Saint John—Rothesay

"St. John (electoral district)" redirects here. For the provincial electoral district in Manitoba, see St. Johns (electoral district).

Saint John—Rothesay (formerly Saint John) is a federal electoral district in southern New Brunswick, Canada. With its predecessor ridings, St. John—Albert and Saint John—Lancaster, the area has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1917.

Saint John—Rothesay

New Brunswick electoral district
Saint John in relation to other New Brunswick federal electoral districts
Coordinates:	45.292°N 66.034°W / 45.292; -66.034
Federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
MP	Wayne Long Liberal
District created	1914
First contested	1917
Last contested	2021
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2021)[1]	81,996
Electors (2019)	63,371
Area (km²)[1]	457
Pop. density (per km²)	179.4
Census division(s)	Kings, Saint John
Census subdivision(s)	Rothesay, Saint John, Simonds, The Brothers 18

The district has always included the city of Saint John, and various suburbs and bedroom communities have been added or removed from it over the years. Presently the district also includes the town of Rothesay, the Indian reserve of The Brothers 18, and part of Simonds Parish.

The neighbouring ridings are Fundy Royal and New Brunswick Southwest.

History

Originally, Saint John had a special setup for representation in Parliament. The "City of St. John" returned one member, while the "City and County of St. John", which included the County of Saint John returned one as well. Between 1872 and 1896, the "City and County" riding elected two Members of Parliament. In effect, the city itself had two or even three Members of Parliament. This practice continued until 1914.

After 1914, the counties of Saint John and Albert were joined. The two existing ridings were merged into a new riding, called "St. John—Albert", that also incorporated parts of King's and Albert riding. The new riding returned two Members of Parliament until 1935.

In 1966, St. John—Albert was abolished when Albert County was moved to the Fundy—Royal riding. A new riding, "Saint John—Lancaster", was created.

Saint John—Lancaster was abolished in the 1976 redistribution, and a new riding with substantially the same boundaries was created and named "Saint John". The City of Lancaster had been amalgamated into Saint John.

In recent years, the Progressive Conservative Party has had the most success in the city: its members were elected in all but four elections since 1953: 1974, 1980, 2004, and 2006. Well-known Members of Parliament from the area include Father of Confederation Samuel Leonard Tilley, former Veterans Affairs Minister Gerald Merrithew and popular former mayor Elsie Wayne.

As per the 2012 federal electoral redistribution, this riding was renamed Saint John—Rothesay and lost a small portion of territory to Fundy Royal.

Following the 2022 Canadian federal electoral redistribution, the riding will largely be replaced by Saint John—Kennebecasis. It gains Quispamsis from Fundy Royal and loses all of the City of Saint John west of the Saint John River to the new riding of Saint John—St. Croix.

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
2001	83,463	—
2006	82,078	−1.7%
2011	84,670	+3.2%

Members of Parliament

These ridings have elected the following members of Parliament:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party	Member		Party
St. John—Albert Riding created from City and County of St. John
13th	1917 – 1921		Rupert Wilson Wigmore	Government (Unionist)		Stanley Edward Elkin	Government (Unionist)
14th	1921 – 1925		John Babington Macaulay Baxter	Conservative		Murray MacLaren	Conservative
15th	1925 – 1926		Thomas Bell
16th	1926 – 1930
17th	1930 – 1935
18th	1935 – 1938		William Ryan	Liberal
	1938 – 1940		Allan McAvity
19th	1940 – 1945		King Hazen	National Government
20th	1945 – 1949			Progressive Conservative
21st	1949 – 1953		Daniel Aloysius Riley	Liberal
22nd	1953 – 1957		Thomas Miller Bell	Progressive Conservative
23rd	1957 – 1958
24th	1958 – 1962
25th	1962 – 1963
26th	1963 – 1965
27th	1965 – 1968
St. John—Lancaster
28th	1968 – 1972		Thomas Miller Bell	Progressive Conservative
29th	1972 – 1974
30th	1974 – 1979		Mike Landers	Liberal
Saint John
31st	1979 – 1980		Eric Ferguson	Progressive Conservative
32nd	1980 – 1984		Mike Landers	Liberal
33rd	1984 – 1988		Gerald Merrithew	Progressive Conservative
34th	1988 – 1993
35th	1993 – 1997		Elsie Wayne
36th	1997 – 2000
37th	2000 – 2003
	2003 – 2004			Conservative
38th	2004 – 2006		Paul Zed	Liberal
39th	2006 – 2008
40th	2008 – 2011		Rodney Weston	Conservative
41st	2011 – 2015
Saint John—Rothesay
42nd	2015–2019		Wayne Long	Liberal
43rd	2019–2021
43rd	2021–present

