2018 Chicoutimi—Le Fjord federal by-election

A by-election was held in the federal riding of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord in Quebec on June 18, 2018 following the resignation of incumbent Liberal MP Denis Lemieux.

2018 Chicoutimi—Le Fjord federal by-election

July 18, 2018
Seat of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord
Turnout	36.06% ( 30.61pp)
LPC Candidate Richard Martel Lina Boivin Party Conservative Liberal Popular vote 12,580 7,032 Percentage 52.73% 29.48% Swing 36.13pp 1.61pp   NDP BQ Candidate Éric Dubois Catherine Bouchard-Tremblay Party New Democratic Bloc Québécois Popular vote 2,065 1,337 Percentage 8.66% 5.60% Swing 21.06pp 14.92pp
MP before election Denis Lemieux Liberal Elected MP Richard Martel Conservative

The seat was gained by the Conservative Party of Canada, with Richard Martel winning on a large swing of 19 points, becoming the new MP.[1] The result was a surprise as in the 2015 election, the conservative candidate had come in 4th place. Martel's victory was the first by-election loss for the Liberals since 2013.[2]

Background

Constituency

A map of the constituency in Quebec.

The riding is located about 200 kilometres north of Quebec City,[3] and consists of the northern part of the Chicoutimi borough of Saguenay, as well as the La Baie borough and the municipalities of Ferland-et-Boilleau, L'Anse-Saint-Jean, Petit-Saguenay, Rivière-Éternité and Saint-Félix-d'Otis and the unorganized territory of Lalemant.

Representation

The by-election was triggered by the announcement by Liberal MP Denis Lemieux on November 6, 2017, that he would be resigning his seat for family reasons;[4] his resignation took effect on December 1, 2017.[5] Lemieux was first elected in the 2015 federal election with 31.1% of the vote, narrowly defeating NDP incumbent Dany Morin.

Campaign

Liberal

Richard Martel on the campaign trail with Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer.

Port Saguenay board member Lina Boivin, who was endorsed by Lemieux,[6][7] defeated former Saint-Charles de Bourget mayor Michel Ringuette[8] for the Liberal nomination,[9][10] held in May 2018. A rumoured candidate for the Liberal nomination was former Paralympic athlete and head of university sport at UQAC, Philippe Gagnon.[11] Former municipal councillor and former Quebec Liberal MNA candidate Joan Simard, local businessman Simon-Pierre Murdock, who later endorsed Boivin, and Chicoutimi-Nord Municipal Councillor Marc Pettersen declined to run for the nomination.[11][12][13] "Promotion Saguenay" Director of Industrial Development and Corporate Affairs Claude Bouchard had his candidacy rejected by the federal Liberal party.[9][11]

New Democrat

Conservative MPs at the party campaign office; Gérard Deltell, Andrew Scheer, Richard Martel and Alain Rayes.

Éric Dubois, a union advisor at the CSN and former federal NDP candidate, was acclaimed as the NDP candidate on January 22, 2018.[14] Dany Morin and former Ontario MPP and federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh both expressed interest in running for the nomination but decided against it.[15][16][17]

Bloc Quebecois

Catherine Bouchard-Tremblay was acclaimed as the candidate for the Bloc Québécois on May 18, 2018.[18] Former Dubuc PQ MNA Jean-Marie Claveau[19] and teacher Valérie Tremblay[19] were rumoured to be interested in running for the Bloc Québécois nomination. Former Chicoutimi—Le Fjord BQ MP Robert Bouchard, Saguenay firefighter Mario Gagnon,[20] and UQAC political science professor Michel Roche declined to run for the nomination.[19]

The short-lived « Groupe parlementaire québécois » / « Québec debout », formed by seven Members of Parliament after they left the Bloc Québécois, considered nominating a candidate[10] but failed to do so.

Conservative

Two-time Ron Lapointe Trophy winning QMJHL coach Richard Martel was named the Conservative candidate on December 20, 2017.[21]

Green

Lynda Youde was acclaimed as the candidate for the Green Party on May 22, 2018.[22]

Warrant

The Speaker's warrant regarding the vacancy was received on December 4, 2017; under the Parliament of Canada Act the writ for a by-election had to be dropped no later than June 2, 2018, 180 days after the Chief Electoral Officer was officially notified of the vacancy via a warrant issued by the Speaker.[23] On May 13, 2018, the writ was dropped for a by-election for June 18, 2018.[24]

