The centuries-old provincial riding of Drummond was named after  British general Gordon Drummond, who settled here after the war of 1812

Today, the prosperous riding is still on a war footing, only the battle now is over which political party will grab this seat next week.
In the past, it was considered a bell-weather riding, given the tendency of voters here to choose the party that would form the government. It went Liberal from 1960 to 1976 during the Liberal governments of Premiers Lesage and Bourassa, then went to the Parti Quebecois from 1976 to 1985 under the PQ regimes of Premiers Levesque and Johnson. From 1985 to 1994, it was again a Liberal stronghold, then switched over to PQ in 1994 when Premier Jacques Parizeau came to power. But the pattern was broken in 2003 when then PQ incumbent Normand Jutras got re-elected despite a Liberal sweep of the province. Last year, Jutras was defeated, but not by a Liberal. The riding went to the Action Democratic Party and its candidate Sebastien Schneeberger, a former recycling bin sales representative. The Liberals regained power, but in a minority government with only 48 seats.
Now Schneeberger is trying to hold onto his seat given the ADQ`s loss of support in this election.

For full story, please pick up today's Record

By Stephen McDougall
Record correspondent
Drummondville

Wednesday, December 3, 2008