A by-election was held in the federal riding of

Chicoutimi—Le Fjord Chicoutimi—Le Fjord (formerly known as Chicoutimi) is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1925. The riding consists of the northern part of the Chicoutimi borough ...

in Quebec on June 18, 2018, following the resignation of incumbent Liberal MP

Denis Lemieux Denis Lemieux (born 1964) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 Canadian federal election The 2015 Canadian federal election was held on Oc ...

. The seat was gained by the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

, with Richard Martel winning on a large swing of 19 points, becoming the new MP. The result was a surprise as in the

2015 election Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burundian presidential election 21 July 2015 * 2015-16 Central African g ...

, the conservative candidate had come in 4th place. Martel's victory was the first by-election loss for the Liberals since 2013.

Background

Constituency

The riding is located about 200 kilometres north of

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

, and consists of the northern part of the Chicoutimi borough of Saguenay, as well as the

La Baie La Baie (, ) is one of three boroughs in the city of Saguenay, Quebec, Canada. It was created during Quebec's municipal reorganization in 2002. From 1976 to 2001, it was known as the Town of La Baie, a municipality composed of the Grande-Bai ...

borough and the municipalities of Ferland-et-Boilleau, L'Anse-Saint-Jean,

Petit-Saguenay Petit-Saguenay () is a municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec, located in Le Fjord-du-Saguenay Regional County Municipality. The municipality, located on Route 170 near L'Anse-Saint-Jean, had a population of 727 in the Canada 2011 Cen ...

, Rivière-Éternité and Saint-Félix-d'Otis and the unorganized territory of

Lalemant Lallemant is a French surname that may originate in the phrase "l’Allemand", meaning "the German." Variants of the name include: Laleman, Lalemand, Lalemant, Lalleman, L'allemand, and Lallemand. Notable people with the surname or variants include ...

Representation

The by-election was triggered by the announcement by Liberal MP

on November 6, 2017, that he would be resigning his seat for family reasons; his resignation took effect on December 1, 2017. Lemieux was first elected in the 2015 federal election with 31.1% of the vote, narrowly defeating NDP incumbent

Dany Morin Dany Morin (born 19 December 1985) is a Canadian businessman and former politician, who served in the House of Commons of Canada from 2011 to 2015. He represented the electoral district of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord as a member of the New Democratic ...

Campaign

Liberal

Port Saguenay board member Lina Boivin, who was endorsed by Lemieux, defeated former Saint-Charles de Bourget mayor Michel Ringuette for the Liberal nomination, held in May 2018. A rumoured candidate for the Liberal nomination was former

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

athlete and head of university sport at UQAC, Philippe Gagnon. Former municipal councillor and former Quebec Liberal MNA candidate Joan Simard, local businessman Simon-Pierre Murdock, who later endorsed Boivin, and Chicoutimi-Nord Municipal Councillor Marc Pettersen declined to run for the nomination. "Promotion Saguenay" Director of Industrial Development and Corporate Affairs Claude Bouchard had his candidacy rejected by the federal Liberal party.

New Democrat

Éric Dubois, a union advisor at the CSN and former federal

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Dev ...

candidate, was acclaimed as the NDP candidate on January 22, 2018. Dany Morin and former Ontario MPP and federal NDP leader

Jagmeet Singh Jagmeet Singh Jimmy Dhaliwal (born January 2, 1979) is a Canadian former politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2017 to 2025 and as the Member of Parliament (Canada), member of Parliament (MP) for Burnaby Sou ...

both expressed interest in running for the nomination but decided against it.

Bloc Quebecois

Catherine Bouchard-Tremblay was acclaimed as the candidate for the

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (, , BQ) is a centre-left politics, centre-left and list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism, Quebecois nationalism, social democracy, and the promotion o ...

on May 18, 2018. Former Dubuc PQ MNA Jean-Marie Claveau and teacher Valérie Tremblay were rumoured to be interested in running for the Bloc Québécois nomination. Former Chicoutimi—Le Fjord BQ MP

Robert Bouchard Robert Bouchard (born March 30, 1943) is a Canadian politician. Born in Saint-Émond, Quebec, Bouchard represented the riding of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2011 as a member of the Bloc Québécois ...

, Saguenay firefighter Mario Gagnon, and UQAC political science professor Michel Roche declined to run for the nomination. The short-lived « Groupe parlementaire québécois » / «

Québec debout Québec debout (), sometimes styled Québec Debout ( Stand Up, Quebec or Rise Up, Quebec), formerly the Groupe parlementaire québécois () was a Quebec-based parliamentary group in the House of Commons of Canada during the 42nd Canadian Parliam ...

», formed by seven members of parliament after they left the

, considered nominating a candidate but failed to do so.

Conservative

Two-time Ron Lapointe Trophy winning

QMJHL The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL; , LHJMQ), formerly the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The league includes teams in Quebec ...

coach Richard Martel was named the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

candidate on December 20, 2017.

Green

Lynda Youde was acclaimed as the candidate for the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

on May 22, 2018.

Warrant

The Speaker's warrant regarding the vacancy was received on December 4, 2017; under the ''Parliament of Canada Act'' the writ for a by-election had to be dropped no later than June 2, 2018, 180 days after the Chief Electoral Officer was officially notified of the vacancy via a warrant issued by the

Speaker Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Speaker" (song), by David ...

. On May 13, 2018, the writ was dropped for a by-election for June 18, 2018.