My proposed names for Quebec's ridings

[Hatman 🍁]

I decided to go through the large list of Quebec's provincial ridings that happened to be arbitrarily named for people (and not based on its geography) and have come up with better, more geographically-based names for them. Feed back would be much appreciated. (I'll probably be using this in a future blog entry)


(Part 1)

Acadie --> Ahuntsic—Bordeaux—Vertu. In reality, “Acadie” isn't worst name for this riding, as it is bifurcated by Boul. Acadie. However, in the name of coming up with a more inclusing moniker for the riding, I have given it this new name. The riding includes the southern part of the Ahuntsic District of Montreal, and the neighbourhoods of Bordeaux and Vertu.

Anjou—Louis-Riel --> No change. Despite this riding not changing boundaries, “Louis-Riel” was appended to the riding name in 2012. Despite the riding having a person's name appended to it, the change makes sense, as the riding contains all of Anjou plus a large part of the Louis-Riel municipal district of Montreal (which also contains Louis-Riel Park). And so, I'm not going to suggest a better name for this riding.

Bertrand --> Laurentides.  This riding contains a number of communities along Autoroute 15 in the Laurentian mountains, running from Prevost to Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts. Most of these communities can be found within Les Laurentides MRC, and the rest of the communities in the riding are still within the Laurentian region (English for Laurentides), so it makes sense to call the riding Laurentides.

Borduas --> Borduas—Les Patriotes. This riding contains part of the Richelieu Valley east of Montreal, running from the Beloeil – Mont-Saint-Hilaire twin cities in the south to Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu in the north. The southern part of the riding can be found in the federal riding of Chambly—Borduas, while the northern part of the riding is in the federal riding of Vercheres—Les Patriotes. For this reason, I've kept the “Borduas” name in the riding and added “Les Patriotes”, which refers to Richelieu valley north of Beloeil/Mont-Saint-Hilaire.

Bourassa-Sauve --> Montreal-Nord. This riding is bifurcated by Boul. Bourassa, and also covers most of the federal riding of Bourassa, so one can understand having “Bourassa” in the name. However, the riding also covers most of the Montreal borough of Montreal-Nord, so I think it makes more sense to name the riding after the borough.

Bourget --> Longue-Pointe—Tetreaultville.  This riding contains the municipal district of Tetreaultville in the east end of Montreal, plus the neighbourhood of Longue-Pointe (which forms part of the district of Maisonneuve-Longue-Pointe). My suggested name puts these two places together.

Chapleau --> Gatineau. This district contains much of the Old city of Gatineau, so it makes sense to name the riding “Gatineau”. However, this would create a conflict, as there is another riding called “Gatineau”, located to the north of Chapleau. The real life riding of “Gatineau” is named for either the river or the historic Gatineau County, so I would re-name that riding Riviere-Gatineau as the riding follows the entirety of the Gatineau River north of the city of Gatineau.

Chauveau --> Haute-Saint-Charles—Jacques-Cartier. This riding is located in the northern suburbs of Quebec City, and extends northward into the hinterland of the Jacques-Cartier MRC. Most of the population lives in the Quebec City suburbs, which are located near the upper portion of the Saint-Charles River. North of the city, the riding takes in part of the Jacques-Cartier MRC, named for the Jacques-Cartier River which also runs through the riding. I decided to lump the two river names (adding “Haute” to Saint-Charles, to reflect that the riding surrounds the upper part of the river) together to form my proposed riding name.

Cremazie --> Ahuntsic—Saint-Sulpice—Sault-au-Recollet. Cremazie takes in the northern half of Ahuntsic, and also includes the entirety of the Sault-au-Recollet municipal district, and the neighbourhood of of Saint-Sulpice. The riding also contains a small part of Montreal-Nord borough, but I think my proposed riding name is long enough.

D'Arcy-McGee --> Cote-Saint-Luc—Hampstead—Snowdon. This riding consists of the West Island cities of Cote-Saint-Luc and Hampstead as well as part of Cote-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grace borough in Montreal (parts of Loyola and Snowdon districts). The Loyola portion is close to Cote-Saint-Luc Rd, so I figured the name “Cote-Saint-Luc” could refer to this region as well. That's why I only added Snowdon to the name, leaving Loyola out.