Election results

Graph of election results in St. John—Albert, Saint John—Lancaster, Saint John, Saint John—Rothesay (1914-2019 minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted, prior to 1968 the top two candidates were both elected)

Saint John—Kennebecasis, 2023 representation order

2021 federal election redistributed results[2]
Party		Vote	%
	Liberal	16,082	42.60
	Conservative	13,737	36.39
	New Democratic	4,975	13.18
	People's	1,851	4.90
	Green	1,106	2.93

Saint John—Rothesay, 2013 representation order

Graph of election results in Saint John—Rothesay (2013- minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted, prior to 1968 the top two candidates were both elected)

v t e 2021 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Wayne Long	17,371	46.38	+8.94	$86,136.71
	Conservative	Mel Norton	12,315	32.88	-1.07	$89,711.32
	New Democratic	Don Paulin	4,821	12.87	+0.64	$4,012.75
	People's	Nicholas Pereira	2,001	5.34	+2.29	$3,899.08
	Green	Ann McAllister	948	2.53	-7.57	$365.47
Total valid votes/expense limit			37,456	–	–	$103,960.22
Total rejected ballots
Turnout				58.99	-6.19
Registered voters			63,495
	Liberal hold		Swing		+5.01
Source: Elections Canada[3]

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Wayne Long	15,443	37.43	-11.37	$65,376.07
	Conservative	Rodney Weston	14,006	33.95	+3.41	$98,624.09
	New Democratic	Armand Cormier	5,046	12.23	-5.30	$2,746.93
	Green	Ann McAllister	4,165	10.10	+6.97	none listed
	People's	Adam J. C. Salesse	1,260	3.05		none listed
	Independent	Stuart Jamieson	1,183	2.87		$6,611.27
	Independent	Neville Barnett	150	0.36		$170.00
Total valid votes/expense limit			41,253	99.40
Total rejected ballots			250	0.60	+0.12
Turnout			41,503	65.18	-3.65
Eligible voters			63,677
	Liberal hold		Swing		-7.39
Source: Elections Canada[4][5]

v t e 2015 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Wayne Long	20,634	48.80	+32.81	–
	Conservative	Rodney Weston	12,915	30.54	-19.18	–
	New Democratic	AJ Griffin	7,411	17.53	-13.2	–
	Green	Sharon Murphy	1,321	3.12	+0.35	–
Total valid votes/expense limit			42,281	100.0		$196,334.01
Total rejected ballots			205	–	–
Turnout			42,486	69.38	–
Eligible voters			61,236
Source: Elections Canada[6][7]

2011 federal election redistributed results[8]
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	17,881	49.72
	New Democratic	11,052	30.73
	Liberal	5,750	15.99
	Green	992	2.76
	Others	288	0.80

Saint John, 2003 Representation Order

Graph of election results in Saint John (1976-2013 minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted, prior to 1968 the top two candidates were both elected)

v t e 2011 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rodney Weston	18,456	49.73	+10.18	$79,348.63
	New Democratic	Rob Moir	11,382	30.67	+14.71	$23,584.68
	Liberal	Stephen Chase	5,964	16.07	-22.06	$42,496.31
	Green	Sharon Murphy-Flatt	1,017	2.74	-2.68	$2,700.77
	Independent	Arthur Watson Jr.	294	0.79	–	$251.37
Total valid votes/expense limit			37,113	100.0		$82,011.29
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			176	0.47
Turnout			37,289	58.02	+4.01
Eligible voters			64,264
	Conservative hold		Swing		-2.26
Sources:[9][10]

v t e 2008 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rodney Weston	13,782	39.55	+0.25	$73,497.84
	Liberal	Paul Zed	13,285	38.13	-4.79	$69,234.99
	New Democratic	Tony Mowery	5,560	15.96	+0.32	$2,720.91
	Green	Mike Richardson	1,888	5.42	+3.28	$1,008.49
	Marijuana	Michael Moffat	330	0.95	–	none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			34,845	100.0		$79,702
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			187	0.53	±0
Turnout			35,032	54.01	-7.38
Eligible voters			64,868
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+2.52

