Desnethé - Missinippi - Churchill River

This vast riding covers the northern half of Saskatchewan. It is a sprawling wilderness of lakes and rivers and woods.

Significant centres include Meadow Lake, La Loche and Buffalo Narrows. Two-thirds of the population of this riding are aboriginal, the third-highest rate in the country. Twenty-three per cent of the riding's residents list Cree as their mother tongue.

Agriculture is an important source of jobs here. Other resource-based activities – forestry, fishing, mining and trapping – also contribute to the local economy. There are several uranium mines here, as well as gas fields and oil wells.

The 2006 census shows an average family income of $54,543 – the lowest in the province – and a high unemployment rate of 15.9 per cent – one of the highest in Canada.

The Churchill River riding was formed in 1996 from a large part of the Prince Albert-Churchill River riding, a slightly smaller portion of Battlefords-Meadow Lake and a bit of the Mackenzie riding.

Population: 67,937 (2006 census; an increase of 5.5% since 2001)

Political History

The riding returned to Liberal hands in 2006 when Gary Merasty defeated Conservative incumbent Jeremy Harrison by only 67 votes.

In 2004, Harrison won this riding with slightly more than 37 per cent of the vote. One of his defeated opponents was incumbent Rick Laliberte, who ran as an Independent.

Laliberte was first elected as a New Democrat in 1997, then as a Liberal in 2000.

In the two elections prior to 1997, the former riding of Prince Albert-Churchill River was held by a New Democrat and a Liberal. In Battlefords-Meadow Lake, the Tories and the NDP traded victories from 1979.

Churchill River:

• 1997 - NDP
• 2000 - LIB
• 2004 - CON
• 2006 - LIB
• 2008 byelection - CON