Dubuc --> Le Fjord. Federally, this riding makes up most of the geographical area of the riding of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord. The main difference is the former city of Chicoutimi has been removed. So, I figured I would use the federal name of the riding, but drop “Chicoutimi”. “Fjord” refers to the Saguenay River, which forms a Fjord-like inlet off of the St. Lawrence.

Duplessis --> Sept-Iles—Basse-Cote-Nord. There are so many possibilities for naming this district, which takes up much of northeastern Quebec. The tourist region that covers this area is also called Duplessis, but I loathe keeping that name, as it's named after Quebec's most controversial Premier. The largest communitiy in the riding is Sept-Iles, which is also the name of one of the MRC's in the riding. I also added the name “Basse-Cote-Nord” (Lower North Coast), in a hope that it would be enough to refer to the rest of the riding, which mostly extends along the north coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Fabre --> Laval-Ouest. “Laval-Ouest” is perhaps not the most original name for this riding, but it may be the best. The riding contains the western part of the City of Laval, and also contains a neighbourhood named “Laval-Ouest”. The riding also contains the neighbourhoods of Fabreville and Sainte-Dorothee, so if the people in those neighbourhoods feel left out, another possible name would be “Laval-Ouest—Fabreville—Sainte-Dorothee”. Or perhaps use the current federal riding name for the area, which is “Laval—Les-Iles” (formerly Laval-Ouest).

Gouin --> La Petite-Patrie. Gouin contains all of the “La Petite-Patrie” neighbourhood in Montreal, as well as some territory in the Etienne-Desmarteau municipal district. I opted against adding “Etienne-Desmarteau” to the riding name, as it is in itself a district named after a person, and not based on any particular neighbourhood. “La Petite-Patrie” is a well known enough name to use for the entire riding.

Groulx --> Boisbriand—Sainte-Therese—Rosemere. This north shore riding consists of the cities of Boisbriand, Sainte-Theresse and Rosemere (hence my proposed name), but also a small portion of Blainville. If the people in Blainville feel excluded, an alternate name for this riding could be “Riviere-des-Mille-Iles”, for the river that forms the southern border of the riding.

Jacques-Cartier --> Lac-Saint-Louis. You can draw a riding anywhere in Quebec and call it “Jacques-Cartier” as there are place names everywhere named for him. Montreal Island used to be Jacques-Cartier County, and this riding can be found on the west end of Montreal Island. There are too many cities in the riding to put them all in the riding name, so my proposed name for the riding borrows the federal riding name for the area- Lac-Saint-Louis. This name is for the large lake the St. Lawrence River forms on the southern boundary of the riding. It would actually be a better name for the provincial riding than the federal riding, as the federal riding contains territory that is further removed from the lake than the provincial riding.

Jean-Lesage --> Beauport—Limoilou. This riding consists of part of the east end of Quebec City. It includes the Limoilou area and part of the former city of Beauport. The federal riding in the area is also  called “Beauport—Limoilou”, so I decided it would make a good provincial riding name as well.

Jeanne-Mance—Viger --> Saint-Leonard. This would be a no brainer, as Jeanne-Mance—Viger corresponds exactly to the borough of Saint-Leonard.

Jean-Talon --> Sainte-Foy—Sillery. This riding contains part of the fomer city of Sainte-Foy and the former city of Sillery, two western suburbs of Quebec City. I've put the two former city names together to form my proposed name for the riding.

Johnson --> Drummond—Acton. This riding takes in the southern half of the city of Drummondville, as well as the entirety of the Acton MRC, the southern part of the Drummond MRC as well as nearby municipalities. It was difficult coming up with a good name for the riding, which also includes parts of the historic counties of Bagot and Shefford, but not enough of either to warrant including their names in my proposed name. Most of the territory of the riding is either in the Drummond or Acton MRCs, so I decided to go with “Drummond—Acton” for the riding name.

[Hatman 🍁]

(Part 2)



LaFontaine --> Riviere-des-Prairies. This riding takes in the entirety of the neighbourhood of Riviere-des-Prairies in the Borough of Riviere-des-Prairies—Pointe-aux-Trembles in the north end of Montreal. Because of this, it makes sense to just name the riding “Riviere-des-Prairies”.

