La Morandière-Rochebaucourt

La Morandière-Rochebaucourt is a municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec, located in the Abitibi Regional County Municipality.

The municipality was formed on January 1, 2023, through the amalgamation of La Morandière and Rochebaucourt. In addition to the two namesake population centres, the municipality also includes the hamlets of Castagnier (48.73444°N, -77.82667°W) and Lac-Castagnier (48.71333°N, -77.74139°W).

History
The location where La Morandière currently sits was initially settled in around 1916 by Émilien Plante, Uldéric Hardy and Charles Rochette but the territory didn't have any official status until January 1, 1983, the date when the municipality of La Morandière was founded.

In 1935 as part of the Vautrin Settlement Plan, Rochebaucourt was colonized by pioneers from Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Saint-Hyacinthe, and Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. It was first known as Colonie-33 but this was quickly replaced by Rochebaucourt, the name of the geographic township in which it is located. La Rochebaucourt was a cavalry captain of the Régiment de Languedoc in General Montcalm's army. In 1940, the Parish of Saint-Antoine-de-Rochebaucourt was established.

In 2022, it was decided to merge the two municipalities to form the new Municipality of La Morandière-Rochebaucourt.

Demographics
Population trend:
 * Population in 2021:
 * La Morandière: 205 (2016 to 2021 population change: -1.0%)
 * Rochebaucourt: 146 (2016 to 2021 population change: 11.2%)
 * Population in 2016:
 * La Morandière: 207
 * Rochebaucourt: 131

Mother tongue (2021):
 * English as first language: 0%
 * French as first language: 98.6%
 * English and French as first language: 1.4%
 * Other as first language: 1.4%

Government
Municipal council (as of 2023):
 * Mayor: Alain Trudel
 * Councillors: Louisette Dumas, Sylvie Leclerc, Michelle Sénéchal, Marc-Antoine Pelletier, Rémi Plamondon, Christiane Blouin

Political representation
Federally, La Morandière-Rochebaucourt is part of the federal riding of Abitibi—Témiscamingue. In the 2021 Canadian federal election, the incumbent Sébastien Lemire of the Bloc Québécois was re-elected to represent the population La Morandière-Rochebaucourt in the House of Commons of Canada.

Provincially it is part of the riding of Abitibi-Ouest. In the 2022 Quebec general election the incumbent MNA Suzanne Blais, of the Coalition Avenir Québec, was re-elected to represent the population of La Morandière-Rochebaucourt in the National Assembly of Quebec.