La Verendrye (electoral district)

La Verendrye is a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was created by redistribution in 1879, and has existed since that time.

La Verendrye

Manitoba electoral district
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
MLA	Dennis Smook Progressive Conservative
District created	1879
First contested	1879
Last contested	2019

La Verendrye is located southeastern region of Manitoba. It is bordered to the west by Dawson Trail, Emerson, Steinbach, and St. Paul, to the north by Lac Du Bonnet, and to the east by the province of Ontario.

Communities in the riding include Falcon Lake, Gardenton, Grunthal, Hadashville, Piney, Pointe du Bois, Sprague, Stuartburn, Sundown, and West Hawk Lake. The Whiteshell Provincial Park and Sandilands Provincial Forest are also in the riding.

The riding's population in 1996 was 19,558. In 1999, the average family income was $49,308, and the unemployment rate was 5.90%. 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 per cent of the riding's residents were German, and 7% were aboriginal.

La Verendrye 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 metamorphosising 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 seized the riding in 1973 and held it for the next three decades, during which time it was usually fairly safe for the Tories.

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. Ron Lemieux was personally re-elected to the newly created riding of Dawson Trail.