Liberals sweep West Island ridings again
`It was important to get a renewed mandate': Lac-st-louis' Scarpaleggia
Liberal candidates once again prevailed in Montreal's three West Island ridings in Monday's federal election.
MP Francis Scarpaleggia was re-elected in the Lac-st-louis riding, marking his seventh consecutive victory since first being elected in 2004.
The riding encompasses a swath of municipalities, including Beaconsfield, Baie-d'urfé, Kirkland, Pointe-claire, Ste-anne-de-bellevue and Senneville. It also includes the western portion of Pierrefonds-roxboro and the southwest part of Île-bizard– Ste- Geneviève borough.
With nearly all 233 polls counted, Scarpaleggia collected close to 29,000 votes, approximately 55 per cent of all votes cast.
In second spot was Conservative candidate Ann Francis with 10,150 votes or 19 per cent. Jonathan Gray of the NDP was third with 7,094, followed by Rémi Lebeuf of the Bloc Québécois with 2,889.
Milan Kona-mancini of the Green party was fifth with 1,731 votes, followed by Afia Lassy of the People's Party of Canada at 1,632.
Scarpaleggia, who succeeded Clifford Lincoln as the riding 's MP 17 years ago, said that despite the pandemic, most voters he met were upbeat about going to the polls for the second time since 2019.
“I found that people were very positive about doing their democratic duty. I didn't get a negative sense at all about the election,” he said.
“Some people asked me, `Why now?' of course. But that gave me the opportunity to explain the context in the House of Commons. I firmly believe if we had gone back in the fall without the opportunity to have a refresh, everything would have ground to a halt. It's a historical fact that minority governments last a maximum of two years. That's a fact of life in our Canadian Parliamentary system.
“What happens in minority governments, after about 18 months, the Opposition senses an election is coming, and they start to slow things down, and Parliament starts to grind to a halt. They'll let the odd piece of legislation go through, just in order to say they're co-operating. But really in the day to day, things are slowing down. That's what was happening in the spring session, so I think it was important to get a renewed mandate, even if it's a minority, to send a signal to get things rolling properly again.”
Scarpaleggia also noted that many of his constituents voted at advance polls.
“A lot of people voted early,” he said. “In the last stretch, when we'd go door to door or be on train platforms, so many people said, `I already voted.' ”
In the Pierrefonds-dollard riding, Liberal incumbent Sameer Zuberi won with 27,521 votes, or 56 per cent of total votes cast.
Conservative candidate Terry Roberts finished second with 10,147 votes, or 21 per cent. NDP candidate Maninderjit Kaur Tumbar was third with 5,734 votes (12 per cent), while Nadia Bourque of the Bloc Québécois placed fourth with 4,010 votes (eight per cent). Mark Sibthorpe of the PPC collected 1,901 votes (four per cent).
In the Dorval-lachine-lasalle riding, Liberal incumbent Anju Dhillon won with 25,223 votes, or 52 per cent of the votes cast.
Cloé Rose Jenneau of the Bloc Québécois placed second with 7,542 votes (16 per cent), followed by NDP candidate Fabiola Ngamaleu Teumeni with 6,241 votes (13 per cent).
Conservative candidate Jude Bazelais was fourth with 5,754 votes (12 per cent), followed by Michael Patterson of the PPC with 2,020 votes (four per cent) and Laura Mariani of the Green party with 1,351 votes (three per cent).
In the off island riding of Vaudreuil-soulanges, Liberal incumbent Peter Schiefke won with 29,377 votes (46 per cent).
Thierry Vadnais-lapierre of the Bloc Québécois finished second with 14,117 votes (22 per cent), while Conservative Karen Cox was third with 10,425 (16.4 per cent).
Niklas Brake of the NDP placed fourth with 6,696 votes (11 per cent), followed by Cameron Stiff of the Green party with 1, 615 votes (three per cent) and Ginette Destrempes of the Free Party of Canada with 1,339 votes (two per cent).