What to know about the Assiniboia riding for Manitoba's 2023 election

• About the riding
• Voting history
• News stories from Assiniboia
• Meet the candidates
• More CBC Manitoba riding profiles

Assiniboia is a long-standing riding in the province, created in 1903. It includes a chunk of northwest Winnipeg, but no longer includes the James Armstrong Richardson International Airport as of the 2018 boundary updates.

The riding is bounded on the north and west by city limits. Its southern boundary is Portage Avenue, except for a portion east of Surgeon Road where the southern boundary is Ness Avenue. On the east, its main boundary is Moray Street. It includes the neighbourhoods of Surgeon Creek and Crestview.

Assiniboia's population is 22,825, according to data prepared by the Manitoba Bureau of Statistics, compiled from the 2021 census.

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The median age of the riding is 41.2 above the provincial median of 38.4, according to 2021 census data. That census found the median household income in the riding is $76,000.

More facts about Assiniboia

• Roughly 17 per cent per cent of Assiniboia's population identified as a visible minority in the 2021 census, according to the Elections Manitoba's 2021 riding profile. That's up from 10 per cent 2016.
• About 16 per cent of residents identified as Indigenous in the 2021 census, according to the province's 2021 profile.

Voting history

The riding has flipped between parties a few times in its more than 100-year history. The NDP's Jim Rondeau held the seat from 1999 to 2016, when Steven Fletcher won it for the Progressive Conservatives (he later held the seat as an Independent MLA after his ouster from the Progressive Conservative caucus). Scott Johnston won the seat for the PCs in 2019.

The riding had representation from Liberal, Conservative, Labour and Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (the precursor to the NDP) MLAs during its early history, before beginning a 15-year stint of Liberal representation in 1962.

• 1962, 1966, 1969, 1973 elections: Liberal.
• 1977, 1981, 1986: Progressive Conservative.
• 1988: Liberal.
• 1990, 1995: Progressive Conservative.
• 1999 to 2011: Jim Rondeau (NDP).
• 2016: Steven Fletcher (Progressive Conservative).
• 2019: Scott Johnston (Progressive Conservative).

Assiniboia in the news

• Winnipeg's Bruce Oake Recovery Centre celebrates grand opening
• Winnipegger hopes lending library helps spark conversations about residential schools

Meet the candidates

As of Sept. 1, the nominated candidates for the 2023 election are:

• Scott Johnston (Progressive Conservative incumbent).
• Nellie Kennedy (NDP).
• Charles Ward (Liberal).

Candidates become official when they meet criteria set out in the province's Elections Act, including providing a statement of disclosure, after the election has been called. In Assiniboia, the three candidates are official.

Find more CBC Manitoba riding profiles here.