La Vérendrye is a provincial electoral district of Manitoba, Canada. It was created by redistribution in 1879, and has existed since that time, making it one of the oldest ridings in Manitoba.CBC News. 2023 September 1. "What to know about the La Vérendrye riding for Manitoba's 2023 election." CBC News. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
Located in the southeastern region of the province, it is bordered within Manitoba by the neighbouring electoral divisions of Lac du Bonnet, Dawson Trail, Steinbach, Springfield-Ritchot, Midland, and Borderland to the west and north;"Provincial Electoral Division: La Vérendrye detailed map." Elections Manitoba. 2018. Retrieved 2023-10-12. by the province of Ontario to the east; and by the U.S. state of Minnesota to most of the south.
Communities in the riding include Buffalo Point (and Buffalo Point First Nation), Gardenton, Grunthal, Kleefeld, La Broquerie, Marchand, Middlebro, New Bothwell, Otterburne, Piney, St. Malo, St-Pierre-Jolys, Sarto, Sprague, Stuartburn, Sundown, Vassar, Vita, and Woodridge. The Lake of the Woods' Buffalo Bay is also in the riding.
La Vérendrye was a hotly contested riding between the Liberals and Conservatives in its earliest years. After 1922, it became dominated by the Progressives, who later became the Liberal-Progressives before metamorphosizing into the Liberals again. It remained with the Liberals even as the party dwindled to third-party status in the 1960s. The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba (PCs) seized the riding in 1973 and held it for the next three decades, during which time it was usually fairly safe for the PCs.
In the 1999 election, Ron Lemieux became the first New Democrat to be elected for the constituency. He was re-elected in the 2003 election with almost 60% of the popular vote. The boundary changes of 2008 greatly changed the borders of the riding, which contributed to the decisive victory of PC candidate Dennis Smook in the 2011 election. Lemieux was personally re-elected to the newly created riding of Dawson Trail.
The La Vérendrye riding has remained under PCs since 2011, with Konrad Narth most recently being elected in October 2023 to replace retiring MLA Smook.
The riding is named for Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye, explorer and fur trader under whose authority Fort Rouge was built in 1738 in what is now Winnipeg.
Demographics The riding's population in 1996 was 19,558. In 1999, the average family income was $49,308, and the unemployment rate was 5.9%. Manufacturing accounts for 12% of the riding's industry, followed by the service sector at 11%.
Before the electoral boundaries redistricting done prior to the 2011 election, La Verendrye had the second-highest francophone population in Manitoba (after St. Boniface), at 23% of the total population. Nine percent of the riding's residents were German, and 7% were Indigenous.
As of the 2021 census, the riding has a total population of 25,185, 92.5% of whom are Canadian citizens. The median age of constituents is 32.8. The construction industry accounts for 15.2% of the riding's labour force, followed by agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting at 14%.
People of German ethnicity now make up the largest ethnic or cultural group of the riding's population with 25.3%, followed by Mennonites at 17.6% and French at 14.5%. Seventeen point two percent of the population were identified to have Indigenous identity.
As of 2021, the community includes two hospitals, four personal care homes, and 17 schools.
Members of the Legislative Assembly Name Party Took office Left office Maxime Goulet Government/Conservative 1879 1882 Louis Prud'homme Cons 1882 1883 Maxime Goulet Independent Conservative 1883 1884 Louis Prud'homme Cons 1884 1885 James Prendergast Conservative-Liberal 1885 1888 Lib 1888 1888 William Lagimodiere Lib 1888 1892 Theophile Pare Cons 1892 1899 William Lagimodiere Lib 1899 1907 Jean Lauzon Cons 1907 1910 William Molloy Lib 1910 1914 Jean Lauzon Cons 1914 1915 Philippe Talbot Lib, later Independent 1915 1920 Independent 1920 1922 Prog 1922 1932 Lib-Prog 1932 1936 Sauveur Marcoux Lib-Prog 1936 1951 Edmond Brodeur Lib-Prog 1952 1958 Stan Roberts Lib-Prog 1958 1961 Lib 1961 1962 Albert Vielfaure Lib 1962 1969 Leonard Barkman Lib 1969 1973 Robert Banman PC 1973 1986 Helmut Pankratz PC 1986 1990 Ben Sveinson PC 1990 1999 Ron Lemieux NDP 1999 2011 Dennis Smook PC 2011 2023 Konrad Narth PC 2023
Election results
2023
2019
2016 2016 provincial election redistributed results Party % Progressive Conservative 78.6 Liberal 10.6 New Democratic 7.6 Green 3.2
2011
2007
2003
1999
1995
1990
1988
1986
1981
1977
1973
1969
1966
1962
1959
1958
1953
1952 by-election
1949
1945
1941
1936
1932
1927
1922
1920
1915
1914
1910
1907
1903
1899
1896
1892
1888
1888 by-election
1886
1885 by-election
1884 by-election
1883
1882 by-election
1880 by-election
1879
Previous boundaries
See also List of Manitoba provincial electoral districts Canadian provincial electoral districts
References