Thunder Bay—Rainy River
Federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada
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Thunder Bay—Rainy River is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. It first elected a member in the 2004 federal election.
 Ontario electoral district | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Interactive map of riding boundaries from the 2025 federal election. Point indicates the city of Thunder Bay. | |||
| Federal electoral district | |||
| Legislature | House of Commons | ||
| MP |
Liberal | ||
| District created | 2003 | ||
| First contested | 2004 | ||
| Last contested | 2021 | ||
| District webpage | profile, map | ||
| Demographics | |||
| Population (2011)[1] | 82,984 | ||
| Electors (2015) | 62,207 | ||
| Area (km²)[1] | 39,545 | ||
| Pop. density (per km²) | 2.1 | ||
| Census division(s) | Thunder Bay District, Rainy River District | ||
| Census subdivision(s) | Thunder Bay (part), Fort Frances, Oliver Paipoonge, Atikokan, Neebing, Emo, Fort William, Alberton, Conmee, La Vallee | ||
_(2022_redistribution).svg)
History
It was created in 2003 from parts of Kenora—Rainy River and Thunder Bay—Atikokan ridings.
This riding gained a fraction of territory from Thunder Bay—Superior North during the 2012 electoral redistribution.
Geography
It consists of the Territorial District of Rainy River and part of Thunder Bay south and west of a line running from the western limit, east along the 6th Base Line, south along Dog River and the Kaministiquia River, ending at the City of Thunder Bay’s eastern limit and the US border.
Demographics
According to the 2021 Canadian census[2]
Ethnic groups: 76.4% White, 18.8% Indigenous, 1.5% South Asian
Languages: 89.4% English, 1.6% French, 1.1% Italian
Religions: 54.1% Christian (26.2% Catholic, 5.9% United Church, 4.7% Anglican, 3.2% Lutheran, 1.6% Baptist, 1.5% Presbyterian, 11.0% other), 1.8% Indigenous spirituality, 42.0% none
Median income: $42,800 (2020)
Average income: $50,520 (2020)
Riding associations
Riding associations are the local branches of political parties:
| Party | Association name | President | HQ city | |
| Conservative | Thunder Bay--Rainy River Conservative Association | Linda R. Rydholm | Thunder Bay | |
| Liberal | Thunder Bay--Rainy River Federal Liberal Association | Stephen Margarit | Thunder Bay | |
| New Democratic | Thunder Bay--Rainy River Federal NDP Riding Association | Yuk-Sem Won | Thunder Bay | |
| People's | Thunder Bay PPC Regional District Association | James Berday | Nipigon | |
Member of Parliament
This riding has elected the following members of Parliament:
| Parliament | Years | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunder Bay—Rainy River Riding created from Kenora—Rainy River and Thunder Bay—Atikokan |
||||
| 38th | 2004–2006 | Ken Boshcoff | Liberal | |
| 39th | 2006–2008 | |||
| 40th | 2008–2011 | John Rafferty | New Democratic | |
| 41st | 2011–2015 | |||
| 42nd | 2015–2019 | Don Rusnak | Liberal | |
| 43rd | 2019–2021 | Marcus Powlowski | ||
| 44th | 2021–2025 | |||
| 45th | 2025–present | |||
Election results
| 2025 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Marcus Powlowski | 21,125 | 48.5 | +14.2 | ||||
| Conservative | Brendan Hyatt | 18,685 | 42.9 | +13.6 | ||||
| New Democratic | Yuk-Sem Won | 2,954 | 6.8 | –21.7 | ||||
| People's | Sabrina Ree | 433 | 1.0 | –5.6 | ||||
| Green | Eric Arner | 334 | 0.8 | –0.6 | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | ||||||||
| Total rejected ballots | ||||||||
| Turnout | 43,531 | 66.5 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 65,412 | |||||||
| Liberal hold | Swing | |||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[3][4] | ||||||||
| 2021 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Marcus Powlowski | 13,655 | 34.3 | -1.0 | $85,082.79 | |||
| Conservative | Adelina Pecchia | 11,671 | 29.3 | 0.0 | $27,004.63 | |||
| New Democratic | Yuk-Sem Won | 11,342 | 28.5 | -0.6 | $82,351.30 | |||
| People's | Alan Aubut | 2,621 | 6.6 | +4.8 | $0.00 | |||
| Green | Tracey MacKinnon | 571 | 1.4 | -3.1 | $287.74 | |||
| Total valid votes | 39,860 | |||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 308 | |||||||
| Turnout | 40,168 | 61.69 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 65,109 | |||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[6] | ||||||||