La Peltrie --> Lorrette—Jacques-Cartier. This riding contains the northwestern suburbs of Quebec City, the city of L'Ancienne-Lorette and some communities along the Jacques-Cartier River in Jacques-Cartier MRC northwest of the city. Just like Chauveau which contains part of Quebec City and part of Jacques-Cartier MRC, I have decided to go with “Jacques-Cartier” in the name, and also use the name of a local river in Quebec City, this time the Lorette River which flows through the northwest part of the city.

La Piniere --> Brossard. Another self explanatory choice, as La Piniere's boundaries exactly coincide with the boundaries of the city of Brossard.

Laporte --> Saint-Lambert—Greenfield Park—LeMoyne—Lafleche. I usually hate to include more than three names in a riding title, but the riding of Laporte contains these four communities, and I didn't want to exclude any of them. Saint-Lambert, Greenfield Park and LeMoyne were all indepedent cities before being merged into Longueuil in 2002. Saint-Lambert de-amalgamated in 2006, while Greenfield Park remains a borough of Longueuil to this day. LeMoyne is part of the borough of Vieux-Longueuil and Lafleche (which was an independent city until 1971) is in the borough of Saint-Hubert. Saint-Lambert, Greenfield Park and Lafleche all have populations over 15,000 while LeMoyne only has 5,000 people, perhaps an argument to drop it from my proposed riding name, but since it was recently an independent city, I decided to keep it. If the name has to be shortened, I would just go with “Saint-Lambert”, as the federal riding in the area (which doesn't include Lafleche) is named Saint-Lambert, despite also including Greenfield Park, LeMoyne and part of Longueuil.

Laurier-Dorion --> Villeray—Parc-Extension. This riding sounds like it could be named after two communities, but is in fact named after two predecessor ridings which were in turn named after people. The riding contains the two Montreal neighbourhoods of Villeray and Parc-Extension, so for me, the proposed riding name would be obvious.

Laviolette --> Haute-Saint-Maurice—Mekinac. This riding contains the northern suburbs of Shawinigan, all of Mekinac MRC and the former Le Haute-Saint-Maurice MRC (now, most of which is in the geographically gigantic city of La Tuque. The Saint-Maurice River flows through the riding, so it made sense for me to name the riding after the river. “Saint-Maurice” was already taken, as the riding to the south of Laviolette is named that. So, I chose Haute-Saint-Maurice (Upper Saint-Maurice) for the first part of the riding name. I then added in Mekinac, for the Mekinac MRC, some of which is removed from the Saint-Maurice River- somewhat.

Louis-Hebert --> Saint-Augustin—Cap-Rouge. This riding contains the former city of Cap-Rouge in the west of the Quebec City and the City of Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures on the western frontier of the city, plus some rural parts of the former city of Sainte-Foy. I've shortened Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures to “Saint-Augustin” (as is sometimes the case) and put it with Cap-Rouge to form my proposed riding name.

Marguerite-Bourgeoys --> LaSalle. Another obvious choice, as the riding of Marguerite-Bourgeoys has the exact same boundaries as the Montreal borough of LaSalle.

Marie-Victorin --> Longueuil-Centre. This riding contains the central area of Longueuil, specifically the southern part of Longueuil's Vieux-Longueuil (Old Longueuil) borough. As the riding takes in the city's downtown, I will name the riding for it's central location in the city.    

Marquette --> Lachine—Dorval. This riding consists of Montreal's Lachine borough and the neighbouring cities of Dorval and L'Ile-Dorval. Because L'Ile-Dorval has a population of 5, I left its name out from the riding name (even though when Dorval and L'Ile-Dorval were briefly a borough in Montreal, they were known as “Dorval-L'Ile-Dorval Borogh”). Plus, “Lachine—Dorval—L'Ile-Dorval” would sound redundant.

Masson --> Mascouche—La Plaine. This riding contains the City of Mascouche as well as the former municipality of La Plaine, which is now in the City of Terrebonne. Thus, my proposed riding name is obvious.