v t e 2006 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Paul Zed	17,202	42.92	-0.36	$55,428.82
	Conservative	John Wallace	15,753	39.30	+5.68	$65,915.16
	New Democratic	Terry Albright	6,267	15.64	-3.42	$6,294.91
	Green	Vern Garnett	858	2.14	-0.08	none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			40,080	100.0		$74,214
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			214	0.53
Turnout			40,294	61.39	+6.36
Eligible voters			65,639
	Liberal hold		Swing		-3.02

v t e 2004 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Paul Zed	15,725	43.28	+13.12	$60,257.89
	Conservative	Bob McVicar	12,212	33.62	-25.88	$59,750.72
	New Democratic	Terry Albright	6,926	19.06	+10.34	$13,450.03
	Green	Jonathan Cormier	807	2.22	+1.92	$1,401.24
	Marijuana	Jim Wood	369	1.02	-0.38	none listed
	Independent	Tom Oland	290	0.80	–	$235.21
Total valid votes/expense limit			36,329	100.0		$73,296
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			224	0.61
Turnout			36,553	55.03	-5.46
Eligible voters			66,423
	Liberal notional gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		+19.50
Changes from 2000 are based on redistributed results. Change for the Conservative Party is based on the combined total of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance.

2000 federal election redistributed results
Party		Vote	%
	Progressive Conservative	19,236	49.05
	Liberal	11,829	30.16
	Alliance	4,099	10.45
	New Democratic	3,421	8.72
	Others	635	1.62

Saint John, 1996 Representation Order

v t e 2000 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Elsie Wayne	16,751	50.9	-12.2
	Liberal	Paul Zed	9,535	29.0	+13.1
	New Democratic	Rod Hill	2,989	9.1	-1.3
	Alliance	Peter Touchbourne	2,980	9.1	-0.7
	Marijuana	Jim Wood	461	1.4	+1.4
	Green	Vern Garnett	131	0.3	+0.3
	Natural Law	Miville Couture	52	0.2	-0.5
Total valid votes			32,899	100.0

v t e 1997 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Elsie Wayne	22,227	63.1	+19.8
	Liberal	Diana Alexander	5,612	15.9	-17.7
	New Democratic	Larry Hanley	3,679	10.4	+6.3
	Reform	George Richardson	3,467	9.8	+3.6
	Natural Law	Christopher B. Collrin	232	0.7	n/c
Total valid votes			35,217	100.0

Saint John, previous elections

v t e 1993 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Elsie Wayne	15,123	43.3	+0.2
	Liberal	Pat Landers	11,736	33.6	-5.0
	Independent	Joe Boyce	3,685	10.6	+10.6
	Reform	John Erbs	2,171	6.2	+6.2
	New Democratic	Shirley Brown	1,443	4.1	-8.4
	Canada Party	Jim Webb	368	1.1	+1.1
	Natural Law	Christopher Collrin	252	0.7	+0.7
	National	Joy Hobson	146	0.4	+0.4
Total valid votes			34,924	100.0

v t e 1988 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Gerry Merrithew	16,798	43.1	-9.1
	Liberal	Joe Boyce	15,067	38.6	+13.1
	New Democratic	Judith Meinert	4,883	12.5	-8.7
	Confederation of Regions	Jim Webb	1,806	4.6	+4.6
	Libertarian	Thomas Gamblin	289	0.7	-0.1
	Independent	Gary Zatzman	162	0.4	+0.4
Total valid votes			39,005	100.0

v t e 1984 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Gerry Merrithew	16,604	52.2	+13.2
	Liberal	Cliff Warner	8,109	25.5	-15.9
	New Democratic	Mary Palmer	6,752	21.2	+2.3
	Libertarian	Peter Jones	242	0.8	+0.6
	Social Credit	Gordon Simons	102	0.3	+0.3
Total valid votes			31,809	100.0

v t e 1980 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Mike Landers	13,122	41.4	+1.8
	Progressive Conservative	Eric Ferguson	12,363	39.0	-2.6
	New Democratic	David M. Brown	5,978	18.9	+0.0
	Independent	Marilynn Fox	103	0.3	-
	Libertarian	Peter Jones	66	0.2	-
	Marxist–Leninist	Gilles DesRosiers	35	0.1	-
Total valid votes			31,667	100.0
lop.parl.ca

v t e 1979 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Eric Ferguson	13,989	41.6	+0.6
	Liberal	Mike Landers	13,316	39.6	-6.5
	New Democratic	Eldon Richardson	6,358	18.9	+6.5
Total valid votes			33,663	100.0

Saint John—Lancaster, 1966–1976

Graph of election results in Saint John—Lancaster (1966-1976 minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted, prior to 1968 the top two candidates were both elected)

v t e 1974 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Mike Landers	12,860	46.1	+3.9
	Progressive Conservative	Tom Bell	11,419	41.0	-12.9
	New Democratic	Eldon Richardson	3,457	12.4	+9.9
	Marxist–Leninist	Jay Baxter	118	0.4	+0.4
Total valid votes			27,854	100.0

v t e 1972 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Tom Bell	16,350	53.9	+0.9
	Liberal	William Ryan	12,783	42.2	+1.2
	New Democratic	Joseph Drummond	788	2.5	-2.6
	Social Credit	Tom Enright	394	1.3	+1.3
Total valid votes			30,315	100.0

v t e 1968 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Tom Bell	15,756	53.0	+1.6
	Liberal	William Ryan	12,160	41.0	+4.4
	New Democratic	Eldon Richardson	1,508	5.1	-6.8
	Independent	Mildred Crawford	268	0.9	+0.9
Total valid votes			29,692	100.0

St. John—Albert 1914–1966

Graph of election results in St. John—Albert (1914-1966 minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted, prior to 1968 the top two candidates were both elected)

v t e 1965 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Tom Bell	21,909	51.4	-0.3
	Liberal	Arthur Whelly	15,609	36.6	-3.3
	New Democratic	Eldon Richardson	5,081	11.9	+7.4
Total valid votes			42,599	100.0

v t e 1963 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Tom Bell	21,584	51.7	-0.1
	Liberal	Arthur Whelly	16,669	39.9	+1.4
	New Democratic	John Simonds	1,869	4.5	-1.6
	Social Credit	Paul Sherwood	1,606	3.8	+0.1
Total valid votes			41,728	100.0

v t e 1962 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Tom Bell	22,586	51.8	-12.1
	Liberal	George Urquhart	16,790	38.5	+5.6
	New Democratic	Eldon Richardson	2,641	6.1	+2.8
	Social Credit	Harvey Lainson	1,608	3.7	+3.7
Total valid votes			43,625	100.0

v t e 1958 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Tom Bell	21,983	63.9	+10.3
	Liberal	George McLeod	13,917	32.9	-13.5
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Eldon Richardson	1,394	3.3	+3.3
Total valid votes			37,294	100.0

v t e 1957 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Tom Bell	21,983	53.6	+4.1
	Liberal	Daniel Riley	19,047	46.4	-1.7
Total valid votes			41,030	100.0

v t e 1953 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Tom Bell	18,881	49.5	+4.8
	Liberal	Daniel Riley	18,338	48.1	-0.8
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Raymond McAfee	933	2.4	-4.0
Total valid votes			38,152	100.0

v t e 1949 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Daniel Riley	18,691	48.9	+7.8
	Progressive Conservative	King Hazen	17,052	44.7	-2.1
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Raymond McAfee	2,445	6.4	-5.6
Total valid votes			38,188	100.0

v t e 1945 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	King Hazen	16,205	46.8	-3.5
	Liberal	David Lawrence MacLaren	14,248	41.1	-6.1
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William Arrowsmith	761	12.0	+9.5
Total valid votes			31,214	100.0

v t e 1940 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Government	King Hazen	15,110	50.3	+13.4
	Liberal	Allan McAvity	14,197	47.2	-0.8
	Co-operative Commonwealth	James Fritch	761	2.5	+2.5
Total valid votes			30,068	100.0

Note: popular vote is compared to 1935 general election.

