Kenora—Rainy River (provincial electoral district)

Kenora—Rainy River
Ontario electoral district
	Kenora—Rainy River in relation to other Northern Ontario electoral districts
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Ontario
MPP	Greg Rickford; Progressive Conservative
;
District created	1999
First contested	1999
Last contested	2025
Demographics
Population (2016)	53,027
Electors (2018)	37,442
Area (km²)	45,201
Pop. density (per km²)	1.2
Census division(s)	Kenora, Rainy River
Census subdivision(s)	Chapple, Dryden, Emo, Fort Frances, Kenora, Rainy River

Kenora—Rainy River is a provincial electoral district (riding) in northwestern Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1999. It was created from Kenora, most of Rainy River and part of Lake Nipigon. The boundaries of the new district corresponded with the Kenora—Rainy River federal riding, until it was abolished in 2003. The provincial riding will continue to exist.

A predominantly white, working class, and rural riding, Kenora-Rainy River was formerly a stronghold for the Ontario NDP. Greg Rickford of the Progressive Conservatives was elected its MPP in a dramatic swing to the right in 2018. The riding was previously represented by Sarah Campbell for the NDP and Howard Hampton, former leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party. The riding includes part of Kenora District, and the western three quarters of the Rainy River District.

History

Kenora—Rainy River boundaries from 1999 to 2018

In 1996, Ontario was divided into the same electoral districts as those used for federal electoral purposes. They were redistributed whenever a readjustment took place at the federal level.

In 2005, legislation was passed by the Legislature to divide Ontario into 107 electoral districts, beginning with the next provincial election in 2007. The eleven northern electoral districts, including Kenora—Rainy River, are those defined for federal purposes in 1996, based on the 1991 census (except for a minor boundary adjustment). The 96 southern electoral districts are those defined for federal electoral purposes in 2003, based on the 2001 census. Without this legislation, the number of electoral districts in northern Ontario would have been reduced from eleven to ten.^[3]

Prior to the 2018 provincial election, the Ontario government's Far North Electoral Boundaries Commission proposed dividing Kenora—Rainy River into one riding for the urbanized southern portion of the current district, which will retain the name Kenora—Rainy River, and one riding for the predominantly Indigenous northern portion of the current district, to be named Kiiwetinoong.^[4] The creation of Kiiwetinoong and Mushkegowuk—James Bay, another new northern riding, were approved with the passage of the Representation Statute Law Amendment Act, 2017 in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.^[5]

Members

Kenora—Rainy River
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
Riding created from Kenora, Rainy River and Lake Nipigon
37th	1999–2003		Howard Hampton	New Democratic
38th	2003–2007
39th	2007–2011
40th	2011–2014		Sarah Campbell
41st	2014–2018		Sarah Campbell
42nd	2018–2022		Greg Rickford	Progressive Conservative
43rd	2022–2025
44th	2025–present

Election results

Winning party in each polling division of Kenora—Rainy River at the 2025 Ontario general election

v t e 2025 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Greg Rickford	10,541	59.93	+0.36
	New Democratic	Rudy Turtle	3,308	18.81	–1.11
	Liberal	Anthony Leek	3,072	17.46	+6.11
	Green	John Redins	336	1.91	–1.88
	New Blue	Randy Ricci	333	1.89	–0.56
Total valid votes/expense limit			17,590	99.29	+0.73
Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots			125	0.71	–0.73
Turnout			17,715	50.37	+10.16
Eligible voters			35,172
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		+0.74
Source: Elections Ontario^[6]^[7]

Winning party in each polling division of Kenora—Rainy River at the 2022 Ontario general election

v t e 2022 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Progressive Conservative	Greg Rickford	9,567	59.57	+11.01	$56,299
	New Democratic	JoAnne Formanek Gustafson	3,199	19.92	−17.41	$14,415
	Liberal	Anthony Leek	1,823	11.35	+0.77	$32,991
	Green	Catherine Kiewning	608	3.79	+0.26	$1,339
	New Blue	Kelvin Boucher-Chicago	393	2.45		$4,074
	Ontario Party	Larry Breiland	276	1.72		$0
	Consensus Ontario	Richard A. Jonasson	98	0.61		$0
	Independent	Mi'Azhikwan	95	0.59		$0
Total valid votes/expense limit			16,059	98.56	-0.48	$66,892
Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots			235	1.44	+0.48
Turnout			16,294	40.21	-13.91
Eligible voters			40,231
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		+14.21
Source(s) "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2022. Archived from the original on May 18, 2023. "Statistical Summary by Electoral District" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2022. Archived from the original on May 21, 2023.

