Pontiac (electoral district)

Pontiac (formerly known as Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle) is a federal electoral district in western Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1949 and since 1968.

For the provincial ridings, see Pontiac (provincial electoral district).

Pontiac

Quebec electoral district
Pontiac in relation to other Quebec federal electoral districts
Federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
MP	Will Amos Liberal
District created	1867
First contested	1867
Last contested	2019
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2011)[1]	106,499
Electors (2015)	86,585
Area (km²)[2]	27,588.31
Pop. density (per km²)	3.9
Census divisions	Gatineau, La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau, Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais, Pontiac
Census subdivisions	Alleyn-et-Cawood, Aumond, Blue Sea, Bryson, Bois-Franc, Bouchette, Bristol, Campbell's Bay, Cantley, Cascades-Malignes, Cayamant, Chelsea, Chichester, Clarendon, Déléage, Denholm, Dépôt-Échouani, Egan-Sud, Fort Coulonge, Gatineau, Gracefield, Grand-Remous, Kazabazua, Kitigan Zibi, Lac-Lenôtre, Lac-Moselle, Lac-Nilgaut, Lac-Pythonga, Lac-Rapide, Lac-Sainte-Marie, La Pêche, L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet, L'Isle-aux-Aullumettes, Litchfield, Low, Maniwaki, Mansfield-et-Pontefract, Messines, Montcerf-Lytton, Otter Lake, Pontiac, Portage-du-Fort, Rapides-des-Joachims, Sainte-Thérèse-de-la-Gatineau, Shawville, Sheenboro, Thorne, Val-des-Monts, Waltham

From 1980 until 2011 and again in 2015, Pontiac was a bellwether electoral district whose electoral winner also was a member of the winning party.

History

The electoral district existed over three distinct periods:

• It was created by the British North America Act of 1867 which preserved existing electoral districts in Lower Canada. It was redistributed into the new electoral districts of Pontiac—Témiscamingue and Villeneuve in 1947.
• In 1966, an electoral district of Pontiac was created from Pontiac—Témiscamingue and parts of Gatineau and Labelle. Then, in 1978, it was renamed "Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle".
• In 2003, the electoral district of Pontiac was created again during a redistribution of the ridings in western Quebec.

Pontiac lost territory to Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation and gained territory from Hull—Aylmer and Gatineau during the 2012 electoral redistribution.

Geography

The electoral district includes:

• the regional county municipality of Pontiac
• the Regional County Municipality of La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau, including Rapid Lake and Kitigan Zibi indian reserves
• that part of the City of Gatineau northwest of a line following Montée Paiment to Autoroute 50 to Boulevard la Vérendrye Ouest.
• that part of the City of Gatineau northwest of a line following Promenade de la Gatineau to Boulevard Saint-Raymond to Chemin Pink to Boulevard des Grives to Boulevard des Allumettières to Chemin Eardley
• the regional county municipality of Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais (excepting L'Ange-Gardien and Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette)

The neighbouring ridings are Abitibi—Témiscamingue, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, Laurentides—Labelle, Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, Hull—Aylmer and Gatineau (in Quebec) and Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, Ottawa—Orléans, Ottawa West—Nepean, Carleton—Mississippi Mills, and Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke (in Ontario).

Linguistic demographics

• Anglophone: 36%
• Francophone: 58%
• Allophone: 6%

Members of Parliament

This riding has elected the following Members of Parliament:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
Pontiac
1st	1867–1872		Edmund Heath	Conservative
2nd	1872–1874		William McKay Wright	Liberal–Conservative
3rd	1874–1878
4th	1878–1882		John Poupore	Conservative
5th	1882–1887		John Bryson
6th	1887–1891
7th	1891–1892		Thomas Murray	Liberal
	1892–1896		John Bryson	Conservative
8th	1896–1900		William Joseph Poupore
9th	1900–1904		Thomas Murray	Liberal
10th	1904–1908		Gerald Hugh Brabazon	Conservative
11th	1908–1911		George Frederick Hodgins	Liberal
12th	1911–1917		Gerald Hugh Brabazon	Conservative
13th	1917–1921		Frank S. Cahill	Liberal
14th	1921–1925
15th	1925–1926
16th	1926–1930
17th	1930–1935		Charles Bélec	Conservative
18th	1935–1940		Wallace McDonald	Liberal
19th	1940–1945
20th	1945–1946
	1946–1949		Réal Caouette	Social Credit
Riding dissolved into Pontiac—Témiscamingue and Villeneuve
Riding re-created from Pontiac—Témiscamingue, Gatineau and Labelle
28th	1968–1972		Thomas Lefebvre	Liberal
29th	1972–1974
30th	1974–1979
Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle
31st	1979–1980		Thomas Lefebvre	Liberal
32nd	1980–1984
33rd	1984–1988		Barry Moore	Progressive Conservative
34th	1988–1993
35th	1993–1997		Robert Bertrand	Liberal
36th	1997–2000
37th	2000–2004
Pontiac
38th	2004–2006		David Smith	Liberal
39th	2006–2008		Lawrence Cannon	Conservative
40th	2008–2011
41st	2011–2015		Mathieu Ravignat	New Democratic
42nd	2015–2019		Will Amos	Liberal
43rd	2019–present