Mercier --> Mile-End—Le Plateau. The riding of Mercier can be found entirely within Montreal's bohemian Le Plateau-Mont-Royal borough. The riding takes in part of the neighbourhood of Mile-End, which is distinct in character from the rest of Le Plateau, which is why I used the name in my proposed name for the riding, along with the borough, shortened to “Le Plateau”.

Nelligan --> Pierrefonds—Kirkland—L'Ile-Bizard—Sainte-Genevieve. I had to go with another long riding name here, as the riding contains most of the former city of Pierrefonds and the Borough of L'Ile-Bizard-Sainte-Genevieve in Montreal's far-west end and the City of Kirkland. The federal riding of Pierrefonds—Dollard includes Pierrefonds and L'Ile-Bizard, so one can argue that L'Ile-Bizard could be dropped from the riding name, as it was done federally. Dropping Sainte-Genevieve would also be mandatory if that happened, as it only has 3,500 people. So perhaps a shorter name for the riding would just be “Pierrefonds—Kirkland” or even just “Pierrefonds” (as Kirkland is barely larger than L'Ile-Bizard—Sainte-Genevieve borough).

Rene-Levesque --> Manicouagan—La Haute-Cote-Nord.  This is a rather obvious choice for a proposed name for this riding. Rene-Levesque contains the entirety of two MRCs, Manicouagan and La Haute-Cote-Nord in the Cote-Nord region of the province.

Robert-Baldwin --> Dollard—Roxboro. This West Island riding contains the former city of Roxboro (now in Montreal), the existing city of Dollard-des-Ormeaux and parts of the former city of Pierrefonds. I decided to exclude Pierrefonds from the name of the riding, however. I also shortened “Dollard-des-Ormeaux” to just “Dollard” as is done in the federal riding of Pierrefonds—Dollard.

Rousseau --> Montcalm. Most of this riding can be found in either the current Montcalm MRC or the historic Montcalm County, which has slightly different boundaries. Sainte-Sophie is the only municipality in the riding that was in neither the historic county or the current Montcalm MRC.

Sanguinet --> Sainte-Catherine—Saint-Constant—Saint-Remi. This riding contains four municipalities on the south shore of Montreal: Sainte-Catherine, Saint-Constant, Saint-Remi and Saint-Mathieu. Saint-Mathieu has just 2000 people, so I excluded it from my proposed riding name.

Taillon --> Longueuil—Jacques-Cartier. Yet another riding where I've thrown in “Jacques-Cartier” in my proposed name. Taillon contains the north end of the Vieux-Longueuil borough of Longueuil. Much of the riding contains the former city of Jacques-Cartier which was amalgamated into Longueuil in 1969.    Because of this, I've included it in my proposed name.

Taschereau --> Quebec-Centre. Taschereau contains the “La Cite” portion of La Cite-Limoilou borough of Quebec City. The area is essentially Quebec City's downtown core. I could've called it “La Cite”, but I thought that that would be too vague, and I don't think is a widely used name outside the capital. Quebec-Centre is a name that clearly indicates that the riding is located in the central part of Quebec City.

Vachon --> Saint-Hubert. Vachon contains all of the Longueuil borough of Saint-Hubert except for the neighbourhood of Lafleche. Because of this, my proposed name for the riding is “Saint-Hubert”. 

Viau --> Saint-Michel. This riding contains Montreal's Saint-Michel neighbourhood in the Borough of  Villeray—Saint-Michel—Parc-Extension. Therefore, Saint-Michel made for the most obvious choice for a name.

[MaxQue]

Sept-Îles, not Sept-Rivières!

[Hatman 🍁]

Sept-Îles, not Sept-Rivières!

Oops!

Surely you have more feedback than that?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Too much of this: somewhere-somewhere-somewhere-somewhere

[MaxQue]

Well, some are too much verbose, but it could solved by removing parts. Sept-Îles--Basse-Côte-Nord is redundant since Sept-Îles is in Basse-Côte-Nord.

You renamed Jacques-Cartier, yet, you added "Jacques-Cartier" in the name of 3 (!) ridings. Two in the Jacques-Cartier valley, one in Longueuil. And no one use the name of the former city of Jacques-Cartier. It was slums (literally, no roads, no water, rough toilets in ditches) named after the bridge to Montreal they were near.

