Nickel Belt

This Northern Ontario riding borders Georgian Bay in the southwest and Lake Nipissing in the southeast and stretches north of Highway 101.

The riding contains the part of Timiskaming district lying west of Fallon and Cleaver townships, part of Manitoulin district and part of Nipissing district, including the town of West Nipissing. It also contains part of greater Sudbury outside the old city of Sudbury limits. Killarney, French River and Markstay-Warren fall within the riding. There are several native reserves, including the Whitefish Lake Reserve and Wahnapitei Reserve.

The riding has a strong francophone presence. In the 2006 census, 41 per cent listed French as their mother tongue. Nine per cent of the population are aboriginal. Natural resources, especially mining, play an important part in the economy. Average family income is $77,744 and unemployment is 7.7 per cent.

The riding was created in 1952 and boundaries were expanded to the east and north in 1996. In 2004, Nickel Belt added a portion from Timiskaming-Cochrane riding and small areas from Nipissing, Algoma-Manitoulin and Parry Sound-Muskoka.

Population: 89,377 (2006 census; a decrease of 0.7% since 2001)

Political History

The 2006 election was a rematch of the previous election with Liberal Ray Bonin and New Democrat Claude Gravelle competing for top votes. Bonin won by 2,107 votes and earned his fifth term in office.

In 2004, Bonin defeated Gravelle by 3,208 votes.

From the 1960s to the 1990s, Nickel Belt swung between Liberal and New Democrat MPs. Liberal Judy Erola from this riding was named minister of state for mines in 1980, minister responsible for the status of women in 1982 and minister of consumer and corporate affairs in 1983. New Democrat John Rodriquez won in 1972, 1974 and 1979, then was defeated by Erola, and won again in 1984 and 1988.

• 1953-63 - LIB
• 1965 - NDP
• 1968 - LIB
• 1972, 1974, 1979 - NDP
• 1980 - LIB
• 1984, 1988 - NDP
• 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 - LIB