Commission revamps electoral boundaries

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/12/2018 (1952 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Electoral Divisions Boundaries Commission released its final report on Friday, revealing new provincial electoral boundaries that will take effect as of the 2020 provincial election.

The commission is tasked with reassessing boundaries every 10 years and making revisions, primarily taking into consideration population changes in the province.

The final report differed from an interim proposal released in June. Consultation sessions, including one held in Steinbach on Sept. 18, gathered further input to arrive at the commission’s final decision.

Niverville mayor Myron Dyck advocated strongly at the Steinbach consultation session for his community to be included in a capital region constituency rather than, as the commission’s interim proposal suggested, have Niverville be connected with part of the RM of Hanover and the southern portion of the current La Verendrye riding.

Dyck got his wish as Niverville will now be included in a riding named Springfield-Ritchot, which will also include the RM of Ritchot and the western portion of the RM of Springfield.

Steinbach constituency boundaries will contract as was suggested in the commission interim report. In addition to the City of Steinbach, a smaller portion of the RM of Hanover highlighted by Blumenort and Mitchell will be kept within its boundary.

New Bothwell and Kleefeld will join Grunthal in the La Verendrye constituency, which has also added the RM of De Salaberry and the Village of St Pierre. The Emerson constituency, reduced in geographic size with the loss of De Salaberry and St Pierre, will also lose its name. The constituency will now be known as Borderland, almost but not quite identical to Border Land School Division. Other name changes proposed in the commission’s interim report, including a Carillon and Sandilands constituency, didn’t make the final cut.

The Dawson Trail constituency, while it loses the RM of Ritchot, will have the eastern half of the RM of Springfield added within it borders. Further east, the Lac du Bonnet constituency will now take in the RM of Reynolds.

The Midland constituency will grow to include the Town of Morris and RM of Morris. It will also include the community of La Salle in the RM of Macdonald, where current Morris MLA Shannon Martin is a resident. Along with Niverville, other portions of Martin’s expansive Morris riding have been hived off to Midland, Lakeside, the newly named Roblin constituency on Winnipeg’s western edge.

The commission’s full report can be viewed on its website.