The Provencher riding will look a bit different for the next federal election.
Member of Parliament Ted Falk says this change is in response to tremendous population growth in southeastern Manitoba.
“We've got a lot of growing communities. I look at Steinbach, Niverville, Oakbank and Lorette, Ile des Chenes, all of these communities have really been growing and as a result of it our population has been increasing, and some of the other electoral districts surrounding us haven't grown quite as much.”
He says this boundary realignment helps to even out the population in each riding.
“They pretty much try to stick to around 100,000 population base per federal riding. And so that's what they're going to do. They're going to bring us down back closer to 100,000. We’re I think around 120,000 right now.”
Falk says the realignment of boundaries results in Provencher losing a large portion of the Rural Municipality of Springfield.
The south end of the municipality remains in Provencher while the Dugald area becomes part of the Elmwood-Transcona riding and the Oakbank area joins the Kildonan-St. Paul riding.
“Some people see that as a real positive,” he says. “They'll actually have three Members of Parliament representing their municipality, or they will not know who to go to. So, I think there's people on both sides of the fence on that one. But you know what? I'm sure everybody will be well looked after the Members of Parliament that I work with are very committed to their constituents and they'll be committed to these areas as well.”
The Kildonan-St. Paul Riding is represented by Conservative M.P. Raquel Dancho while the Elmwood-Transcona Riding is without a Member of Parliament after Daniel Blaikie, a member of the NDP, resigned from the position to begin working as Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew’s Senior Advisor on Intergovernmental Affairs.
A by-election will be held to fill this seat. A date must be announced by September 29th, 2024. Falk notes that Springfield residents will not participate in this by-election as the entire Springfield municipality remains in Provencher until a federal election is called.
The 45th Canadian federal election will take place on or before October 20, 2025. As soon as the federal election is called, the new map takes effect.