Rossmere Explained

Rossmere
Province:	Manitoba
Prov-Status:	active
Prov-Rep:	Tracy Schmidt
Prov-Rep-Link:	Tracy Schmidt
Prov-Rep-Party:	NDP
Prov-Rep-Party-Link:	Manitoba New Democratic Party
Demo-Census-Date:	2016
Demo-Pop:	21150
Prov-Created:	1968
Prov-Election-First:	1969
Prov-Election-Last:	2023
Demo-Electors:	15734
Demo-Electors-Date:	2019
Demo-Area:	12

Rossmere is a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was created by redistribution in 1968, and has formally existed since the provincial election of 1969. The riding is located in the northeastern section of the City of Winnipeg.

Rossmere is bordered on the southeast by Radisson, to the south by Elmwood and Concordia, to the north & west by Kildonan-River East.

Rossmere's population in 2018 was 21,150. In 2018, the average family income was $70,969, and the unemployment rate was 6.80%. According to a 2018 boundary commission, 20.8% of the riding's residents were immigrants; 25% listed German as their ethnic origin, and a further 11% are Ukrainian. The aboriginal population was 12.7%.

Rossmere is relatively affluent, and most of its residents are in the middle-income range. There is still a significant working-class presence in the riding, however: 13.8% of the riding's industry is in Health Care & Social Assistance, with a further 10.1% work in the retail trade.

Although Rossmere's first MLA was New Democratic Party premier Edward Schreyer, it was historically a swing seat between the NDP and the Progressive Conservatives. After Schreyer's resignation in 1979, he was succeeded by the NDP's Vic Schroeder, who was re-elected in the elections of 1981 and 1986 over his Conservative opposition. Schroeder was a senior cabinet minister in the government of Howard Pawley, but was defeated in the 1988 election that swept the NDP from office. Progressive Conservative Harold Neufeld held the seat from 1988 to 1993, while future MP and federal cabinet minister Vic Toews was the MLA from 1995 to 1999. Both served in the cabinets of Gary Filmon.

For much of the early part of the new millennium, however, the Conservatives were not competitive in the seat. New Democrat Harry Schellenberg, who first won the seat in a 1993 by-election before narrowly losing to Toews in the 1995 provincial election, regained the seat in the 1999 election by narrowly defeating Toews in a rematch. Schellenberg went on to win re-election in the 2003 provincial election with nearly two-thirds of the vote. Schellenberg was succeeded by fellow NDP member Erna Braun, who won the seat in 2007 provincial election with 60% of the vote. Notably, the Conservatives did not nominate a candidate until after the election was called. The Tories took back the seat amid the massive Tory wave that swept through the province in 2016, with Andrew Micklefield defeating Braun by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.

Rossmere has voted for the party that has won every general election since its creation, except 1977.

List of provincial representatives

This riding has elected the following MLAs:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
26th	1969-1973		Edward Schreyer	New Democratic
27th	1973-1977
28th	1977-1979
	1979-1981		Victor Schroeder	New Democratic
29th	1981-1986
30th	1986-1988
31st	1988-1990		Harold Neufeld	Progressive Conservative
32nd	1990-1993
	1993-1995		Harry Schellenberg	New Democratic
33rd	1995-1999		Vic Toews	Progressive Conservative
34th	1999-2003		Harry Schellenberg	New Democratic
35th	2003-2007
36th	2007-2011		Erna Braun	New Democratic
37th	2011-2016
38th	2016–2019		Andrew Micklefield	Progressive Conservative
39th	2019–2023
40th	2023–present				Tracy Schmidt		New Democratic

Electoral results

2016

2016 provincial election redistributed results^[1]
Party		%
			58.6
			30.6
			8.2
			2.6

1969

References

49.933°N -97.082°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: New Manitoba election boundaries give upper hand to Progressive Conservatives, CBC News analysis finds. 2019-08-27. Marcoux. Jacques. CBC . 2023-08-29.