Election results

Graph of election results in Pontiac (since 1968, minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

Pontiac, 2003-present

2019 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Will Amos	30,217	48.9
	Conservative	Dave Blackburn	10,416	16.8
	Bloc Québécois	Jonathan Carreiro-Benoit	9,929	16.1
	New Democratic	Denise Giroux	6,503	10.5
	Green	Claude Bertrand	3,762	6.1
	People's	Mario Belec	775	1.3
	Veterans Coalition	Shawn Stewart	194	0.3
	Marxist–Leninist	Louis Lang	51	0.1
Total valid votes/Expense limit			61,847	100.0
Total rejected ballots			661
Turnout			62,508	68.2
Eligible voters			91,656
Source: Elections Canada[3][4]

2015 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Will Amos	34,154	54.54	+39.35	$127,717.07
	New Democratic	Mathieu Ravignat	14,095	22.51	-24.76	$47,758.81
	Conservative	Benjamin Woodman	8,721	13.93	-12.26	$35,653.16
	Bloc Québécois	Nicolas Lepage	4,327	6.91	-2.64	–
	Green	Colin Griffiths	1,089	1.74	+0.11	$7,418.25
	Strength in Democracy	Pascal Médieu	131	0.21	–	$379.41
	Marxist–Leninist	Louis Lang	108	0.17	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			62,625	100.0		$254,590.45
Total rejected ballots			467	–	–
Turnout			63,092	–	–
Eligible voters			87,365
Source: Elections Canada[5][6]

2011 federal election redistributed results[7]
Party		Vote	%
	New Democratic	23,809	47.27
	Conservative	13,189	26.19
	Liberal	7,649	15.19
	Bloc Québécois	4,810	9.55
	Green	823	1.63
	Others	87	0.17

2011 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Mathieu Ravignat	22,376	45.71	+30.28
	Conservative	Lawrence Cannon	14,441	29.50	-3.20
	Liberal	Cindy Duncan McMillan	6,242	12.75	-11.49
	Bloc Québécois	Maude Tremblay	4,917	10.05	-12.28
	Green	Louis-Philippe Mayrand	849	1.73	-3.28
	Marxist–Leninist	Benoit Legros	124	0.25	-0.01
Total valid votes/Expense limit			48,949	100.00
Total rejected ballots			413	0.84	+0.13
Turnout			49,362	60.00
Eligible voters			82,308	–	–

2008 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Lawrence Cannon	14,023	32.70	-0.93	$79,996
	Liberal	Cindy Duncan McMillan	10,396	24.24	+0.09	$20,896
	Bloc Québécois	Marius Tremblay	9,576	22.33	-6.54	$47,435
	New Democratic	Céline Brault	6,616	15.43	+5.47	$12,004
	Green	André Sylvestre	2,148	5.01	+1.85	$12,545
	Marxist–Leninist	Benoit Legros	112	0.26	+0.04
Total valid votes/Expense limit			42,871	100.00	$96,386
Total rejected ballots			306	0.71
Turnout			43,177
	Conservative hold		Swing		-0.51

2006 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Lawrence Cannon	16,067	33.63	+11.48	$71,020
	Bloc Québécois	Christine Emond Lapointe	13,790	28.87	-0.32	$47,724
	Liberal	David Smith	11,539	24.15	-14.21	$50,925
	New Democratic	Celine Brault	4,759	9.96	+4.17	$23,543
	Green	Moe Garahan	1,512	3.16	+2.84	$4,974
	Marxist–Leninist	Benoit Legros	107	0.22	-0.11
Total valid votes/Expense limit			47,774	100.00	$89,728
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		-12.8

2004 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	David Smith	15,358	38.36	-7.03	$68,705
	Bloc Québécois	L. Hubert Leduc	11,685	29.19	-2.89	$15,853
	Conservative	Judith Grant	8,869	22.15	+3.70	$62,101
	New Democratic	Gretchen Schwarz	2,317	5.79	+3.94	$2,580
	Green	Thierry Vicente	1,673	4.18	+2.76	$1,213
	Marxist–Leninist	Benoit Legros	132	0.33	+0.13
Total valid votes/Expense limit			40,034	100.00	$87,529
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.07

Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election.

Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle, 1979-2003

2000 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Bertrand	20,590	45.39	-0.39
	Bloc Québécois	Johanne Deschamps	14,552	32.08	0.07
	Alliance	Judith Grant	6,587	14.52
	Progressive Conservative	Benoit Larocque	1,784	3.93	-14.56
	New Democratic	Melissa Hunter	836	1.84	-0.37
	Green	Gretchen Schwarz	645	1.42
	Natural Law	Eleanor Hyodo	184	0.41	-0.56
	Marxist–Leninist	Christian Legeais	92	0.20
	Independent	Thomas J. Sabourin	90	0.20
Total valid votes			45,360	100.00

1997 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Bertrand	22,736	45.78	+5.71
	Bloc Québécois	Robert Coulombe	15,897	32.01	-1.55
	Progressive Conservative	Pierre Miller	9,187	18.50	-3.62
	New Democratic	Brenda Lee	1,097	2.21
	Natural Law	Marc Lacroix	479	0.96
	Christian Heritage	Thomas Sabourin	269	0.54
Total valid votes			49,665	100.00

1993 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Bertrand	17,377	40.07	+9.83
	Bloc Québécois	Claude Radermaker	14,554	33.56
	Progressive Conservative	Barry Moore	9,593	22.12	-31.43
	National	Brian Corriveau	755	1.74
	New Democratic	Nicole Des Roches	682	1.57	-14.63
	Independent	Glen Emmett Patrick Kealey	402	0.93
Total valid votes			43,363	100.00

1988 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Barry Moore	20,522	53.56	-8.40
	Liberal	Brian Murphy	11,589	30.24	+1.69
	New Democratic	John Trent	6,207	16.20	+8.60
Total valid votes			38,318	100.00

1984 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Barry Moore	21,754	61.96	+45.18
	Liberal	Elizabeth Dickson	10,025	28.55	-41.84
	New Democratic	Paul Rowland	2,667	7.60	-1.57
	Parti nationaliste	Dominique Dealbuquerque	524	1.49
	Commonwealth of Canada	Donna Craig-Méthot	141	0.40
Total valid votes			35,111	100.00

1980 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Lefebvre	21,605	70.39	+6.62
	Progressive Conservative	André Benoit	5,151	16.78	-1.64
	New Democratic	Jean-Pierre Paillet	2,813	9.16	+3.87
	Rhinoceros	Gaston Lagaffe Beauregard	643	2.09	+0.22
	Union populaire	Vianney Lehouiller	306	1.00	+0.07
	Marxist–Leninist	Alain Charette	176	0.57
Total valid votes			30,694	100.00

1979 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Lefebvre	20,253	63.76	+8.09
	Progressive Conservative	Sant Singh	5,851	18.42	-4.82
	Social Credit	Rita Jones	3,084	9.71	-5.24
	New Democratic	Ida Brown	1,682	5.30	-0.84
	Rhinoceros	Gaston Beauregard	597	1.88
	Union populaire	Vianney Lehouiller	295	0.93
Total valid votes			31,762	100.00

Pontiac, 1968-1979

1974 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Lefebvre	12,642	55.67	+4.91
	Progressive Conservative	Sant Singh	5,277	23.24	+6.03
	Social Credit	Emmanuel Pétrin	3,394	14.95	-13.15
	New Democratic	Raymond Carrier	1,394	6.14	+2.20
Total valid votes			22,707	100.00

1972 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Lefebvre	11,780	50.76	+1.70
	Social Credit	L.-P. Larocque	6,519	28.09	+16.51
	Progressive Conservative	Octave Vallée	3,993	17.21	-18.18
	New Democratic	André Synnott	913	3.93	-0.02
Total valid votes			23,205	100.00

Note: Social Credit vote is compared to Ralliement créditiste vote in the 1968 election.

1968 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Thomas Lefebvre	10,250	49.07
	Progressive Conservative	Paul Martineau	7,392	35.39
	Ralliement créditiste	Louis-P. Larocque	2,420	11.59
	New Democratic	James A. wood Shannon	827	3.96
Total valid votes			20,889	100.00

Pontiac, 1867-1948

Canadian federal by-election, 16 September 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
On Mr. McDonald's death, 2 May 1946
	Social Credit	Réal Caouette	11,412	35.86	+17.68
	Liberal	Lucien Labelle	10,379	32.61	-8.77
	Progressive Conservative	Hector-Émile Bélec	7,487	23.53	+4.47
	Unknown	Bernard Molloy	1,975	6.21
	Unknown	Oscar Roy	572	1.80
Total valid votes			31,825	100.00