Results

Canadian federal by-election, June 18, 2018: Chicoutimi—Le Fjord Resignation of Denis Lemieux
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Martel	12,580	52.73	+36.13
	Liberal	Lina Boivin	7,032	29.48	-1.61
	New Democratic	Éric Dubois	2,065	8.66	-21.06
	Bloc Québécois	Catherine Bouchard-Tremblay	1,337	5.60	-14.92
	Green	Lynda Youde	736	3.09	+1.02
	Independent	John "The Engineer" Turmel	104	0.44
Total valid votes/Expense limit			23,854	100.00
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			36.06%
Eligible voters			66,152
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+18.87

2015 result

2015 Canadian federal election: Chicoutimi—Le Fjord
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Denis Lemieux	13,619	31.09	+25.34	$15,757.95
	New Democratic	Dany Morin	13,019	29.72	-7.96	$61,908.19
	Bloc Québécois	Élise Gauthier	8,990	20.52	-8.29	$34,879.59
	Conservative	Caroline Ste-Marie	7,270	16.60	-8.97	$33,846.47
	Green	Dany St-Gelais	907	2.07	+0.55	$64.43
Total valid votes/Expense limit			43,805	98.33		$201,130.77
Total rejected ballots			745	1.67	–
Turnout			44,550	66.67	–
Eligible voters			66,821
	Liberal gain from New Democratic		Swing		+16.65
Source: Elections Canada[25][26]

References

1. "Conservatives' Richard Martel wins in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord byelection". CBC News. June 19, 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
2. Montpetit, Jonathan (June 20, 2018). "How the federal Conservatives handed the Liberals their first byelection loss since 2013". CBC News. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
3. Dougherty, Kevin (June 15, 2018). "Conservatives hoping Quebec nationalist vote will win them hotly disputed byelection". CBC News. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
4. "Quebec member of Parliament Denis Lemieux resigns seat". CBC News. November 6, 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
5. "Profile - Lemieux, Denis". Lop.parl.ca. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
6. "Investiture libérale dans Chicoutimi-Le Fjord : Lina Boivin en réflexion". Le Quotidien (in French). 2018-03-15. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
7. Plamondon, Priscilla (April 26, 2018). "L'ex-député fédéral Denis Lemieux appuie la femme d'affaires Lina Boivin". Ici.Radio-Canada.ca (in French). Société Radio-Canada. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
8. "Un 2e candidat intéressé par l'investiture libérale dans Chicoutimi-Le Fjord". Radio-Canada.ca (in French). Retrieved 2018-03-13.
9. "Lutte à deux à l'investiture libérale". Le Quotidien (in French). 2018-05-04. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
10. "Chicoutimi-Le Fjord: Lina Boivin représentera le PLC à la partielle | Politique canadienne". La Presse (in French). 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
11. Gagnon, Mélyssa (January 13, 2018). "Claude Bouchard confirme son intérêt pour le PLC". Le Quotidien (in French). Retrieved January 16, 2018.
12. Brisson, Anne-Claude; Gagnon, Mélyssa (January 27, 2018). "Marc Pettersen renonce". Le Quotidien (in French). Retrieved February 3, 2018.
13. Gauthier, Myriam (April 9, 2018). "Simon-Pierre Murdock ne se lancera pas". Le Quotidien (in French). Retrieved April 9, 2018.
14. Gauthier, Myriam (January 22, 2018). "Éric Dubois souhaite être candidat du NPD". Le Quotidien (in French). Retrieved January 24, 2018.
15. Girard, Pascal (November 7, 2017). "Dany Morin sonde le terrain". Le Quotidien (in French). Retrieved December 20, 2017.
16. Wright Allen, Samantha (April 4, 2018). "NDP discord shows lack of focus, poor caucus management from Singh, say insiders". Hill Times. Ottawa. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
17. "Jagmeet Singh ne serait pas candidat". Le Quotidien (in French). 2018-04-05. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
18. "Catherine Bouchard-Tremblay running for Bloc in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord by-election". Montreal Gazette. The Canadian Press. May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
19. Gauthier, Myriam (18 February 2018). "Le Bloc québécois a son candidat dans Chicoutimi-Le Fjord". Le Quotidien. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
20. "Le Parti conservateur du Canada confirme la candidature de Richard Martel". Ici.Radio-Canada.ca (in French). Retrieved 2018-01-19.
21. Houle, Jean (December 20, 2017). "L'ex-entraîneur Richard Martel officiellement candidat pour le Parti conservateur". Journal de Quebec (in French). Retrieved December 20, 2017.
22. "Élection partielle : le Parti vert présente sa candidate". Ici.Radio-Canada.ca (in French). May 22, 2018. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
23. "Vacant Seats in the House of Commons Since the 2015 General Election". Elections Canada. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
24. "Federal by-election to be held June 18 in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord". Montreal Gazette. 2018-05-13. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
25. "Confirmed candidates for Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, 30 September 2015". Elections Canada. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
26. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived August 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine

See also

• By-elections to the 42nd Canadian Parliament