Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River

Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River

Saskatchewan electoral district
Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River in relation to other Saskatchewan federal electoral districts
Federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
MP	Rob Clarke Conservative
District created	1996
First contested	1997
Last contested	2011
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2006)	67,937
Electors (2011)	43,160
Area (km²)	347,266
Pop. density (per km²)	0.2
Census divisions	Division No. 14, Division No. 15, Division No. 16, Division No. 17, Division No. 18
Census subdivisions	Meadow Lake, La Ronge, Meadow Lake No. 588, La Loche

Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River (formerly known as Churchill River) is a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997.

Geography

This is a rural riding located in northern Saskatchewan.

Demographics

According to the Canada 2001 Census

Ethnic groups: 63.8% First Nations, 35.9% White
Languages: 61.6% English, 1.5% French, 34.3% Other, 2.6% Multiple responses
Religions: 44.9% Catholic, 38.4% Protestant, 2.5% Other Christian, 1.2% Other religions, 12.6% No religion
Average income: $19,675

History

The electoral district was created as "Churchill River" in 1996 from Prince Albert—Churchill River, Mackenzie and The Battlefords—Meadow Lake ridings.

In 2004, it was renamed "Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River".

Members of Parliament

This riding has elected the following members of the Canadian House of Commons:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
Prince Albert—Churchill River, Mackenzie and The Battlefords—Meadow Lake prior to 1996
Churchill River
36th	1997–2000		Rick Laliberte	New Democratic
	2000			Liberal
37th	2000–2004
Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River
38th	2004–2006		Jeremy Harrison	Conservative
39th	2006–2007		Gary Merasty	Liberal
	2008		Rob Clarke	Conservative
40th	2008–2011
41st	2011–present

2006 election controversy

In the 2006 federal election, Liberal candidate Gary Merasty defeated incumbent Conservative MP Jeremy Harrison by a razor-thin margin of only 68 votes after trailing much of the election night, despite Harrison's vote increasing several points. Merasty's win raised issues of questionable tactics to increase voter turnout. However, an investigation conducted by Elections Canada determined that no wrongdoing had taken place.

Election results

Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River

Canadian federal election, 2011
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rob Clarke	10,509	47.93	+1.26
	New Democrat	Lawrence Joseph	9,715	44.30	+26.53
	Liberal	Gabe Lafond	1,144	5.22	-25.06
	Green	George Morin	560	2.55	-1.27
Total valid votes/Expense limit			21,928	100.00
Total rejected ballots			95	0.43	-0.11
Turnout			22,023	52.43	+7.68

Canadian federal election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rob Clarke	8,964	46.67	-1.16	$81,066
	Liberal	David Orchard	5,816	30.28	-1.30	$88,314
	New Democrat	Brian Morin	3,414	17.77	+0.24	$1,459
	Green	George Morin	733	3.82	+0.75	$1,387
	First Peoples	Rob Ballantyne	282	1.47
Total valid votes/Expense limit			19,209	100.00		$90,390
Total rejected ballots			105	0.54	+0.19
Turnout			19,314	44.75	+20.03
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.1

See also: Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River by-election, 2008

By-election on March 17, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rob Clarke	4,992	47.83	+6.74
	Liberal	Joan Beatty	3,296	31.58	-9.79
	New Democrat	Brian Morin	1,830	17.53	+2.16
	Green	Robin Orr	320	3.07	+0.90
Total valid votes			10,438	100.00
Total rejected ballots			37	0.35
Turnout			10,475	24.72
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	-8.3

Canadian federal election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Gary Merasty	10,191	41.37	+11.50	$69,229
	Conservative	(x)Jeremy Harrison	10,124	41.09	+3.70	$78,578
	New Democrat	Anita Jackson	3,787	15.37	-4.72	$43,976
	Green	John McDonald	534	2.17	-0.60	$128
Total valid votes			24,636	100.00
Total rejected ballots			88	0.36	-0.03
Turnout			24,724	58.43	+11.02
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	-3.9

Canadian federal election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Jeremy Harrison	7,279	37.39	+1.62	$27,194
	Liberal	Al Ducharme	5,815	29.87	-11.94	$52,686
	New Democrat	Earl Cook	3,910	20.09	-1.72	$9,005
	Independent	(x)Rick Laliberte	1,923	9.88	-31.93
	Green	Marcella Gall	539	2.77
Total valid votes			19,466	100.00
Total rejected ballots			76	0.39	-0.01
Turnout			19,542	47.41	-12.1
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	-6.8

Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in the 2000 election.

Canadian federal election, 2000
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	(x)Rick Laliberte	9,856	41.81	+13.41	$39,223
	Canadian Alliance	Kerry Peterson	7,679	32.57	+0.59	$62,019
	New Democrat	Ray Funk	5,141	21.81	-12.72	$48,853
	Progressive Conservative	David J. Rogers	755	3.20	-1.90
	Canadian Action	Brendan Cross	143	0.61		$1,398
Total valid votes			23,574	100.00
Total rejected ballots			95	0.40	-0.09
Turnout			23,669	59.5	+2.3
	Liberal gain from New Democrat		Swing	-13.1

Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in the 1997 election.

Canadian federal election, 1997
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democrat	Rick Laliberte	7,288	34.53		$41,198
	Reform	Daryl Wiberg	6,750	31.98		$25,132
	Liberal	Roy Bird	5,994	28.40		$40,104
	Progressive Conservative	Bert Provost	1,077	5.10		$79
Total valid votes			21,109	100.00
Total rejected ballots			105	0.49
Turnout			21,214	57.2

See also

• List of Canadian federal electoral districts
• Past Canadian electoral districts

External links

• Riding history for Churchill River (1996–2004) from the Library of Parliament
• Riding history for Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River (2004– ) from the Library of Parliament
• Expenditures - 2008
• Expenditures - 2004
• Expenditures - 2000
• Expenditures - 1997
• Website of the Parliament of Canada