Point Douglas

The riding includes parts of the inner city north of the Dufferin Industrial park, including the North End, William Whyte, Dufferin, Lord Selkirk Park and Point Douglas.

It is also a riding that has undergone some changes in recent years, with the gentrification of the Exchange District and the introduction of some wealth in the high-end condos along Waterfront Drive.

However Point Douglas is still one of the poorest, most troubled ridings in Manitoba.

More than 61 per cent of the adult working-age population has a high school diploma or less. Nearly three in every four children lives in poverty. Unemployment has previously topped 25 per cent. It has the highest divorce rate.

It has the largest aboriginal population in Winnipeg, with more than one in three residents identifying themselves as such and one in five identifying as immigrants.

 

Stats

Population: 20,290

Median age: 35.5

Immigrants: 19.4 per cent

Aboriginal population: 38.3 per cent

Living in poverty: 51.3 per cent

Median income: $16,769

 

Politics

The riding has only ever voted in NDP MLAs. Popular NDP MLA George Hickes – the current speaker of the Legislature – has represented Point Douglas since 1990. He is retiring when the election campaign begins and well-known community organizer Kevin Chief is seeking to replace him. With very low voter turnout – 40 per cent in 2007, the lowest of all Winnipeg ridings and one of the lowest in the province – politics do not play strongly in this riding where just surviving is usually the focus.

 

2007 results

George Hickes, NDP 2,665

Mary Lou Bourgeois LIB 591

Alexa Rosentreter PC 481

Kristen Andrews, GRN 213

Darrell Rankin, Communist, 66

Turnout: 40.16 per cent