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Winnipeg North
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Current MP: Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal
Population: 79,365
Population eligible to vote (Canadian citizens over age 18): 53,300
Nominated candidates:
Rebecca Blaikie, NDP
John Harvie, Green
Frank Komarniski, Communist
Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal
Ann Matejicka, Conservative
Click on name to jump to candidate's profile
Electoral history:
Winnipeg North was redistributed in a 2003 riding shake-up but has mainly been an NDP riding since the 1960s. Kevin Lamoureux ruined the NDP party here in a byelection last fall after longtime NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis resigned to run for mayor in Winnipeg. Lamoureux, a career politician and longtime provincial MLA, bested aboriginal community organizer Kevin Chief in a narrow victory that helped boost morale in a struggling federal Liberal party. This time the NDP is challenging Lamoureux with Manitoba political offspring - Rebecca Blaikie is the daughter of Bill Blaikie, current provincial cabinet minister and a 30 year veteran MP. His riding was Elmwood-Transcona though.
Winnipeg North is one of the province's most troubled ridings with high crime rates and rampant poverty. More than a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line including two in five kids. The population here is young - one in four residents is under the age of 18 while only slightly more than one in 10 are over 65. One in three people are immigrants. There is also a very significant Filipino population.
Voter turnout in the riding is typically lower than average. Less than a third voted in the 2010 byelection.
Previous election results
| 2010 by-election | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Lamoureux | LIB | 7,306 votes | 46.3 per cent |
| Kevin Chief | NDP | 6,490 votes | 41.2 per cent |
| Julie Javier | CON | 1,647 votes | 10.4 per cent |
| John Harvie | GRN | 114 votes | 0.7 per cent |
| Jeff Coleman | PIR | 94 votes | 0.6 per cent |
| Frank Komarniski | CPC | 71 votes | 0.5 per cent |
| Eric Truijen | CHP | 46 votes | 0.3 per cent |
| Turnout | 31 per cent | ||
| 2008 general election | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Judy Wasylycia-Leis | NDP | 14,097 votes | 62.6 per cent |
| Ray Larkin | CON | 5,033 votes | 22.4 per cent |
| Marcelle Marion | LIB | 2,075 | 9.2 per cent |
| Catharine Johannson | GRN | 1,070 votes | 4.8 per cent |
| Frank Komarniski | CPC | 151 votes | 0.7 per cent |
| Roger Poisson | PPP | 90 votes | 0.4 per cent |
| Turnout | 42 per cent | ||
DEMOGRAPHY
Median age: 35.8
Percentage under 18: 26.1 per cent
Percentage over 65: 11 per cent
Marital status:
Single/never married: 38.4 per cent
Legally married: 43.4 per cent
Separated/divorced: 11 per cent
Widowed: 6.7 per cent
Families:
Single parent families: 26.1 per cent
Income:
Median household income pre-tax: $44,571
Percentage living in poverty: 27.7
Percentage of kids under 18 living in poverty: 40.1 per cent
Housing:
Single detached homes: 65.4 per cent
Semi-detached/rowhouses: 11.2 per cent
Low-rise apartment units: 13.5 per cent
High-rise apartment units: 5.3 per cent
Other: 4.7 per cent
Owned homes: 66 per cent
Average value of owned home: $119,701
Average number of rooms in home: 6
Homes built pre-1986: 87.1 per cent
Homes needing major repairs: 11 per cent
Language:
Speaks English: 93.3 per cent
Speaks French: 1 per cent
Can speak both English and French: 4.8 per cent
Citizenship/Immigration:
Canadian citizens: 92.1 per cent
Total immigrants (who ever immigrated to Canada): 28.7 per cent
Immigrated within previous five years: 5.6 per cent
Aboriginal identity:
First Nations: 9.5 per cent
Métis: 9.1 per cent
Ethnicity:
Visible minorities: 32.3 per cent
Major ethnic identities: Filipino (20.2 per cent), South Asian (4.5 per cent), Southeast Asian (1.7 per cent), Chinese (1.5 per cent), Latin American (0.8 per cent)
Education: (highest level obtained, population 25-64 years old)
Less than high school: 23.8 per cent
High school diploma: 29.2 per cent
Apprenticeship/trade certificate: 12.5 per cent