| 2019 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Marcus Powlowski | 14,498 | 35.32 | -8.70 | $55,609.36 | |||
| Conservative | Linda Rydholm | 12,039 | 29.33 | +8.24 | $50,919.61 | |||
| New Democratic | Yuk-Sem Won | 11,944 | 29.10 | -0.57 | none listed | |||
| Green | Amanda Moddejonge | 1,829 | 4.46 | -0.77 | none listed | |||
| People's | Andrew Hartnell | 741 | 1.81 | – | none listed | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 41,051 | 99.20 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 333 | 0.80 | +0.39 | |||||
| Turnout | 41,384 | 62.41 | -3.92 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 66,306 | |||||||
| Liberal hold | Swing | -8.47 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[7][8] | ||||||||
| 2015 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Don Rusnak | 18,523 | 44.02 | +22.31 | $69,724.11 | |||
| New Democratic | John Rafferty | 12,483 | 29.66 | -18.99 | $106,616.41 | |||
| Conservative | Moe Comuzzi | 8,876 | 21.09 | -6.12 | $64,890.91 | |||
| Green | Christy Radbourne | 2,201 | 5.23 | +2.79 | $3,586.52 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 42,083 | 99.58 | $233,739.33 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 176 | 0.42 | – | |||||
| Turnout | 42,259 | 66.33 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 63,708 | |||||||
| Liberal gain from New Democratic | Swing | +20.65 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[9][10] | ||||||||
| 2011 federal election redistributed results[11] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Vote | % | |
| New Democratic | 18,126 | 48.65 | |
| Conservative | 10,138 | 27.21 | |
| Liberal | 8,085 | 21.70 | |
| Green | 911 | 2.44 | |
| Others | 1 | 0.00 | |
| 2011 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| New Democratic | John Rafferty | 18,085 | 48.7 | +8.4 | – | |||
| Conservative | Maureen Comuzzi-Stehmann | 10,097 | 27.2 | +3.6 | – | |||
| Liberal | Ken Boshcoff | 8,067 | 21.7 | -10.6 | – | |||
| Green | Ed Shields | 909 | 2.4 | -1.4 | – | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 37,158 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 130 | 0.3 | – | |||||
| Turnout | 37,288 | 60.1 | – | |||||
| Eligible voters | 62,018 | – | – | |||||
| New Democratic hold | Swing | +2.4 | ||||||
| 2008 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| New Democratic | John Rafferty | 14,478 | 40.3 | +6.9 | $80,937 | |||
| Liberal | Ken Boshcoff | 11,589 | 32.3 | -2.8 | $63,482 | |||
| Conservative | Richard Neumann | 8,466 | 23.6 | -3.6 | $44,136 | |||
| Green | Russ Aegard | 1,377 | 3.8 | +0.7 | $1,292 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 35,910 | 100.0 | $93,852 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 105 | |||||||
| Turnout | 36,015 | 57.05 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 63,128 | |||||||
| New Democratic gain from Liberal | Swing | +4.85 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada [12] | ||||||||
| 2006 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Ken Boshcoff | 13,520 | 35.1 | -4.3 | ||||
| New Democratic | John Rafferty | 12,862 | 33.4 | +3.7 | ||||
| Conservative | David Leskowski | 10,485 | 27.2 | +0.9 | ||||
| Green | Russ Aegard | 1,193 | 3.1 | +0.7 | ||||
| Marijuana | Doug MacKay | 424 | 1.1 | -0.4 | ||||
| Total valid votes | 38,484 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 134 | |||||||
| Turnout | 36,618 | 57.96 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 63,180 | |||||||
| Liberal hold | Swing | -4.00 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada [13] | ||||||||
| 2004 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| Liberal | Ken Boshcoff | 14,290 | 39.4 | |||||
| New Democratic | John Rafferty | 10,781 | 29.7 | |||||
| Conservative | David Leskowski | 9,559 | 26.3 | |||||
| Green | Russ Aegard | 856 | 2.4 | |||||
| Marijuana | Doug Thompson | 547 | 1.5 | |||||
| Christian Heritage | Johannes Scheibler | 267 | 0.7 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 36,300 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 162 | |||||||
| Turnout | 36,462 | 57.22 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 63,718 | |||||||
| Source: Elections Canada [14] | ||||||||