St. Boniface (provincial electoral district)

St. Boniface (Template:Langx) is a provincial electoral district of Manitoba, Canada. It should not be confused with the federal electoral division of the same name, which includes most of the provincial riding's territory but has expanded boundaries and a larger population base. The riding has existed, in one form or another, since the province's creation.

In Manitoba's first general election (1870), the riding was divided into St. Boniface East and St. Boniface West. It became a single constituency in 1874, and has existed continuously since then.

The St. Boniface constituency elected its representation by preferential balloting from 1926 to 1953, a single member by instant runoff voting from 1926 to 1945 and two members by single transferable voting in 1949 and 1953. On all other occasions, it has been a single-member constituency, electing its member by First Past The Post.

St. Boniface is located in the central-eastern Winnipeg. Its boundaries roughly correspond with the historical community of Saint Boniface, Manitoba, which was a distinct civic jurisdiction before being amalgamated with the City of Winnipeg in 1971.

The riding's population in 1996 was 19,646. The average family income in 1999 was $45,193, with an unemployment rate of 10.5%. The service sector accounts for 18% of the riding's industry, with a further 15% in health and social services.

St. Boniface has historically been home to the largest francophone community in the Winnipeg area. According to a 1999 census, 34% of the riding's residents speak French as their first language—the highest rate in the province. The riding's aboriginal population is 8%, and almost 19% of the population is over 65 years of age.

For many years after the introduction of partisan politics in 1882, St. Boniface was a hotly contested battleground riding between the provincial Liberals and Conservatives (although candidates of the parliamentary left were also elected in the 1930s and 1940s). During the 1950s and 1960s, it was generally regarded as a safe seat for the Liberals.

In 1969, St. Boniface MLA Laurent Desjardins decided to sit as a Liberal Democrat, supporting the New Democratic Party government of Edward Schreyer. He formally joined the NDP in 1971, and aside from an overturned election result in 1973, continued to represent the area until 1988.

The provincial Liberals recaptured the seat in 1988, during a period of resurgence for that party in the province. After Neil Gaudry's death in 1999, Greg Selinger recaptured the seat for the NDP. He was reelected in 2003 with about 75 percent of the popular vote, and was named premier of Manitoba in 2009.

Selinger left politics two years after the NDP was heavily defeated at the 2016 provincial election, and newly elected Liberal leader Dougald Lamont won the seat at the ensuing by-election.

In the 2023 Manitoba general election, Lamont was defeated by the NDP and resigned as Liberal leader.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Members of the Legislative Assembly

St. Boniface East (1870–1874)

Name	Party	Took office	Left office
Marc-Amable Girard	Governing Coalition/Cons	1870	1874

St. Boniface West (1870–1874)

Name	Party	Took office	Left office
Louis Schmidt	Governing Coalition/Cons	1870	1874

St. Boniface (single-member riding, 1874–1949)

Name	Party	Took office	Left office
Marc-Amable Girard	Governing Coalition/Cons	1874	1878
Alphonse LaRiviere	Governing Coalition/Lib-Cons	1878	1888
Roger Marion	Cons	1888	1892
James Prendergast	Cons-Lib, then Lib	1892	1896
Jean-B. Lauzon	Cons	1897	1899
S.A.D. Bertrand	Lib	1899	1900
Joseph Bernier	Cons	1900	1903
Horace Chevrier	Lib	1903	1907
Joseph Bernier	Cons	1907	1915
Joseph Dumas	Lib	1915	1920
Joseph Bernier	Independent	1920	1926
	Cons	1927	1932
Harold Lawrence	ILP	1932	1941
Austin Clarke	Lib-Prog	1941	1945
Edwin Hansford	CCF	1945	1949

St. Boniface (two-member riding, 1949–1958)

Name	Party	Took office	Left office
Joseph Van Belleghem	Lib-Prog	1949	1953
Edwin Hansford	CCF	1949	1953
Roger Teillet	Lib-Prog	1953	1958
L. Raymond Fennell	Lib-Prog	1953	1958

St. Boniface (single-member riding, 1958–)

Assembly	Years	Member		Party
25th	1958–1959	rowspan=5 Template:Canadian party colour|	Roger Teillet	Liberal-Progressive
26th	1959–1961	Laurent Desjardins
	1961–1962		Liberal
27th	1962–1966
28th	1966–1969
29th	1969–1971		rowspan=2 Template:Canadian party colour|	Liberal-Democrat
	1971–1973		New Democratic
30th	1973–1974	Template:Canadian party colour|	J. Paul Marion	Liberal
	1974–1977	rowspan=4 Template:Canadian party colour|	Laurent Desjardins	New Democratic
31st	1977–1981
32nd	1982–1985
33rd	1985–1988
34th	1988–1990	rowspan=3 Template:Canadian party colour|	Neil Gaudry	Liberal
35th	1990–1995
36th	1995–1999
37th	1999–2003	rowspan=5 Template:Canadian party colour|	Greg Selinger	New Democratic
38th	2003–2007
39th	2007–2011
40th	2011–2016
41st	2016–2018
	2018–2019	rowspan=2 Template:Canadian party colour|	Dougald Lamont	Liberal
42nd	2019–2023
43rd	2023–present	rowspan="1" Template:Canadian party colour |	Robert Loiselle	New Democratic

Electoral results

2018 by-election

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1995

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1990

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1988

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1981

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1977

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1974 by-election

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1973

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1969

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1966

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1962

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1959

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1958

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1953

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1949

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1945

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1941

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1936

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1932

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1927

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The vote count was controversial — Liberal candidate L.P. Gagnon was initially declared the winner by one vote, but a recount put Bernier with more votes.<ref>Bruce Cherney, "A different way of voting - proportional representation system was once used in provincial elections," [Winnipeg] Real Estate News, Aug. 12, 2011. https://www.winnipegregionalrealestatenews.com/publications/real-estate-news/1327 accessed May 29, 2025</ref>

1922

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1920

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1915

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1914

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1913 by-election

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1910

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1907

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1903

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1900 by-election

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1899

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1897 by-election

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1896

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1892

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1888

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1886

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1883

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1882 by-election

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1879

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1878

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1874

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Previous boundaries

File:StBoniface98.png

The 1999–2011 boundaries for St. Boniface highlighted in red.

See also

• List of Manitoba provincial electoral districts
• Canadian provincial electoral districts