What to know about the Riding Mountain riding for Manitoba's 2023 election

• About the riding
• Voting history
• News stories from Riding Mountain
• Meet the candidates
• More riding profiles fromCBCManitoba

The southwest Manitoba riding of Riding Mountain was formed in 2008 from the former ridings of Russell and Minnedosa.

Its boundaries were changed again in 2018, when it gained a chunk of territory in the southwest from the former Arthur-Virden. The riding is now bounded on the west by the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border. Riding Mountain National Park makes up much of its northern and part of its eastern boundary. In the south, the riding extends just past Reston.

• Full coverage of the 2023Manitoba election

The riding includes Birtle, Virden, Reston, Erickson, Sioux Valley, Minnedosa, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, Rolling River First Nation and Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation.

The riding's population is 24,960, according toElections Manitoba's ridingprofile (which includes information from the 2021 census). As of April 2023, there were 16,761 registered voters in the riding.

The median age of the riding is older than the overall provincial median, at 43.2 in Riding Mountain compared to the provincial median age of 38.4. The median household income in the area is $70,000, according to the 2021 census.

More facts about Riding Mountain:

• Roughly 19 per cent of residents identified as Indigenous in the 2021 census.
• Just over five per cent of residents identified as immigrants, according toElections Manitoba's ridingprofile, and three per cent identified as visible minorities.
• More than three-quarters reported they own their homes, the profile says.
• The largest employment group in the riding is agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, which employs more than 18 per cent of the total labour force 15 and older. That group is followed by health care and social assistance at 14.4 per cent.

Voting history

The riding has voted Progressive Conservative in all provincial elections since it was formed. Its most recent MLAs are:

• 2011: Leanne Rowat (Progressive Conservative).
• 2016, 2019: Greg Nesbitt (Progressive Conservative).

Riding Mountain in the news

• Zach Whitecloud brings Stanley Cup home to southwestern Manitoba
• Prairie Mountain Health launches mobile addictions clinic in rural Manitoba
• Manitoba ranchers reluctantly want wolves killed after attacks take big bite out of bottom line
• How this man plans to help other fathers in his Manitoba First Nation heal from trauma
• Manitoban who escaped Sudan wishes Canada offered his family more help

Meet the candidates

As of Sept. 11, the nominated candidates for the 2023 election are:

• Wayne Chacun (NDP).
• Greg Nesbitt (Progressive Conservative incumbent).
• Eileen Smerchanski (Liberal).

Candidates become official when they meet criteria set out in the province's Elections Act, including providing a statement of disclosure. In Riding Mountain, all candidates are official.

Find more CBC Manitoba riding profiles here.