La Verendrye (electoral district)

La Verendrye is a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was created by redistribution in 1879, and has existed since that time.

La Verendrye is located southeastern region of Manitoba. It is bordered to the south by Emerson and Steinbach, to the west by Morris and the City of Winnipeg, to the north by Springfield and Lac Du Bonnet, and to the east by the province of Ontario.

Communities in the riding include Ste. Anne, Iles des Chenes, Lorette, St-Genevieve, Landmark and Hadashville. The Whiteshell Provincial Park is also in the riding.

The riding's population in 1996 was 19,558. As of 1999, the average family income was $49,308, and the unemployment rate was 5.90%. Manufacturing accounts for 12% of the riding's industry, followed by the service sector at 11%.

La Verendrye has the second-highest francophone population in Manitoba (after St. Boniface), at 23% of the total population. Nine per cent of the riding's residents are German, and 7% are aboriginal.

La Verendrye was a hotly-contested riding between the Liberals and Conservatives in its earliest years. After 1922, it became dominated by the Progressives, who later became the Liberal-Progressives before metamorphosising again into the Manitoba Liberal Party. With the decline of the provincial Liberal Party in the 1970s, the riding became relatively safe for the Progressive Conservative party.

In the 1999 election, Ron Lemieux became the first New Democrat to be elected for the constituency. He was re-elected in the 2003 election with almost 60% of the popular vote. It is too early to tell if the seat has become safe for the NDP.

List of provincial representatives

Name	Party	Took Office	Left Office
Maxime Goulet	Government/Conservative	1879	1882
Louis Prud'homme	Cons	1882	1883
Maxime Goulet	"Independent Conservative"	1883	1884
Louis Prud'homme	Cons	1884	1885
James Prendergast	"Conservative-Liberal"	1885	1888
	Lib	1888	1888
William Lagimodiere	Lib	1888	1892
Theophile Pare	Cons	1892	1899
William Lagimodiere	Lib	1899	1907
Jean Lauzon	Cons	1907	1910
William Molloy	Lib	1910	1914
Jean Lauzon	Cons	1914	1915
Philippe Talbot	Lib, later Independent	1915	1920
	Independent	1920	1922
	Prog	1922	1932
	Lib-Prog	1932	1936
Sauveur Marcoux	Lib-Prog	1936	1951
Edmond Brodeur	Lib-Prog	1952	1958
Stan Roberts	Lib-Prog	1958	1961
	Lib	1961	1962
Albert Vielfaure	Lib	1962	1969
Leonard Barkman	Lib	1969	1973
Robert Banman	PC	1973	1986
Helmut Pankratz	PC	1986	1990
Ben Sveinson	PC	1990	1999
Ron Lemieux	NDP	1999	"present"