It's Boomers versus Boom-Boom as a former MMA fighter takes a swing at a Liberal fortress in Montreal

"Every time I speak to somebody who's a little bit older, who already has their house paid off, I tell them, ‘Think about your grandkids.’”

Conservative candidate Matthew Rusniak launches his campaign in Lac-Saint-Louis Thursday night. Photo by Anna Farrow

This week The Rewrite welcomes another new contributor, Anna Farrow, a Montreal-based journalist who brings readers a fresh new look from la belle Province.

Last night, Conservative candidate Matthew Rusniak held his campaign launch at McKibbin’s, an Irish pub located in a strip mall in Pointe-Claire, Quebec. When I sidled up to the bar to order my Diet Coke, the man on a nearby stool, nodding his head to the side room where Rusniak was already working the crowd, advised me, “If you’re a Conservative, you need to order something a wee bit stronger.”

In the federal contest for the riding of Lac-Saint-Louis, located on the western flank of the island of Montreal, the punchlines almost write themselves.

In the Liberal corner stands incumbent Francis Scarpaleggia. First elected to his seat 21 years ago, the 67-year-old barely needed to lace up the gloves in the seven previous elections. The only close call was in 2011 when he dropped to 34 per cent of the vote when the Orange Wave washed in. In 2021, Scarpaleggia was back up to a comfortable 56 per cent.

Wearing Conservative blue is 32-year-old Rusniak. His campaign photo displays his enlarged and slightly askew nose as evidence that the former MMA fighter, 3-2-0, is not afraid to take a punch.

It is Boomer vs. Boom-Boom Rusniak. The riding, and its contenders, provide an interesting microcosm of one of the more important dynamics of the 2025 election: the demographic divide.

Lac-Saint-Louis is the very definition of a Liberal stronghold. Before Scarpaleggia, MP Clifford Lincoln had held the seat since 1997. According to 2020 census data, the median after-tax household income in the riding is $87,000 and 76 per cent of residents are home-owners. The largest population group is 55–59-year-olds. In this riding, the demographics are aging, wealthy and largely Anglophone, and they favor the Boomer.

But Boom-Boom Rusniak is up for the fight and Senator Leo Housakos was in his corner last night to buck up the young kid.

“We knew that when he would start going door to door in this riding, no one would dare refuse him, because of his charm and his kindness,” said Housakos.

In the little pause between phrases, Rusniak flexed his muscles to indicate there was some brawn to accompany the charm.

Rusniak told me that the Conservative committee had told him that they “were putting him in the hardest riding.”

“I said, bring it on. This is the one that I wanted. Call it delusional, but I really thought I could flip the riding because I'm young and I am the demographic.”

When he talks about his “demographic,” he is referring to the young Canadians affected by the housing crunch.

In his remarks to the gathered crowd, and there were as many Boomers as Millennials in the crowd, Rusniak hammered away at this point.

“I'm being completely transparent about our campaign strategy. This is election about the youth. This is election about your kids, my peers. Every time I speak to somebody who's a little bit older, who already has their house paid off, I tell them, ‘Think about your grandkids.’”

The appeal Rusniak seems to be making to the Gen X and Boomers is that it is high time to get their kids out of the basement and the Liberals aren’t helping with their plans for “shipping container” government housing.

There was no talk last night of Trump, tariffs, or Chinese interference, instead there were reminders that free trade with the US was negotiated under a Conservative government and the terrible state of the Liberal economy.

“For the first time in the history of this country, we have a federal government that is paying more on the interest of the debt than they are in health transfer payments,” said Housakos.

“They've changed the Uber driver from Justin Trudeau to Mark Carney, but the guys in the backseat of the Uber are the same: Champagne, Guilbeault, and Joly. The same individuals that vandalized our economy.”

Rusniak knows his numbers. He told me that there are 30,000 single family homes in the riding, that he has knocked on 2000 of them and wants to knock on 8000 more.

“I'll give you a boots-on-the-ground anecdote. I go to four doors: Liberal, Conservative, undecided, and undecided.”

According to Rusniak, “that's about as close as it's been in 20 years here and that is in a riding that is about as Red as it gets.”

“They were telling me, look, the youth have the lowest participation rate in this riding in the entire province. I said, that's not a disadvantage. That's an opportunity. That means that there's untapped voters.”

Endearingly, Rusniak has used a Theodore Roosevelt quote as his Facebook cover photo. It was undoubtedly chosen in reference to his MMA bouts, but he will need to hold on to the sentiment as the constituents of Lac-Saint-Louis head to the polls on April 28.

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause.”