ctvmontreal.ca

MONTREAL — A tight race is expected in Montreal’s Papineau riding, where Liberal MP Justin Trudeau won the riding from the Bloc Quebecois in the last election – but by a slim margin.

Trudeau squeaked to victory in 2008, beating his Bloc opponent by just over 1,200 votes.

The Papineau riding is largely made up of immigrants, and more than 45 percent of the people who live here list neither English nor French as their first language.

It’s also a lower income riding where the majority of people rent, and don’t own their own homes.

Trudeau says a lack of affordable, quality housing is the biggest issue.

“If someone doesn’t have a stable place to live they can’t perfect themselves, engage or create the stability that allows them to contribute,” he told CTV Montreal.

Trudeau’s critics, however, charge that his success is due to his family legacy, as the son of the late Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and the Bloc Quebecois is prepared to give him a run for his money.

Vivian Barbot was the MP before losing to Trudeau in 2008, and she’s confident her political experience will serve her well. She is currently vice-president of the Bloc Quebecois.

Barbot says she will focus on getting Bloc supporters to the polling stations on election day.

“All our people should go out and vote, last time they sort of said, okay he can’t beat her, but you know how it goes,” she said.

“Mr. Trudeau will have to speak to himself this time and not just surfing over his father’s name.”

In this multicultural part of Montreal, however, perhaps one of the challenges for the Bloc will be to woo those who don’t normally vote for them.

Local resident Gilles Vaillancourt says the neighbourhood is a multicultural mix.

“When we say ‘us’ we have to include Arabs, Chinese, anybody who comes to live here, especially in Montreal,” he said.