Laurentides is too vague. People from Deux-Montagnes to Mont-Laurier are saying than they live in Laurentides, yet, most don't live in Bertrand. It's like if you proposed you naming a seat "Northern Ontario" in Northern Ontario.

For Drummond-Acton, perhaps Drummond-Acton Vale, since Acton Vale is more known than Acton MRC? I suppose than some could comment it doesn't sounds very French.

Not Rivière Gatineau, but Vallée de la Gatineau, please.

Only one R in Lorette. And it's not good. While l'Ancienne-Lorette is in la Peltrie, the amalgamed former city of Loretteville is in Chauveau (it's the part of Chauveau on the west bank of Saint-Charles River, south of Wendake).

I never heard someone using the name Laflèche. Unlike rural areas, most people moved there during suburbanization and don't remember Laflèche. And many people would think of Saint-Maurice--Laflèche, the Jean Chrétien federal riding. Laflèche was an influent Trois-Rivières bishop (the same kind of influence can be seen in Laurentides with Labelle, with a provincial riding, a federal riding, a MRC and a city. He was the force behind the colonization of the Laurentides).

Haut-Saint-Maurice, not Haute. Don't ask me why, it's not logical, but it's like that. It's Haute-Saint-Charles, but Haut-Saint-Maurice.

Wouldn't Vieux-Longueuil be better than the very artificial Longueuil-Centre? People always talk of "Le Vieux", never Centre or Central.

Manicouagan--Haute-Côte-Nord. Either take one or the other (as you see, federally, Manicouagan covers most of Côte-Nord).

I don't like Laval-Ouest and Québec-Centre, but I can't come with better alternatives.

[Hatman 🍁]

So, it's okay to say Sept-Iles is in Basse-Cote-Nord? Excellent, I'll go with that.

What would you recommend for Taillon if Jacques-Cartier doesn't work? Longueuil-Nord?

For Laurentides, I noticed that there was a former federal riding with that name covering a similar area. I'll see if I can find a better name.

For Gatineau, I considered Valle de la Gatineau, but I thought that since it also includes Les Collines de la Gatineau, that it wouldn't be a good name. (i.e., it's not just the valley, but the hills).

I remember struggling to come up with a good name for La Peltrie. Any suggestions if Lorette-Jacques-Cartier doesn't work?

In Laporte, if no one calls the area Lafleche, then I might as well shorten the riding name down to just Saint-Lambert.

I'll change Longueuil-Centre to Vieux-Longueuil. Makes sense.

I can't make up my mind for Rene-Levesque. It might make sense to have one Lower Cote Nord riding and an upper Cote Nord riding. Hmmm...

For Laval-Ouest (Fabre), I could call it Laval-Les Iles like its federal counterpart. Same with Quebec-Centre (Taschereau), I could just call it "Quebec", or maybe Vieux-Quebec. What do you think?

[MaxQue]

The issue with Taillon and Marie-Victorin is than they are both in the Vieux-Longueuil borough (covering the former cities of Longueuil and Le Moyne). A terrible name, since it's confusing the old part of Longueuil (the area covering the first part of the city) and the old city of Longueuil.

So, Vieux-Longueuil name would be confusing. I think we discovered why they used person names there. There is no real fully satisfactory solution. Centre and North would work, I guess, unless you think the polysemy of Vieux-Longueuil isn't an issue. Vieux-Longueuil and Jacques-Cartier would to, in these conditions.

The federal riding was bigger and included most of the Laurentides (except Upper Laurentides and the suburban parts), which made it acceptable.

The MRC is now called Collines-de-l'Outaouais and Rivière-Something sounds really wierd unless it's the name of a city.

Obviously than La Peltrie is difficult, since that riding isn't making sense. I would say Jacques-Cartier, Jacques-Cartier-West or L'Ancienne-Lorette--Jacques-Cartier? Or just plainly L'Ancienne-Lorette, UK style?

Good for Laporte.

The issue with Vieux-Québec is than it's usually understood as the walled part of Quebec City. I thought of that name, but didn't proposed it for that reason. Vieux-Québec--Saint-Sauveur (a working neighborhood covering the west of the riding), but it's a bit verbose and the neighboorhood between (Montcalm, Saint-Roch, Saint-Jean-Baptiste) won't be happy.