Kildonan—St. Paul (Manitoba) 138/338

 Kildonan—St. Paul (Manitoba)

Today we're back in Manitoba with Kildonan—St. Paul!

Kildonan—St. Paul has existed as a riding since 2003. The population of the riding was 84,077 in 2016. The riding contains part of Winnipeg (705,244 in 2016), as well as East St. Paul (9,372 in 2016), and West St. Paul (5,368 in 2016). The riding has a high Eastern European population with 13% being Polish and 24% being Ukrainian. 

Politically, this seat had been a reliable Liberal seat but has recently taken a turn to the Conservatives. The Liberals won the riding that had been reliable in 1988, a sign of the impending Chrétien majority. It stayed there until 2004 when Jean Chrétien wasn't Liberal leader anymore. It went to the Liberals in 2015 by just 1,239 votes, so it was an easy 2019 Conservative pickup. The seat is currently held by Conservative MP Raquel Dancho.

The second-last Liberal to represent the riding was Rey Pagtakhan. In 1988, Rey Pagtakhan was the first Filipino-born Canadian to be elected to the House of Commons, beating 26-year incumbent David Orlikow (who also is worthy of a thread). In 2001, Pagtakhan was appointed Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific), holding a few other cabinet positions after that. Notably, as Minister responsible for Manitoba, he oversaw the projects of the Red River Floodway and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. In 2019, this seat was 7/14 in Manitoba and 159/338 in Canada by margin.

The name is great, Kildonan was a local municipal name pre-1972 when Winnipeg absorbed them. The shape is also pretty good, nice rural/suburban split. As for individuality, there is a surprising amount of cabinet representation in this seat and every incumbent has such an interesting story.

We're off this weekend as I'm heading back to school, but we'll be back on Monday with King—Vaughan!