Saint-Jean in the House of Commons of Canada from his election in a 2017 by-election until his defeat in the 2019 federal election. He serv ...

on a huge swing, and a surprising gain from a governing party; similar to the one seen two months later in the South Surrey—White Rock federal by-election.

Background

Constituency

Lac-Saint-Jean is a Francophone riding in the

Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (, ) is a region in Quebec, Canada on the Labrador Peninsula. It contains the Saguenay Fjord, the estuary of the Saguenay River, stretching through much of the region. It is also known as Sagamie in French, from the fi ...

region of northeast

, and takes its name from the lake of the same name. The largest town in the riding is

Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'', an upcoming film by Sally Potter * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' ( ...

Representation

The area was represented by

since 2007, who served as a minister in the Harper Cabinet. The seat was recreated for the 2015 general election, with Lebel being re-elected in a tight four-way marginal race. What is now Lac-Saint-Jean was previously represented by the

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (, , BQ) is a centre-left politics, centre-left and list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism, Quebecois nationalism, social democracy, and the promotion o ...

from 1993 to 2007 and, provincially, three of the area's five seats are held by the

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (PQ; , ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishi ...

, while the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

was the runner-up in the riding in the past two elections.

Campaign

The seat was vacated on August 9, 2017, due to the resignation of former Conservative cabinet minister and deputy leader of the Conservative Party,

. Lebel announced his decision to resign on June 19, 2017, saying that his resignation would take effect prior to the beginning of the fall session of parliament. He had been an MP for 10 years, representing Lac-Saint-Jean since its creation in 2015 and the former riding of

Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean (; formerly known as Roberval) was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1949 until 2015. The riding was created in 1947 from parts of Lake St-John� ...

from 2007 until 2015. The warrant issued by the Speaker regarding the vacancy was received by the Chief Electoral Officer on August 9, 2017; under the ''Parliament of Canada Act'' the writ for a by-election had to be dropped no sooner than August 20, 2017, and no later than February 5, 2018 (11 and 180 days, respectively, from the warrant receipt date). On September 17, 2017, the writ was dropped for a by-election held on October 23, 2017. Former Roberval city councillor Rémy Leclerc was acclaimed as the

candidate on September 5. Saguenay Mayor

Jean Tremblay Jean Tremblay (born November 29, 1948) is a Canadian businessman and politician who was mayor of Saguenay, Quebec, Canada, from 2002 to 2017. Before that he was mayor of Chicoutimi since 1996. Tremblay received international attention from his ...

was speculated to be a candidate for the Conservative nomination, but did not run as the nomination took place before his term as mayor was completed in November 2017. Psychologist Gisèle Dallaire, the

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Dev ...

's candidate in this riding in the 2015 election, was acclaimed as her party's candidate on September 25.

Dolbeau-Mistassini Dolbeau-Mistassini () is a town in northern Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Mistassibi River, Riviere aux Rats and the Mistassini River, on Lac Saint-Jean. Dolbeau-Mistassini is in the Maria-Chapdelaine Regional County Municipality and ...

Mayor

defeated former

Mashteuiatsh Mashteuiatsh is a First Nations reserve in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada, about north from the centre of Roberval. It is the home to the Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation. It is located on a headland jutting out on the w ...

vice-chief Marjolaine Étienne for the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

nomination on September 7. Desbiens Mayor Nicolas Martel toyed with seeking the Liberal nomination, but ended up declining. Union official Marc Maltais was named the

candidate on September 26. Bloc leader

Martine Ouellet Martine Ouellet (; born April 8, 1969) is a Canadian politician who served as leader of the Bloc Québécois from 2017 to 2018. She was the Minister of Natural Resources in the Quebec government from 2012 to 2014. Ouellet was first elected to t ...

, who does not have a seat in the House of Commons, ruled out standing as a candidate in the by-election as she is not from the

region. Pianist Yves Laporte was named the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

candidate on September 28.

Background

Constituency

Representation

Campaign

Results

2015 results

References

See also