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

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

La Vrendrye was created in 1879, making the southeastern Manitoba riding one of the oldest in the province.

Its boundaries have changed a lot since then, including in the most recent redistribution in 2018. The updated riding is bounded to the east by the Manitoba-Ontario border and to the south by the Manitoba-U.S. border.

The riding includes Grunthal, Sandilands, Woodridge, Vita, St. Pierre-Jolys, New Bothwell and La Broquerie.

La Vrendrye's population is 25,185, according toElections Manitoba's riding's profile (which includes information compiled from the 2021 census).

• Full coverage of the 2023 Manitoba election

The median age of the riding is younger than the overall provincial median, at 32.8 compared to 38.4 provincewide, according to the riding profile. Themedian household income in the area is $81,000, according to the 2021 census.

More facts about La Vrendrye

• The riding has more children aged 14 and under than the province in general, at 25.9 per cent compared to 18.8 per cent provincewide, according to the Elections Manitoba riding profile and the 2021 census.
• Nearly seven per cent of residents reported they speak French most often at home, the profile says.
• Less than four per cent of residents identified as visible minorities, the profile says a jump from 1.7 per cent in the 2016 census.

Voting history

The riding's recent history includes Progressive Conservative and NDP representation. It was won for the PCs by Dennis Smook in the past three elections. Smook is not running for re-election this year.

• 1990, 1995 elections: Progressive Conservative.
• 1999, 2003, 2007 elections: NDP.
• 2011, 2016, 2019: Dennis Smook (Progressive Conservative).

La Vrendrye in the news

• 12-year-old girl saves little brothers, pets from house fire in southeastern Manitoba
• Winnipeg snowmobiler dies in southeastern Manitoba in 4th fatal crash so far this year
• Wood carver from Grunthal turns dying tree into a beautiful angel

Meet the candidates

As of Sept. 11, the nominated candidates for the 2023 election are:

• Monica Guetre (Liberal).
• Konrad Narth (Progressive Conservative).
• Bianca Siem (NDP).
• Matthew Wiebe (Keystone Party).

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 La Vrendrye,all candidates are official.

Find more CBC Manitoba riding profiles here.