Ridings worth watching

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/10/2011 (5089 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Where the leaders went

Premier Greg Selinger, Conservative Leader Hugh McFadyen and Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard have been bopping around the province for the last several weeks, and where they’ve landed says a lot about what ridings are worth watching tonight.

Here’s the lowdown.

Top destinations:

In Winnipeg, a bevy of ridings got a total of at least seven political visits — Seine River, Kirkfield Park, Southdale, St. James and St. Norbert.

McFadyen spent the most time in Assiniboia, Riel, Southdale and St. Vital, while Selinger favoured Kirkfield Park, visiting that riding five times.

Outside Winnipeg, Dauphin and Interlake have garnered huge attention, especially from Selinger, who hit the Westman riding on four separate days and who made five trips to Interlake. Brandon, where two seats are up for grabs, also got plenty of attention, earning a combined 18 visits from the three leaders. Again, Selinger was the Brandon-o-phile, hitting the city on eight separate days.

Lonely ridings:

Several inner-city Winnipeg ridings got bypassed by nearly every leader. Minto and St. Johns got no visits, and Logan only got some face time with politicians who made announcements downtown.

The same fate befell several Tory strongholds, such as Emerson, Agassiz and Morden-Winkler. Not even McFadyen popped by those ridings.

Trips up north:

No, Dauphin doesn’t count.

Only Selinger went up north, visiting Keewatinook on one trip and the triple threat of Thompson, Flin Flon and the Pas on another.

Gerrard in River Heights

Of all the leaders, Gerrard was the homebody. He did almost all of his campaigning in Burrows, Tyndall Park and Fort Rouge, where the party hopes to pick up seats. Gerrard also spent nearly every evening in River Heights, where he’s in the fight of his life.

— Mary Agnes Welch