Spruce Woods

A newly rejigged and renamed riding, Spruce Woods is made up of large parts of the old riding of Turtle Mountain along with some parts of Minnedosa and Arthur-Virden.

It includes the areas all around the city of Brandon, and runs south to the U.S. border. The communities of Wawanesa, Souris, Killarney and Cartwright are among the larger centres in the riding.

It has nearly the same median income as the entire province and fewer than one in 10 residents lives under the poverty line.

It has one of the smallest aboriginal populations of any riding.

Agriculture is one of its chief economic drivers.

 

Stats

Population: 20,365

Median age: 40.3

Immigrants: 5.1 per cent

Aboriginal population: 4.2 per cent

Living in poverty: 9.5 per cent

Median income: $23.939

 

Politics

All three of the ridings Spruce Woods draws from are longtime Tory strongholds.

The NDP have never won in Turtle Mountain, which Cliff Cullen has represented since winning it in a 2004 by-election. His win in 2007 came with two-thirds of the popular vote.

 

2007 results, Turtle Mountain

Cliff Cullen, PC 4,318

Faron Douglas, NDP 1,476

Allen Hunter, LIB 739

Turnout: 54.39 per cent