The Outaouais ridings have been Liberal strongholds federally since 2015 — and they just got stronger Monday night.
Gatineau’s Steven MacKinnon, Hull-Aylmer’s Greg Fergus and Sophie Chatel of Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi capitalized on their experience as incumbents with a raft of targeted regional promises to voters, such as working on:
• A new bridge over the Ottawa River in the East;
• A tramway project between Hull and Ottawa;
• More housing units, including for Université du Québec students;
• More tech jobs in the Outaouais;
• More funding for seniors’ programs;
• and formal legislation to protect Gatineau Park.
Gatineau
Steven MacKinnon, a cabinet minister under both Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney, was leading with almost 58 per cent of the vote late in the evening.
“Unbelievable,” he told the Citizen by phone. “I’m incredibly grateful, humbled, extremely happy.” He said that “voters were extremely engaged” when he campaigned door-to-door, perhaps moreso than in any election he could remember since the 1988 free-trade election.
His first priority as returning MP, he said, would be the eastern bridge over the Ottawa River. With Gatineau’s population climbing rapidly, moving people across the river has become “an extremely acute problem.”
The long-awaited sixth interprovincial bridge in the capital region will link Ottawa’s Aviation Parkway to Montée Paiement in Gatineau across Kettle Island. He recently
wrote in the Citizen,
“I will ensure its delivery, aiming for full operation by 2032-34.”
Born in Prince Edward Island, MacKinnon lived for 20 years in New Brunswick and married an Acadian. A one-time public affairs consultant and former national director of the federal Liberal party, MacKinnon made his first run for office in Gatineau in 2011, finishing third behind NDP candidate Françoise Boivin.
Four years later, MacKinnon defeated Boivin. He was re-elected in 2019 and 2021.
The veteran MP was government whip and House leader, later minister of Labour and Seniors. He briefly considered running for the Liberal leadership after Trudeau announced he was stepping down.
Most recently, he was named minister of the new Jobs and Families department by Carney.
MacKinnon was confident enough of his victory in this election to help stump for Liberals in other ridings: last week he was in Hamilton-Centre to support the local party candidate.
The other Gatineau candidates in Monday’s election: The Bloc Québécois’s Richard Nadeau; Conservative Kethlande Pierre; Daniel Simoncic for the NDP; Pierre Soublière, Marxist-Leninist; and Mathieu Saint-Jean of the Peoples’ Party of Canada.
Hull-Aylmer
Greg Fergus on Monday shook off the scrapes he has had with opposition parties while he was Speaker of the House of Commons. Late night results had him with about 60 per cent of votes cast.
This is Fergus’s fourth campaign. He captured the seat in the 2021 election with 52.5 per cent of the vote.
His top priority for his riding, he
wrote in the Citizen
, “is tackling the housing crisis in Hull–Aylmer.”
Fergus has a long history with the party. He was parliamentary secretary to prime minister Justin Trudeau, as well as to several other senior ministers. He served on the Standing Committee on Finance, and he is a founding member of the Parliamentary Black Caucus and Liberal Black Caucus, both of which he co-chaired until April 2022.
Hull-Aylmer, formerly known simply as Hull, has been a Liberal stronghold since it was created in 1917 — except from the election of former PSAC leader Nycole Turmel in 2011 as part of the Jack Layton “Orange Wave.”
Other candidates in the riding Monday included: Jill Declare, Conservative; Pascale Matecki, NDP; Alice Grondin, Bloc Québécois; Frédéric Morin-Paquette Green party candidate; Jean-Jacques Desgranges ran for the People’s Party of Canada; Alexandre Deschênes ran for the Marxist-Leninist party.
Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi
As an eight-time marathon runner, Liberal
Sophie Chatel
is used to races that require endurance — such as election campaigns. With just over two-thirds of the votes counted, she had captured about 50 per cent of the vote.
She told the Citizen Monday night she was pleased not just that the Liberals would form the next federal government, but that Quebec was also “holding strong” for the party.
Pontiac, she noted, is a riding “larger than Belgium … a microcosm of Canada” with a mix of English, French, Indigenous, rural and urban voters. The amount of door-knocking done during the campaign will send her back to the House of Commons better informed and therefore with a stronger voice for the riding, she said.
Her first local priority will be resurrecting a bill, alongside Sen. Rosa Galvez, to give formal federal protection to Gatineau Park.
Chatel first won the seat in 2021, succeeding Liberal Will Amos and more than doubling the vote count of her nearest rival, a Conservative. She is a
tax expert, former head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) tax treaty unit and the mother of twins.
She told constituents
during a debate
organized by The Equity newspaper that this election was “about choosing a leader” to deal with the Donald Trump threat.
As well, her own interest in the environment and agrifood has led her to push for official federal protection of Gatineau Park and to boost agrifood in the region. The industry has great potential, she said, “and we need to unlock it.” She
wrote in the Citizen
that her priorities for the sprawling riding are “
agriculture, forestry, housing and eco-tourism.”
Among those running against her was First Nations elder Gilbert W. Whiteduck from Kitigan Zibi, who
wrote in the Citizen
“
I will stand with and for the people with the wisdom of the years and that of my ancestors.” During the Equity debate, he pointed out
“It’s the first time an Algonquin Anishnaabe ever runs in this riding.”
Other candidates were:
Brian Nolan, Conservative; Suzanne Proulx, Bloc Québécois; Claude Bertrand, Green party; Todd Hoffman, People’s Party of Canada.
— With files from Norman Provencher
SEE MORE OTTAWA-AREA RESULTS
Please check back as we update results live.
Carleton
Nepean
Ottawa West-Nepean
Kanata
Ottawa South
Ottawa—Vanier—Gloucester
Orléans
Ottawa Centre
Outaouais roundup:
Gatineau, Hull-Aylmer, Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi
Rural Ottawa roundup: Lanark-Frontenac, Algonquin-Renfrew-Pembroke, and Prescott-Russell-Cumberland
