River Heights (electoral district)

River Heights
Manitoba electoral district
	Location in Winnipeg
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
MLA	Mike Moroz; New Democratic
;
District created	1957
First contested	1958
Last contested	2023

River Heights is a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was created by redistribution in 1957, and formally came into existence in the 1958 provincial election. The riding is located in the south-central region of the City of Winnipeg.

River Heights is bordered to the east by Fort Rouge (formerly Lord Roberts), to the southeast by Fort Garry, to the south by Fort Whyte, to the north by Wolseley (across the Assiniboine River), and to the west by Tuxedo.

From 1958 to 1986, River Heights was represented by members of the Progressive Conservative Party. Since that time, however, it has generally been represented by leaders of the provincial Liberal Party. Sharon Carstairs represented the riding from 1986 until her appointment to the Senate of Canada in 1994, and Jon Gerrard represented the riding from 1999 until 2023 when he lost the seat to NDP candidate Mike Moroz.^[1] Moroz is the first New Democrat ever to represent the constituency.

The Liberal Party has many prominent backers in this riding, including members of the Asper family (see Izzy Asper).

Statistical overview

The riding's population in 1996 was 19,950. The riding's character is middle- and upper-middle class. In 1999, the average family income was $77,701, and the unemployment rate was 5.90%. River Heights includes many of Winnipeg's oldest and stateliest homes: the average value of dwelling house in the riding in 1999 was $117,937.

River Heights has a significant Jewish population, at 9% of the total. The highest percentage of people in Manitoba at the riding level have university degrees, at 38.5%. Voter turnout also tends to be extremely high in this riding; in its first four decades, turnout usually exceeded 80% of the eligible population.

The service sector accounts for 15% of industry in River Heights, with educational services following at 14%.

List of provincial representatives

Assembly	Years		Party
25th	1958–1959	W.B. Scarth	Progressive Conservative
26th	1959–1962	W.B. Scarth
27th	1962–1966	Maitland Steinkopf
28th	1966–1969	Sidney Spivak
29th	1969–1973
30th	1973–1977
31st	1977–1979
31st	1979–1981	Gary Filmon
32nd	1981–1986	Warren Steen
33rd	1986–1988	Sharon Carstairs	Liberal
34th	1988–1990
35th	1990–1994
Riding was vacant from 1994–1995
36th	1995–1999	Mike Radcliffe	Progressive Conservative
37th	1999–2003	Jon Gerrard	Liberal
38th	2003–2007
39th	2007–2011
40th	2011–2016
41st	2016–2019
42nd	2019–2023
43rd	2023–present	Mike Moroz	New Democratic

Electoral results

v t e 2023 Manitoba general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Mike Moroz	5,047	44.21	+29.63	$34,794.42
	Liberal	Jon Gerrard	4,404	38.58	-15.22	$15,378.75
	Progressive Conservative	Tim Burt	1,807	15.83	-8.87	$15,741.18
	Green	Nathan Zahn	158	1.38	-5.54	$0.00
Total valid votes/expense limit			11,416	99.63	–	$66,065.00
Total rejected and declined ballots			42	0.37	–
Turnout			11,458	67.59	+2.12
Eligible voters			16,951
	New Democratic gain from Liberal		Swing		+22.42
Source(s) Source: Elections Manitoba^[2]^[3]^[4]

v t e 2019 Manitoba general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Jon Gerrard	5,884	53.79	+1.89	$20,360.48
	Progressive Conservative	Susan Boulter	2,702	24.70	-9.82	$15,457.28
	New Democratic	Jonathan Niemczak	1,595	14.58	+8.72	$2,138.19
	Green	Nathan Zahn	757	6.92	-0.73	$0.00
Total valid votes			10,938	99.69
Total rejected ballots			34	0.31
Turnout			10,972	65.48
Eligible voters			16,757

