| Rural Municipality of Woodlands | |
| Settlement Type: | Rural municipality |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Woodlands in Manitoba |
| Coordinates: | 50.2408°N -97.7358°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Canada |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Manitoba |
| Established Title: | Incorporated |
| Established Date: | February 14, 1884 |
| Leader Title: | Reeve |
| Leader Name: | Lori Schellekens |
| Leader Title1: | MP (Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman) |
| Leader Name1: | James Bezan |
| Leader Title2: | MLA (Lakeside) |
| Leader Name2: | Trevor King |
| Area Total Km2: | 1,197.59 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 3,797 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Timezone1: | CST |
| Utc Offset1: | -6 |
| Timezone1 Dst: | CDT |
| Utc Offset1 Dst: | -5 |
Woodlands is a rural municipality (RM) in the province of Manitoba in Western Canada. It lies in the southern part of the Interlake and is named for the community of Woodlands, which itself is named for the wooded lands of the area.[2]
The Rural Municipality of Woodlands was incorporated on February 14, 1884.[3]
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Woodlands had a population of 3,797 living in 1,376 of its 1,483 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 3,416. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2021.[1]
| Liberal | Conservative | New Democratic | Green | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 8% | 156 | 69% | 1,278 | 13% | 241 | 2% | 41 | |||||
| 2019 | 7% | 137 | 75% | 1,403 | 11% | 209 | 6% | 108 | |||||
| PC | New Democratic | Liberal | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 74% | 1,113 | 17% | 255 | 9% | 128 | ||||
| 2016 | 85% | 1,126 | 15% | 201 | 0% | 0 | ||||
The Rural Municipality of Woodlands is municipal style government with one head of council and six councillors, one of which is the deputy reeve. The councillors are elected at large. The municipal offices are located in Woodlands. The municipalities lies within the federal riding of Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, represented by Conservative James Bezan, and the provincial riding of Lakeside represented by Progressive Conservative Trevor King.
The representatives from the local urban district of Warren are Judy Olson, Diana Friesen, and Cal Martin.
The first rail line, the Air Line, connected Warren to Stonewall and Winnipeg, and later to Portage la Prairie, but was taken out of service in 1882. The Hudson Bay CPR line was built to Shoal Lake, but construction stopped after 1886 due to lack of funds. In the 1880s, multiple rail lines were built through the municipality to transport gravel from the ridges and pits, but were later abandoned once supply diminished. The Canadian Northern Railroad was built through the area from 1903 to 1904. The section north of Warren was abandoned beginning in 1996, but the section south remains in operation.[4]