Mount Royal (electoral District)

Mount Royal (electoral District)

Mount Royal is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1925. Its population in 2006 was 98,888.

It is the most Liberal riding in Quebec and probably in the country. Réal Caouette, long-time leader of the Social Credit Party in Quebec, once said that a mailbox could win the Liberal nomination in Mount Royal and still win election just because it was red (the traditional colour of the Liberal Party). The Liberals have held the riding continuously since 1940, and have only been seriously threatened three times since then—in 1958, 1984 and 2011.

Its best-known MP is former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who represented the riding from 1965 to 1984. Its current MP, Irwin Cotler, has held the seat since 1999 when he won a riding-record 91.98 percent of the vote in a by-election. However, this is rapidly changing, since the Conservative Party has made massive progress over the past few elections and the gap has significantly narrowed.

Its official name in French is Mont-Royal.

The riding has a large Jewish population, the second largest in Canada—36.3 percent. Mount Royal and Thornhill in Ontario are the only two districts in Canada where Judaism is the most commonly practised religion.