Mirabel

Assembled from portions of four former ridings during the 2012 redistribution, the federal riding of Mirabel was contested for the first time in 2015. It covers the city of Mirabel and surrounding communities in the southern Laurentians north of Montreal, an area where rural farmland gives way to suburban residential growth along the Highway 15 corridor. The riding includes former municipalities such as Saint-Janvier, Sainte-Scholastique, Saint-Benoît, and Saint-Augustin, consolidated into the city of Mirabel in 1971.

Candidates

Simon Marcil (Bloc Québécois) — An employee of Hydro-Québec before entering politics, Marcil won the Bloc nomination in this newly created riding. He campaigned on defending Quebec's interests in Ottawa and regional economic issues, becoming one of ten Bloc Québécois candidates elected on October 19, 2015.

Mylène Freeman (NDP) — Born in Stouffville, Ontario, in 1989, Freeman held a Bachelor of Arts in political science from McGill University. She had been elected in 2011 in the former riding of Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel as part of the NDP's unexpected Quebec breakthrough, becoming one of several McGill students swept into Parliament. During the 41st Parliament, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair appointed her to the shadow cabinet as critic for the status of women.

Karl Trudel (Liberal) — A native of Saint-Joseph-du-Lac who had been active in his community for over twenty years, Trudel served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing with the Corporation des Entrepreneurs Spécialisés du Grand Montréal. He was nominated by acclamation as the Liberal candidate in June 2015.

Gordon Ferguson (Conservative) — Ferguson carried the Conservative banner in a riding where the party drew support from the more rural and agricultural areas.

Jocelyn Gifford (Green Party) — Gifford represented the Green Party in a riding where land use and agricultural preservation were relevant environmental concerns.

About the Riding

The history of Mirabel is inseparable from the saga of its airport. In 1969, the federal government expropriated nearly 39,000 hectares of farmland—affecting some 3,000 families—to build Montréal-Mirabel International Airport. The airport never achieved its planned role as Montreal's main aviation hub, and passenger service ended in 2004, leaving the facility used primarily for cargo and aerospace industry operations. In December 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the return of roughly 4,450 hectares of expropriated farmland, a decision welcomed locally as a partial correction of a long-standing grievance. The city of Mirabel itself is split between a western district that remains agricultural, with dozens of agritourism operations and orchards, and an eastern district experiencing rapid suburban growth. Aerospace manufacturing, anchored by companies operating at the former airport site, is a significant employer. Federal issues in the riding during the 2011–2015 period included the ongoing disposition of expropriated airport lands, investment in Highway 15 and Route 117 infrastructure to serve the growing population, and agricultural policy affecting the region's apple orchards, market gardens, and dairy operations.