v t e 2016 Manitoba general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Jon Gerrard	5,230	51.90	+5.99	$24,782.14
	Progressive Conservative	Tracey Maconachie	3,485	34.58	+1.82	$35,477.22
	Green	Michael Cardillo	771	7.65	+4.08	$1,180.63
	New Democratic	Shafagh Daneshfar	591	5.86	-11.90	$671.90
Total valid votes/expense limit			10,077	100.00	-	$44,532.00
Total rejected ballots			79	–	–
Turnout			10,156	72.70	–
Eligible voters			13,969
Source: Elections Manitoba^[5]^[6]

v t e 2011 Manitoba general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Jon Gerrard	4,742	45.91	−5.15	$35,683.03
	Progressive Conservative	Marty Morantz	3,384	32.76	+7.65	$37,469.17
	New Democratic	Dan Manning	1,835	17.76	−2.01	$10,119.45
	Green	Elizabeth May Cameron	370	3.57	−0.48	$498.55
Total valid votes			10,358
Rejected and declined votes			29
Turnout			10,387	72.51	+3.17
Electors on the lists			14,325
Source: Elections Manitoba^[7]

v t e 2007 Manitoba general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Jon Gerrard	4,760	51.06	+2.36	$24,934.03
	Progressive Conservative	Ashley Burner	2,341	25.11	−3.84	$30,166.89
	New Democratic	Fiona Shiells	1,843	19.77	+0.03	$3,859.68
	Green	Christine Bennet-Clark	378	4.05	+1.79	$861.98
Total valid votes			9,322	100.00
Rejected and declined votes			22
Turnout			9,344	69.34	+1.91
Electors on the lists			13,475
Source: Elections Manitoba^[8]

v t e 2003 Manitoba general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Jon Gerrard	4,500	48.70	+3.70	$29,690.35
	Progressive Conservative	Mike Radcliffe	2,675	28.95	−12.00	$24,419.68
	New Democratic	Kristin Bingeman	1,824	19.74	+6.76	$4,053.34
	Green	Linda Goossen	209	2.26	+1.46	$49.68
	Libertarian	Clancy Smith	32	0.35	+0.08	$0.00
Total valid votes			9,240	100.00
Rejected and declined votes			31
Turnout			9,271	67.43	−6.24
Electors on the lists			13,749

v t e 1999 Manitoba general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Jon Gerrard	5,173	45.00	+5.80	$30,877.93
	Progressive Conservative	Mike Radcliffe	4,708	40.95	-7.03	$28,010.25
	New Democratic	Peter Reimer	1,492	12.98	+1.03	$3,101.00
	Green	Chris Billows	92	0.80	n/a	$55.40
	Libertarian	Clancy Smith	31	0.27	-0.59	$443.82
Total valid votes			11,496	100.00
Rejected and declined votes			41
Turnout			11,537	83.67
Electors on the lists			13,788

^[9]

1990 Manitoba general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sharon Carstairs	5,467	47.97	-11.72
	Progressive Conservative	Shaun McCaffrey	4,601	40.37	+9.96
	New Democratic	Peter Sim	1,190	10.44	+1.1
	Libertarian	Clancy Smith	138	1.21	+0.65
Total valid votes			11,426	100.00	-
Rejected ballots			30	–
Turnout			11,396	81.46
Eligible voters			14,026
Source: Elections Manitoba^[10]

1988 Manitoba general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sharon Carstairs	6,620	59.69	+14.71
	Progressive Conservative	Bob Vandewater	3,373	30.41	-0.11
	New Democratic	Harry Daniels	1,036	9.34	-15.16
	Libertarian	Jim Weidman	62	0.56	n/a
Total valid votes			11,108	100.00	-
Rejected ballots			17	–	–
Turnout			11,091	87.07
Eligible voters			12,757
Source: Elections Manitoba^[11]

v t e 1986 Manitoba general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sharon Carstairs	4,620	44.98	+21.57
	Progressive Conservative	Warren Steen	3,135	30.52	-14.94
	New Democratic	Murray Smith	2,516	24.50	-5.31
Turnout			10,287	80.66
	Liberal gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		+18.26
Source: Elections Manitoba^[12]