Marc-Aurèle-Fortin

Marc-Aurèle-Fortin sits entirely within the city of Laval, the large island suburb immediately north of Montreal. The riding takes in the neighbourhoods of Auteuil, Sainte-Rose, the eastern portion of Fabreville, and the western part of Vimont. Created in 2004 from parts of four former ridings, it was consolidated entirely within Laval's boundaries following the 2012 redistribution. Named after the celebrated Quebec watercolour painter Marc-Aurèle Fortin, the district is a suburban landscape of postwar bungalows, newer housing developments, shopping centres, and green space along the Rivière des Mille Îles. Laval's population grew to 438,366 by the 2021 census—the third-largest city in Quebec—and French remains the mother tongue of roughly 70% of residents citywide, though the borough-level linguistic profile is increasingly diverse.

Candidates

Yves Robillard (Liberal) Born in 1942, Robillard holds a university education in pedagogy and human relations and led a career as a high school teacher for over 15 years. He later served as Chief of Staff to the President of the Quebec National Assembly in 1976 and subsequently as Private Secretary to the Leader of the Official Opposition. First elected to the House of Commons in 2015, Robillard sat on the Standing Committee on National Defence and was an advocate for seniors' rights and local small and medium-sized businesses.

Manon D. Lacharité (Bloc Québécois) Lacharité holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in economics and a Doctorate in business administration. She spent nearly 20 years as a professor at UQAM and the Université de Sherbrooke before entering the political arena.

Sarah Petrari (Conservative) A Fabreville resident who immigrated to Canada at age twelve, Petrari holds a Bachelor's degree in nutrition from McGill University and a Master in Business Administration from Université Laval.

Ali Faour (NDP) A community activist engaged since the age of fifteen, Faour holds a Bachelor's degree in business administration from UQAM and had worked in the business world for more than 25 years.

About the Riding

Marc-Aurèle-Fortin reflects the broader transformation of Laval from a collection of rural and semi-rural municipalities into one of Quebec's fastest-growing urban centres. The former municipality of Sainte-Rose, one of the oldest communities on Île Jésus, retains a historic village core along the Rivière des Mille Îles, while Auteuil and eastern Fabreville are characterized by newer residential subdivisions that expanded rapidly from the 1970s onward. Autoroute 440 and Autoroute 13 cut through the riding, connecting it to both central Laval and the north shore.

Transportation infrastructure has been a persistent local issue. Laval's population density and commuter traffic to and from Montreal place heavy pressure on road networks and public transit. The extension of the Réseau express métropolitain light rail system through Laval and improvements to bus service were topics of discussion in the riding. Residents in Auteuil and Sainte-Rose have long sought better transit connections to employment centres in central Laval and downtown Montreal.

The riding's population skews older relative to the city average, and seniors' services—including long-term care, home care, and access to family physicians—were prominent concerns. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified scrutiny of conditions in long-term care facilities across Laval, which experienced among the highest rates of outbreak-related deaths in Quebec during the first wave. Federal investments in seniors' programming and health transfers featured prominently in campaign discussions.