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Canada Votes 2008

Results, Ridings and Candidates

Brandon - Souris

2008 Results

Brandon-Souris
Party Candidate Votes Status
Updated: Nov. 7, 2008 5:00 PM EST 206/206 polls
CON Merv Tweed 19,557 Elected
NDP John Bouché 6,024
GRN Dave Barnes 5,408
LIB Martha Jo Willard 2,836
CHP Jerome Dondo 292
COM Lisa Gallagher 124

Unofficial results were updated at the time shown following judicial recounts in six ridings. For more recent results, visit Elections Canada. The CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites. External links will open in a new window.

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This riding is in the southwest corner of Manitoba, with Saskatchewan as the western border and the United States as the southern border.

It is urban and rural. Brandon is the largest city, while Virden, Killarney, Souris and Roblin are the riding's larger communities. Turtle Mountain Provincial Park is on the southern boundary. The western part of Spruce Woods Provincial Park is in the northeast of the riding.

Agriculture and related industries form the main economic base in this riding, followed by health and social services and government services. The Brandon General Hospital and Brandon University are in the riding.

There is a small native population – about eight per cent, in the Sioux Valley and Oak Lake reserves – as well as a small francophone population of less than two per cent. Almost 88 per cent of the people here speak English as their mother tongue. The 2006 census shows an average family income of $65,427, with an unemployment rate of 4.6 per cent.

The riding was created from the Brandon and Souris ridings. In 1996, Brandon-Souris added 10 per cent of Lisgar-Marquette. In 2004, the riding added seven per cent of Portage-Lisgar on its east side.

Population: 84,602 (2006 census; an increase of 1.3% since 2001)

Political History

The 2006 election awarded Conservative Merv Tweed with his second term in the riding. Tweed was victorious against New Democrat Bon Sneff. In 2004, Tweed earned more than twice the number of votes as his nearest competitor, Liberal Murray Downing.

Liberals have only won once since 1951. Progressive Conservative Walter Dinsdale was first elected in Brandon in a byelection that year. He was re-elected in the new Brandon-Souris riding in 1953 and represented this riding until his death in November 1982. Altogether, he won 12 elections and served 31 years as MP. Dinsdale was appointed minister of northern affairs and national resources in 1960.

In a byelection in 1983, PC Lee Clark defeated New Democrat Bill Moore by 12,949 votes. Clark was re-elected in 1984 and 1988.

In 1993, Liberal Glen McKinnon won, defeating Reform candidate Ed Agnew by 967 votes. In 1997, Progressive Conservative Rick Borotsik defeated Agnew by 1,333 votes. Borotsik also won in 2000.

  • 1953-88 inclusive - PC
  • 1993 - LIB
  • 1997, 2000 - PC
  • 2004, 2006 - CON