College: 16.9 per cent
University with or without degree: 17.8 per cent
Employment:
Unemployment rate: 6.5 per cent
Top 5 industries: manufacturing, service sector, health care, retail, business services
Commuting:
Drives self to work or was a passenger in car/truck: 78.4 per cent
Bikes or walks to work: 5.1 per cent
Takes public transit: 15.5 per cent
CANDIDATE PROFILES
All candidates were contacted and asked to provide short answers to a standard list of questions and a photograph. The responses we have received are below:
Rebecca Blaikie, New Democratic Party
Career: Co-director, Community Education Development Association (CEDA)
Education: Diploma in Community Economic Development (Concordia University) B.A. Hons. (University of Winnipeg), Canadian social history
Where did you grow up? Transcona
Where do you live now? The inner-city
Hobbies/volunteer work: North End Helpers Network, North End Community Coalition, Inner City Social Justice Coalition, Daniel MacIntyre St. Matthews Community Association Board
Top issue in the riding (and your position on it): Fairness, plain and simple. We need fair access to affordable housing. The Liberal's shouldn't have scrapped the National Housing strategy. We need fairness for newcomers who want to reunite their families and work in their profession here in Canada. We need fairness for seniors who want a public pension that will let them retire with dignity.
Favourite book and why: I'd say Angela Davis: An Autobiography. This book tells a powerful story about how people from all sorts of different backgrounds can come together and fight to build a safer, fairer world.
Website: www.rebeccablaikie.ndp.ca
Twitter: RBlaikieWN
John Harvie, Green Party of Canada
Career: I am an employment services consultant working with vocational rehabilitation councilors
Education: Creative Communications Diploma - RRCC / Human Resources Management Diploma - U of W Con Ed / Career Employment Coach Certificate - U of W Con Ed / BA Rhetoric & Communications - U of W (2012).
Where did you grow up? In a small town in the Laurentians in Quebec (St Sauveur des Monts).
Where do you live now? I have lived on Polson Avenue here in Winnipeg's North End since 1988.
Hobbies/Volunteer: My hobbies are cycling in nice weather and photography
Top issue in the riding (and your position on it): Providing education and training for the under and unemployed as well as developing jobs with employers of choice who offer fair wages and benefits for their employees.
Favourite book (and why): I can't say I have a favourite book, but currently the one I enjoyed the most is Maria Campbell's Stories from the Road Allowance People. This is a very cleverly written book of stories from the Metis culture, written as if it is being told in a Metis accent. The mesh of First Nations storytelling and the European / French Joie du Vie provides an entertaining insight to the bridging of the two cultures.
Website: http://greenparty.ca/campaign/46012
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JohnHarvieGreen
Frank Komarniski, Communist Party of Canada
Career: City of Winnipeg for 18 years, recently as a heavy equipment operator
Where did you grow up?: Ste. Rose du Lac and Thompson
Where do you live now?: Winnipeg
Top issue in the riding (and your position on it): Ending poverty through job creation, education, Aboriginal rights and uniting against racism.
Website: www.votecommunist.ca
Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal Party of Canada
Career: Served for 3 years Canadian Forces, served for 19 years MLA
Education: Grade 12 graduate and studied at the U of W (did not complete the degree)
Where did you grow up? Born in Winnipeg and raised mostly in Winnipeg.
Where do you live now? Tyndall Park
Hobbies/volunteer work: Boating, quading and cards/youth justice and urban revitalization
Top issue in the riding (and your position on it): Crime and safety. I support community solutions including more community policing.
Favourite book and why: Next to the Bible, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Website: www.gokevin.ca
Twitter: @Kevin_Lamoureux
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