1945 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wallace Reginald McDonald	13,325	41.38	-2.24
	Progressive Conservative	Thomas Edward McCool	6,136	19.06
	Social Credit	Réal Caouette	5,852	18.17
	Bloc populaire	Georges-Antoine Rioux	4,433	13.77
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Antoine E. Titley	2,453	7.62
Total valid votes			32,199	100.00

1940 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wallace Reginald McDonald	13,206	43.62	+12.36
	Independent Liberal	Joseph-Édouard Piché	11,941	39.44
	Unknown	Ernest Carrier	5,128	16.94
Total valid votes			30,275	100.00

1935 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wallace Reginald McDonald	5,708	31.26
	Liberal	Joseph-Édouard Piché	5,626	30.81
	Conservative	Joseph-Aurèle Raymond	4,409	24.14	-16.68
	Reconstruction	Dieudonné Lapointe	2,519	13.79
Total valid votes			18,262	100.00

1930 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Bélec	8,884	40.82	+5.41
	Independent Liberal	J.-Philippe Coté	6,988	32.11
	Liberal	Frank S. Cahill	5,891	27.07	-37.52
Total valid votes			21,763	100.00

1926 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frank S. Cahill	11,166	64.59	+15.36
	Conservative	Lucien-Alfred Ladouceur	6,121	35.41	+5.05
Total valid votes			17,287	100.0

1925 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frank S. Cahill	7,562	49.23	-17.35
	Conservative	Lucien Alfred Ladouceur	4,663	30.36	+7.52
	Independent Liberal	Arthur Lepage	3,136	20.42
Total valid votes			15,361	100.00

1921 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frank S. Cahill	11,077	66.58	-10.92
	Conservative	George Benjamin Campbell	3,800	22.84	+0.34
	Progressive	George A. Landon	1,760	10.58
Total valid votes			16,637	100.00

Note: Conservative vote is compared to Government vote in 1917 election, and Liberal vote is compared to Opposition vote

1917 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Opposition (Laurier Liberals)	Frank S. Cahill	5,548	77.50
	Government (Unionist)	Joseph David Bastien	1,611	22.50	-22.08
Total valid votes			7,159	100.00

1911 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gerald Hugh Brabazon	2,059	44.59	+3.15
	Liberal	Frank "S." Cahill	1,393	30.16
	Liberal	George Frederick Hodgins	1,166	25.25	-33.32
Total valid votes			4,618	100.00

1908 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Frederick Hodgins	2,543	58.57	+9.78
	Conservative	Gerald Hugh Brabazon	1,799	41.43	-9.78
Total valid votes			4,342	100.00

1904 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gerald Hugh Brabazon	2,001	51.22	+3.87
	Liberal	George Frederick Hodgins	1,906	48.78	-3.87
Total valid votes			3,907	100.00

1900 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Murray	1,798	52.65	+12.27
	Conservative	Gerald Hugh Brabazon	1,617	47.35	-12.27
Total valid votes			3,415	100.00

1896 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	W.J. Poupore	1,980	59.62
	Liberal	T.C. Gaboury	1,341	40.38
Total valid votes			3,321	100.00

By-election on 26 June 1892 On election being declared void, 9 May 1892
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	John Bryson	??
	Liberal	Thomas Murray	??

1891 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Murray	1,100	41.01	+4.52
	Unknown	H.M. McLean	795	29.64
	Conservative	John Bryson	787	29.34	-34.16
Total valid votes			2,682	100.00

1887 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Bryson	1,681	63.51	+17.40
	Liberal	Thomas Craig	966	36.49
Total valid votes			2,647	100.00

1882 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Bryson	1,047	46.10	-7.95
	Unknown	N. McCuaig	931	41.00
	Unknown	W. Somerville	293	12.90
Total valid votes			2,271	100.00

1878 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Poupore	1,381	54.05
	Unknown	Thomas Murray	1,174	45.95
Total valid votes			2,555	100.00

1874 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal–Conservative	William McKay Wright	acclaimed

1872 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal–Conservative	William McKay Wright	1,604	54.80
	Unknown	Thomas Murray	1,323	45.20
Total valid votes			2,927	100.00

1867 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Edmund Heath	acclaimed

See also

• List of Canadian federal electoral districts
• Past Canadian electoral districts

References

• "(Code 24050) Census Profile". 2011 census. Statistics Canada. 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
• Campaign expense data from Elections Canada

Riding history from the Library of Parliament:

• Pontiac 1867-1947
• Pontiac 1966-1978
• Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle 1978-2003
• Pontiac 2003-present
• 2011 Results from Elections Canada

Notes

1. Statistics Canada: 2011
2. Statistics Canada: 2011
3. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
4. "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
5. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Pontiac, 30 September 2015
6. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates
7. Pundits' Guide to Canadian Elections