The Liberals swept the West Island in the Quebec election Monday night, with incumbent Gregory Kelley leading the way in Jacques-Cartier.
Kelley won a landslide victory with 73 per cent of the vote, with Pina Di Dio of the Conservatives trailing far behind in second place with 11 per cent. Kelley last won the riding in 2022 with 63 per cent of votes.
The son of retired Jacques-Cartier MNA Geoffrey Kelley, he was first elected there after his father stepped down in 2018. Jacques-Cartier covers the southwestern tip of Montreal Island and includes the municipalities of Pointe-Claire, Beaconsfield, Baid-D’Urfé, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue and Senneville.
Marwah Rizqy, who is married to Kelley, announced last October she would not seek re-election in Saint-Laurent. She found herself at the centre of controversy two months later, after former Liberal leader Pablo Rodriguez expelled her from the party caucus following her decision to fire her chief of staff. Rizqy was first elected in the riding in 2018.
Running in her place was family lawyer and former city councillor Valérie Assouline, who had represented Dollard-des-Ormeaux since 2017. She won with 54 per cent of the vote, well ahead of Québec solidaire’s Étienne Loiselle-Schiettekatte with 17 per cent. Rizqy won with 50 per cent of the vote in 2022.
“I can thank her for the legacy she leaves,” Assouline said. “It’s important to underline how appreciated she was in this riding. She was present, active and luminous. I intend to act with the same engagement toward the residents of Saint-Laurent.”
Though it’s a longstanding Liberal stronghold, Assouline told The Gazette she took nothing for granted and worked hard to learn people’s concerns, adding she knocked on a lot of doors during the campaign and “it was very obvious that residents, voters, don’t want a referendum. It’s very present in the spirit of voters. We don’t need instability.”
Assouline made headlines for filing a lawsuit against Quebec’s department of youth protection in 2022 regarding the case of a seven-year-old Granby girl who died in the care of her father and stepmother in 2019.
She said her priorities as an MNA for Saint-Laurent are “education, children, youth and all vulnerable people, as well as the economy, which will be central in the coming years.”
The riding includes the borough of the same name and part of the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough.
Former Quebec Liberal MNA David Birnbaum, right, congratulates Enrico Ciccone, MNA for Marquette, on his re-election Monday at a gathering of Liberal supporters in Montreal. John Kenney / Montreal Gazette
Incumbent Enrico Ciccone claimed 55 per cent of the vote in Marquette, which includes the city of Dorval, the municipality of L’Île-Dorval and part of the Lachine borough.
The former NHL defenceman and enforcer, who ended his career with the Canadiens in 2000, said he was “very, very, very tired” following a long campaign in which he helped candidates in other ridings in addition to his own.
“Marquette is a Liberal riding,” said Ciccone, who first won his seat in 2018. “I was very fortunate they gave me a safe riding. But what I was very proud of was to get myself known. When I came in, François Ouimet had been there for 24 years before me.”
Ciccone said he’s just a regular guy who stands up for his constituents.
“People don’t see me as a politician because I don’t act like a politician. I act like the guy I was on the ice, trying to help everybody and make sure everyone feels protected.”
A longtime friend of Habs general manager Kent Hughes, with whom he played midget and bantam hockey, Ciccone said he “won’t be surprised” if the Habs make it to the Eastern Conference final again come playoff season. “After that, you never know what can happen.”
Family lawyer Brigitte Garceau coasted to victory in Robert-Baldwin, with 65 per cent of the vote. The riding includes the municipality of Dollard-des-Ormeaux and part of the Pierrefonds-Roxborough borough.
Garceau replaced former finance minister Carlos Leitão in 2022 — the same year she was awarded the title of Advocatus Emeritus by the Quebec Bar — and served as official opposition critic for the status of women and for youth protection.
Incumbent Monsef Derraji won in Nelligan, taking 63 per cent of the vote. The riding includes Kirkland and part of the Île-Bizard—Ste-Geneviève and Pierrefonds-Roxboro boroughs.
First elected in 2018, Derraji has served as deputy leader of the official opposition and his party’s critic for health and social services. Prior to politics, he worked for 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry.
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