2018 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Progressive Conservative	Greg Rickford	9,748	48.57	+19.06	$62,932
	New Democratic	Glen Archer	7,493	37.33	-15.40	$34,256
	Liberal	Karen Kejick	2,123	10.58	-4.31	$15,033
	Green	Ember McKillop	707	3.52	+0.65	$81
Total valid votes			20,071	99.05
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			193	0.95
Turnout			20,264	54.12
Eligible voters			37,442
	Progressive Conservative gain from New Democratic		Swing		+17.23
Source: Elections Ontario^[8]^[9]^[10]

2014 general election redistributed results^[11]
Party		Vote	%
	New Democratic	9,410	52.73
	Progressive Conservative	5,266	29.51
	Liberal	2,657	14.89
	Green	513	2.87

2014 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Sarah Campbell	12,889	55.65	+6.02
	Progressive Conservative	Randy Nickle	5,905	25.49	-12.16
	Liberal	Anthony Leek	3,652	15.77	+5.79
	Green	Tim McKillop	711	3.07	+1.30
Total valid votes			23,157	100.00
	New Democratic hold		Swing		+9.02
Source:Elections Ontario^[12]

2011 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Sarah Campbell	10,949	49.62	-11.00
	Progressive Conservative	Rod McKay	8,307	37.65	+25.95
	Liberal	Anthony Leek	2,202	9.98	-14.44
	Green	Jo Jo Holiday	391	1.77	-1.49
	Northern Ontario Heritage	Charmaine Romaniuk	216	0.98
Total valid votes			22,065	100.00
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			65	0.29
Turnout			22,130	45.75
Eligible voters			48,369
	New Democratic hold		Swing		-18.48
Source: Elections Ontario^[13]

2007 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Howard Hampton	14,281	60.62	+0.87
	Liberal	Mike Wood	5,752	24.42	-1.31
	Progressive Conservative	Penny Lucas	2,757	11.70	-1.05
	Green	Jo Jo Holiday	769	3.26	+1.49
Total valid votes			23,559	100.00
	New Democrat hold		Swing	+1.09

^ Change is from redistributed results

2003 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Howard Hampton	15,666	60.12	+15.38
	Liberal	Geoff McClain	6,746	25.69	-9.45
	Progressive Conservative	Cathe Hoszowski	3,343	12.83	-4.36
	Green	Dan King	305	1.17
Total valid votes			26,060	100.0

1999 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	New Democratic	Howard Hampton	14,269	44.74
	Liberal	Frank Miclash	11,209	35.14
	Progressive Conservative	Lynn Beyak	5,483	17.19
	Independent	Richard Bruyere	934	2.93
Total valid votes			31,895	100.0

2007 electoral reform referendum

2007 Ontario electoral reform referendum
Side		Votes	%
	First Past the Post	15,494	69.9
	Mixed member proportional	6,684	30.1
	Total valid votes	22,178	100.0

References

1 2 "Kenora—Rainy River". Elections Ontario. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
↑ "Election Results". Elections Ontario. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
↑ Elections Ontario web site, “New Electoral Boundaries” Archived 2006-12-08 at the Wayback Machine
↑ "Ontario to create two new ridings in the north, one to be primarily Indigenous". National Post. The Canadian Press. August 8, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
↑ "New Ridings Created in Northern Ontario". Newsroom. Government of Ontario. October 24, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
↑ "Kenora—Rainy River Unofficial Election Results". Elections Ontario. February 28, 2025. Retrieved February 28, 2025.
↑ "VOTE TOTALS FROM OFFICIAL TABULATION" (PDF). Elections Ontario. March 3, 2025. Retrieved March 4, 2025.
↑ "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 28, 2018. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
↑ "Data Explorer". Elections Ontario. Retrieved March 4, 2025.
↑ "Political Financing and Party Information". Elections Ontario. Retrieved March 4, 2025.
↑ "44 - Kenora—Rainy River".
↑ Elections Ontario (2014). "General Election Results by District 035, Kenora-Rainy River". Archived from the original on June 14, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
↑ Elections Ontario (2011). "Official return from the records / Rapport des registres officiels - Kenora—Rainy River" (PDF). Retrieved June 1, 2014.^{[permanent dead link]}

Sources

Elections Ontario

49°30′N 92°36′W / 49.5°N 92.6°W / 49.5; -92.6

[elecon-1] 1 2 "Kenora—Rainy River". Elections Ontario. Retrieved August 31, 2020.

[elecon1-2] "Election Results". Elections Ontario. Retrieved August 31, 2020.

[3] Elections Ontario web site, “New Electoral Boundaries” Archived 2006-12-08 at the Wayback Machine

[4] "Ontario to create two new ridings in the north, one to be primarily Indigenous". National Post. The Canadian Press. August 8, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017.

[5] "New Ridings Created in Northern Ontario". Newsroom. Government of Ontario. October 24, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017.

[6] "Kenora—Rainy River Unofficial Election Results". Elections Ontario. February 28, 2025. Retrieved February 28, 2025.

[7] "VOTE TOTALS FROM OFFICIAL TABULATION" (PDF). Elections Ontario. March 3, 2025. Retrieved March 4, 2025.

[8] "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 28, 2018. Retrieved January 16, 2019.

[9] "Data Explorer". Elections Ontario. Retrieved March 4, 2025.

[10] "Political Financing and Party Information". Elections Ontario. Retrieved March 4, 2025.

[11] "44 - Kenora—Rainy River".

[12] Elections Ontario (2014). "General Election Results by District 035, Kenora-Rainy River". Archived from the original on June 14, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.

[13] Elections Ontario (2011). "Official return from the records / Rapport des registres officiels - Kenora—Rainy River" (PDF). Retrieved June 1, 2014.^{[permanent dead link]}

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