Winnipeg getting another MLA, as Manitoba ridings redrawn for next provincial election

Manitoba's political parties will have another riding in Winnipeg to fight over, after an independent body drew up new boundaries for nearly all of the province's electoral divisions and added two rural municipalities in the province's capital.

Altogether, the province will amend the boundaries of 56 of 57 ridings. Fourteen ridings will get new names, the Manitoba Electoral Divisions Boundaries Commission decided in a final report released on Friday.

The boundaries are being altered due to population changes reflected in the 2016 census, in an effort to keep roughly 22,000 residents in each riding. Areas of the province where the population has grown will now have smaller electoral divisions, geographically. 

The new borders will be in effect when Manitoba voters head to the polls on Oct. 6, 2020.

Winnipeg will go from 31 to 32 ridings, in part because of the escalating population and the independent committee's decision to move the rural municipalities of Headingley and West St. Paul into city ridings.

Headingley will now, along with Charleswood, be part of the renamed constituency of Roblin. West St. Paul will become part of the new riding of McPhillips.

The Logan riding will be renamed Union Station to recognize the role of the railway in establishing Winnipeg, and because Logan Avenue will no longer cross through the riding.

The Minto electoral division will be renamed Notre Dame, since the Minto Armoury is no longer within its borders. 

Population boom in Winnipeg suburbs

The growth in southwest Winnipeg will be reflected in the updated boundaries.

The Fort Whyte riding will encompass Linden Woods, Linden Ridge and Whyte Ridge. South Pointe and Bridgwater will be consolidated to create the riding of Waverley.

In eastern Winnipeg, the St. Norbert and Seine River ridings will be combined. The electoral commission says the decision unites significant histories and interests.

The new riding of Lagimodière will encompass the growing Sage Creek subdivision.

Outside the capital, Brandon will be divided into three segments. The west and east will be separated by 18th Street, and areas north of the Assiniboine River will become part of the Spruce Woods electoral division.

Farther east, the boundaries of the Morden-Winkler constituency were reduced in size to reflect increasing populations.

The Midland riding will expand east to include a large part of the constituency that was once Morris.

In the Interlake, the northern segment of the region will become part of a new riding called The Pas-Kameesak, which now encompasses the area around the western side of Lake Winnipeg. Kameesak means "big" in Cree, which the boundaries commission says is a likely reference to the lake.

The commission made numerous changes in southeastern Manitoba.

The municipalities of Ritchot, the town of Niverville and the western part of the Springfield municipality will be grouped together, because of their shared interests and proximity to Winnipeg. The riding will be known as Springfield-Ritchot.

East St. Paul and St. Clements municipalities will become the Red River North riding, and the La Verendrye electoral division will absorb the RM of De Salaberry. 

The four ridings in northern Manitoba will be more equitable in size, but two of the ridings will stretch farther south to encompass more historically Tory territory. The move will include all lands not surveyed into townships.

Keewatinook, the province's largest riding, will shrink, and the Thompson electoral division will consist of Nelson House, Gillam, Churchill and other communities along the railroad line.