By-election on February 21, 1938 On William Ryan's death, April 1, 1938
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Allan McAvity	acclaimed

v t e 1935 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Ryan	15,125	48.0	+13.9
	Conservative	Douglas King Hazen	11,643	36.9	-19.0
	Reconstruction	Paul Cross	4,094	13.0
	Independent Liberal	Howe Cowan	672	2.1
Total valid votes			31,534	100.0

Note: popular vote is compared to the party's total share of the popular vote in the 1930 general election.

v t e 1930 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Elected
	Conservative	Murray MacLaren	16,454	33.0	Y
	Conservative	Thomas Bell	16,395	32.9	Y
	Liberal	Allan McAvity	8,595	17.3
	Liberal	William Ryan	8,371	16.8
Total valid votes			49,815	100.0

Total Conservative vote: 32,849, or 65.9% of the total, an increase of 4.2% from the 1926 general election.
Total Liberal vote: 16,966, or 34.1%, a decrease of 4.2% from the 1926 general election.

v t e 1926 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Elected
	Conservative	Murray MacLaren	12,441	31.0	Y
	Conservative	Thomas Bell	12,310	30.7	Y
	Liberal	William Michael Ryan	8,007	20.0
	Liberal	Robert Thomas Hayes	7,356	18.3
Total valid votes			40,114	100.0%

Total Conservative vote: 24,751, or 61.7% of the total, a decrease of 0.2% from the 1925 general election.
Total Liberal vote: 15,363, or 38.3% of the total, an increase of 0.2% from the 1925 general election.

v t e 1925 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Elected
	Conservative	Murray MacLaren	14,623	31.3	Y
	Conservative	Thomas Bell	14,250	30.5	Y
	Liberal	Walter Edward Foster	9,348	20.0
	Liberal	Robert Thomas Hayes	8,435	18.1
Total valid votes			46,656	100.0

Total Conservative vote: 28,873, or 61.9% of the total, an increase of 11.6% from the 1921 general election.
Total Liberal vote: 17,783, or 38.1% of the total, a decrease of 6.7% from the 1921 general election.

v t e 1921 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Elected
	Conservative	John Babington Baxter	11,646	26.0	Y
	Conservative	Murray MacLaren	10,901	24.3	Y
	Liberal	H. R. McLellan	10,531	23.5
	Liberal	William Patrick Broderick	9,546	21.3
	Progressive	Frederick Alexander Campbell	1,224	2.7
	Progressive	William Mayhew Calhoun	985	2.2
Total valid votes			44,833	100.0

Total Conservative vote: 22,547, or 50.3% of the total, an increase of 0.3% from the 1920 by-election.
Total Liberal vote: 20,077, or 44.8% of the total, a decrease of 5.2% from the 1920 by-election.
Total Progressive vote: 2,209, or 4.9% of the total.

By-election on September 20, 1920
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rupert Wilson Wigmore	13,611	50.0	-20.8
	Liberal	Alban Frederick Emery	13,594	50.0	+20.8
Total valid votes			27,205	100.0

Note: Conservative vote is compared to Government vote in 1917 election, and Liberal vote is compared to Opposition vote. Popular vote is compared to the party's total share of the popular vote in the 1917 general election.

v t e 1917 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Elected
	Government (Unionist)	Rupert Wilson Wigmore	13,611	35.4	Y
	Government (Unionist)	Stanley Edward Elkin	13,594	35.4	Y
	Liberal	William Patrick Broderick	5,694	14.8
	Liberal	Alban Frederick Emery	5,530	14.4
Total valid votes			38,429	100.0

Total Conservative vote: 27,205, or 70.8% of the total.
Total Liberal vote: 11,224, or 29.2% of the total.

See also

• List of Canadian electoral districts
• Historical federal electoral districts of Canada

References

• "Saint John—Rothesay (Code 13009) Census Profile". 2011 census. Government of Canada - Statistics Canada. Retrieved March 3, 2011.

Notes

1. Statistics Canada: 2021
2. "Transposition of Votes from the 44th General Election to the 2023 Representation Orders". Elections Canada. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
3. "September 20, 2021 General Election Election Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
4. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
5. "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
6. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Saint John—Rothesay, 30 September 2015
7. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates
8. Pundits' Guide to Canadian Elections
9. Elections Canada – Official voting results, Forty-first general election, 2011
10. Elections Canada – Candidate's electoral campaign return, 41st general election

External links

• Riding history from the Library of Parliament:
  • 1914 - 1966
  • 1966 - 1976
  • 1976-1987
  • 1987-present
• "History of Federal Electoral Ridings Since 1867". Library of Parliament. Retrieved August 5, 2004.