Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation (Quebec) 9/338

Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation (Quebec)

Today we're headed back to Quebec with Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation.

Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation as a riding has existed since the 2012 redistribution, taking boundaries from Argenteuil-Papineau-Mirabel and Pontiac. The population centers are Buckingham (16,685 in 2016), Lachute (12,551 in 2011) and Brownsburg-Chatham (7,209 in 2011). The riding is on the border of Ontario and Quebec, but due to the Ottawa River, it only connects once, between Grenville and Hawkesbury.

Politically, the story is similar to Abitibi—Témiscamingue and Alfred-Pellan, it has been held by the four major parties in the past 30 years. That being said, the riding has been nudged to the left over the past thirty years. The last time the Conservatives (Progressive Conservatives at the time) won the seat with 56.43%. In the last election, the Conservatives won 12.09% of the vote. Granted, there were different boundaries, but alas, the point is made. The seat is currently held by Liberal MP Stéphane Lauzon.

The 2019 election was particularly close for the Liberals. The anchor of Buckingham and the rural Liberal support gave the Liberals the seat, but the Bloc, like in many regions of Quebec, saw a resurgence in communities, particularly Lachute and Saint-André-Avellin and the corridor north of Papineauville (Election Atlas). All told, the seat was held by a 1.45% margin, making the seat 5/78 in Quebec and 14/338 in Canada by margin.

Rating:

Name: 7.8/10 - Argenteuil is the name of the regional county municipality and Petite Nation is the name of a river, so they both have relevance, I just wish it would be a little shorter/more concise.

Shape: 5.6/10 - Ottawa River side: Amazing, fantastic, never better. Everything else: what.

Individuality: 6.4/10 - The more we do these Quebec ridings, the more the elasticity feels less special, but for now it bumps it up. Also the near split in rural and urban communities in 2019 is very interesting to me.

Total: 19.8/30 (66%)

See you tomorrow in Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill!