Nickel Belt (federal electoral district)

For the provincial electoral district, see Nickel Belt (provincial electoral district).

Nickel Belt

Ontario electoral district
Nickel Belt in relation to other Ontario electoral districts
Federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
District created	1952
District abolished	2023
First contested	1953
Last contested	2021
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2021) [1]	94,947
Electors (2021)	78,267
Area (km²) [2]	26,564.18
Census division(s)	Greater Sudbury, Sudbury District plus small portions of Timiskaming, Manitoulin, Nipissing and Parry Sound
Census subdivision(s)	Biscotasing, Cartier, French River, Gogama, Greater Sudbury, Killarney, Markstay-Warren, St. Charles, West Nipissing, Whitefish Lake

Nickel Belt was a former federal electoral district that served the city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. It was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1953 to 2025.

Geography

It consists of:

• the part of the Territorial District of Timiskaming lying west of the townships of Fallon and Cleaver;
• the Territorial District of Sudbury, excluding:
  • the part lying west of and including the townships of Shenango, Lemoine, Carty, Pinogami, Biggs, Rollo, Swayze, Cunningham, Blamey, Shipley, Singapore, Burr and Edighoffer;
  • the part lying south and west of a line and including the townships of Acheson, Venturi and Ermatinger and Totten, west of and excluding the City of Greater Sudbury, and west of and including the Township of Roosevelt;
• the northeast part of the City of Greater Sudbury;
• the Town of Killarney (in the territorial district of Manitoulin and Parry Sound);
• the unorganized territory lying on the north shore of Georgian Bay and east of the town of Killarney in the Territorial District of Manitoulin; and
• the Municipality of West Nipissing (in the Territorial District of Nipissing).

History

The riding of Nickel Belt was created in 1952 from parts of Algoma East, Algoma—Manitoulin, Nipissing, Parry Sound-Muskoka, Sudbury and Timiskaming—Cochrane ridings. It has traditionally included much of the Sudbury District and small parts of the Algoma, Nipissing and Timiskaming Districts, along with all but the urban core of Greater Sudbury.

It consisted initially of parts of the territorial districts of Sudbury and Algoma, and excluding the city of Sudbury, town of Copper Cliff, and the township of McKim. In 1966, it was redefined to consist of parts of the territorial districts of Sudbury excluding the City of Sudbury and the Town of Copper Cliff, and the northeast part of the territorial district of Manitoulin.

In 1976, it was redefined to consist of the southern part of Regional Municipality of Sudbury, the southeast part of the Territorial District of Sudbury, and the part of the Territorial District of Manitoulin including and lying east of the Townships of Killarney, and Rutherford and George Island.

In 1987, it was redefined to consist of the southern part of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury; the geographic townships of Cartier, Cascaden, Foy, Hart, Harty, Hess and Moncrieff and that part of the geographic Township of Trill not within the Town of Walden in the Territorial District of Sudbury; Wahnapitei Indian reserve No. 11; and Whitefish Lake Indian Reserve No. 6.

In 1996, it was redefined to consist of:

• the part of the Territorial District of Timiskaming lying west of the eastern limit of the geographic townships of Douglas and Geikie;
• the Territorial District of Sudbury excluding:
  • the part lying west of the eastern boundary of the townships of Shenango, Lemoine, Carty, Pinogami, Biggs, Rollo, Swayze, Cunningham, Blamey, Shipley, Singapore, Burr and Edighoffer;
  • the part lying south and west of and including the townships of Acheson, Venturi, Ermatinger, Totten and west of but excluding the Regional Municipality of Sudbury, and west of but including the Townships of Foster and Curtin.
  • the part lying east of a line and including the Townships of Stull, Valin, Cotton, Beresford and Creelman, east of and excluding the Regional Municipality of Sudbury and the Township of Hawley, east of and excluding the Townships of Hendrie and Hoskin, east of and excluding the Townships of Cosby, Mason and Martland;
• the part of Regional Municipality of Sudbury south of a line drawn from east to west along Highway 69, south along Long Lake Road, and west along the north boundary of the Township of Broder.

In 2003, it was given its current boundaries as described above.

This riding lost fractions of territory to Nipissing—Timiskaming and Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing during the 2012 electoral redistribution.

Demographics

According to the 2021 Canadian census ^[3]

Ethnic groups: 81.0% White, 16.8% Indigenous

Languages: 58.3% English, 34.6% French

Religions: 69.4% Christian (55.0% Catholic, 3.0% United Church, 2.6% Anglican, 8.8% Other), 29.3% None

Median income: $45,600 (2020)

Average income: $55,100 (2020)

Members of Parliament

This riding has elected the following members of Parliament:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
Nickel Belt Riding created from Algoma East, Algoma—Manitoulin, Nipissing, Parry Sound-Muskoka, Sudbury and Timiskaming—Cochrane
22nd	1953–1957		Léo Gauthier	Liberal
23rd	1957–1958
24th	1958–1962		Osias Godin
25th	1962–1963
26th	1963–1965
27th	1965–1968		Norman Fawcett	New Democratic
28th	1968–1972		Gaetan Serré	Liberal
29th	1972–1974		John Rodriguez	New Democratic
30th	1974–1979
31st	1979–1980
32nd	1980–1984		Judy Erola	Liberal
33rd	1984–1988		John Rodriguez	New Democratic
34th	1988–1993
35th	1993–1997		Raymond Bonin	Liberal
36th	1997–2000
37th	2000–2004
38th	2004–2006
39th	2006–2008
40th	2008–2011		Claude Gravelle	New Democratic
41st	2011–2015
42nd	2015–2019		Marc Serré	Liberal
43rd	2019–2021
44th	2021–present
Riding dissolved into Sudbury and Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt

Election results

Graph of election results in Nickel Belt (minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

2021 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Marc Serré	17,358	34.9	-4.1	$97,617.28
	Conservative	Charles Humphrey	13,425	27.2	+6.0	$25,429.59
	New Democratic	Andréane Simone Chénier	13,137	26.6	-5.45	$83,168.10
	People's	David Hobbs	4,549	9.1	+6.9	$0.00
	Green	Craig Gravelle	864	1.7	-3.7	$4,244.03
Total valid votes			49,321
Total rejected ballots			364
Turnout			49,685	63.84
Eligible voters			77,823
Source: Elections Canada [4]

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election : Nickel Belt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Marc Serré	19,046	38.99	-3.81	$96,428.93
	New Democratic	Stéphane Paquette	15,656	32.05	-5.73	$18,983.01
	Conservative	Aino Laamanen	10,343	21.17	+4.43	$7,684.88
	Green	Casey Lalonde	2,644	5.41	+2.93	none listed
	People's	Mikko Paavola	1,159	2.37	–	none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			48,848	99.39
Total rejected ballots			298	0.61	+0.22
Turnout			49,146	64.17	-2.94
Eligible voters			76,585
	Liberal hold		Swing		+0.96
Source: Elections Canada [5] [6]

2015 Canadian federal election : Nickel Belt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Marc Serré	21,021	42.80	+28.74	$39,869.30
	New Democratic	Claude Gravelle	18,556	37.78	-17.20	$94,855.24
	Conservative	Aino Laamanen	8,221	16.74	-11.29	$14,060.79
	Green	Stuart McCall	1,217	2.48	-0.31	$3,772.22
	Marxist–Leninist	Dave Starbuck	98	0.20	+0.07	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			49,113	99.61		$233,625.58
Total rejected ballots			192	0.39	–
Turnout			49,305	67.11	–
Eligible voters			73,466
	Liberal gain from New Democratic		Swing		+22.97
Source: Elections Canada [7] [8]

2011 federal election redistributed results [9]
Party		Vote	%
	New Democratic	24,276	54.99
	Conservative	12,373	28.03
	Liberal	6,210	14.07
	Green	1,231	2.79
	Others	59	0.13

2011 Canadian federal election : Nickel Belt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Claude Gravelle	24,566	54.97	+8.43	–
	Conservative	Lynne Reynolds	12,503	27.98	+6.28	–
	Liberal	Joe Cormier	6,382	14.28	-12.02	–
	Green	Christine Guillot	1,252	2.80	-2.23	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Steve Rutchinski	59	0.13	-0.03
Total valid votes/Expense limit			44,688	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots			171	0.38	-0.09
Turnout			44,859	62.60	–
Eligible voters			71,659	–	–

2008 Canadian federal election : Nickel Belt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Claude Gravelle	19,021	46.54	+7.94	$63,497
	Liberal	Louise Portelance	10,748	26.30	-16.90	$61,589
	Conservative	Ian McCracken	8,869	21.70	+9.00
	Green	Fred Twilley	2,056	5.03	+2.93	$2,065
	Independent	Yves Villeneuve	112	0.27	–	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Steve Rutchinski	66	0.16	+0.06
Total valid votes/Expense limit			40,872	100.00	$94,270
Total rejected ballots			193	0.47
Turnout			41,065
	New Democratic Party gain from Liberal		Swing	+12.42

2006 Canadian federal election : Nickel Belt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ray Bonin	19,775	43.20	+0.79	$64,036
	New Democratic	Claude Gravelle	17,668	38.60	+4.10	$75,188
	Conservative	Margaret Schwartzentruber	5,822	12.70	-6.12	$10,196
	Progressive Canadian	Mathieu Péron	1,044	2.30	–
	Green	Mark McAllister	975	2.10	-0.44
	Marijuana	Michel D. Ethier	421	0.90	-0.16
	Marxist–Leninist	Steve Rutchinski	42	0.10	-0.03	$68
Total valid votes/Expense limit			45,747	100.00	$87,252

2004 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ray Bonin	17,188	42.41	-13.16	$44,339
	New Democratic	Claude Gravelle	13,980	34.50	+13.34	$32,073
	Conservative	Mike Dupont	7,628	18.82	-4.45	$59,250
	Green	Steve Lafleur	1,031	2.54	–
	Marijuana	Michel D. Ethier	430	1.06	–
	Independent	Don Lavallee	217	0.54	–	$2,875
	Marxist–Leninist	Steve Rutchinski	51	0.13	–	$435
Total valid votes/Expense limit			40,525	100.00	$84,953

Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election.

2000 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ray Bonin	19,187	55.57	+6.72	$42,569
	New Democratic	Sandy Bass	7,304	21.16	-12.32	$61,722
	Alliance	Neil Martin	6,369	18.45	6.49	$13,072
	Progressive Conservative	Reg Couldridge	1,665	4.82	0.40	$2,739
Total valid votes/Expense limit			34,525	100.00	$68,755

Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997 election.

1997 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ray Bonin	19,489	48.85	-8.34	$43,205
	New Democratic	Elie Martel	13,355	33.48	+10.37	$62,794
	Reform	Neil Martin	4,771	11.96	-0.74	$13,794
	Progressive Conservative	Reg Couldridge	1,763	4.42	-1.01	$5,596
	Canadian Action	Don Scott	369	0.92	–	$1,181
	Natural Law	Mitchell Hibbs	145	0.36	-0.03
Total valid votes/Expense limit			39,892	100.00	$65,400

v t e 1993 Canadian federal election : Nickel Belt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ray Bonin	25,237	57.19	+33.62	$42,807
	New Democratic Party	John Rodriguez	10,197	23.11	−21.62	$52,551
	Reform	Janice Weitzel	5,604	12.70		$4,156
	Progressive Conservative	Ian Munro	2,395	5.43	−15.32	$4,808
	National	Brian Woods	346	0.78		$0
	Natural Law	Daniel Jolicoeur	173	0.39		$533
	Non-Affiliated	Ernie Ashick	122	0.27		$571
	Abolitionist	Cindy Burton	53	0.12		$0
Total valid votes			44,127	100.00
Total rejected ballots			329
Turnout			44,456	70.71	−5.47
Electors on the lists			62,869
Source: Thirty-fifth General Election, 1993: Official Voting Results, Published by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. Financial figures taken from official contributions and expenses provided by Elections Canada.

v t e 1988 Canadian federal election : Nickel Belt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	John Rodriguez	17,418	44.73	+6.13	$39,240
	Liberal	Pierre Legros	9,178	23.57	−5.98	$36,271
	Progressive Conservative	Richard Berthiaume	8,080	20.75	−10.45	$35,830
	Confederation of Regions	Billie Christiansen	4,066	10.44		$9,695
	Rhinoceros	Keith Claven	202	0.52	−0.13	$330
Total valid votes			38,944	100.00
Total rejected ballots			147
Turnout			39,091	76.18
Electors on the lists			51,312
Note: Percentage change numbers are not factored for redistribution.

v t e 1984 Canadian federal election : Nickel Belt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	John Rodriguez	17,141	38.60	−3.46
	Progressive Conservative	Gord Slade	13,857	31.20	+21.00
	Liberal	Judy Erola	13,124	29.55	−17.97
	Rhinoceros	Derek Aardvark Orford	288	0.65	–
Total valid votes			44,410	100.00
Total rejected ballots			250	0.01
Turnout			44,660	79.55
Electors on the lists			56,139

v t e 1980 Canadian federal election : Nickel Belt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Judy Erola	19,805	47.52	+8.97
	New Democratic	John Rodriguez	17,529	42.06	−1.31
	Progressive Conservative	Dennis Tappenden	4,250	10.20	−7.63
	Marxist–Leninist	David Starbuck	89	0.21	−0.04
Total valid votes			41,673	100.00
Total rejected ballots			119
Turnout			41,792	75.18	−1.90
Electors on the lists			55,587

v t e 1979 Canadian federal election : Nickel Belt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	John Rodriguez	17,772	43.37	−6.41
	Liberal	Judy Erola	15,799	38.55	+0.65
	Progressive Conservative	Harwood Nesbitt	7,308	17.83	+5.51
	Marxist–Leninist	David Starbuck	103	0.25
Total valid votes			40,982	100.00
Total rejected ballots			115
Turnout			41,097	77.08	−0.28
Electors on the lists			53,320
Note: Percentage change numbers are not factored for redistribution.

v t e 1974 Canadian federal election : Nickel Belt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	John Rodriguez	17,668	49.78	+3.75
	Liberal	Gil Mayer	13,451	37.90	−1.79
	Progressive Conservative	Ralph Connor	4,371	12.32	−0.20
Total valid votes			35,490	100.00
Total rejected ballots			97
Turnout			35,587	77.36	−1.65
Electors on the lists			46,001
lop.parl.ca

v t e 1972 Canadian federal election : Nickel Belt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	John Rodriguez	14,033	46.03	+8.46
	Liberal	Gaetan Serré	12,101	39.69	−5.41
	Progressive Conservative	Bernie White	3,817	12.52	−4.81
	Social Credit	Donat Breault	534	1.75
Total valid votes			30,485	100.00
Total rejected ballots			4,718
Turnout			35,203	79.01
Electors on the lists			44,556
Note: The number of rejected ballots is not a misprint. Gaetan Serré initially called for these ballots to be reviewed, but withdrew his request on November 14, 1972 after viewing a sample. Source: "Review cancelled", Globe and Mail, 14 November 1972, 8. Source for results: Official Voting Results, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (Canada), 1972.

1968 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Gaetan Serré	11,551	45.10	+5.64
	New Democratic	Norman Fawcett	9,621	37.57	-3.75
	Progressive Conservative	Cecil Fielding	4,439	17.33	+19.23
Total valid votes			25,611	100.00

1965 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Norman Fawcett	10,863	41.32	+22.84
	Liberal	Osias Godin	10,374	39.46	-5.72
	Progressive Conservative	Roger Landry	5,055	19.23	-5.25
Total valid votes			26,292	100.00

1963 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Osias Godin	13,414	45.18	-11.74
	Progressive Conservative	John MacLean	7,268	24.48	-4.54
	New Democratic	Carl Maitland Griffith	5,486	18.48	+7.80
	Social Credit	Oscar Degarie	3,524	11.87	+8.48
Total valid votes			29,692	100.00

1962 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Osias Godin	16,440	56.92	+9.82
	Progressive Conservative	Don Gillis	8,381	29.02	-4.94
	New Democratic	Philippe Deaken	3,085	10.68	-8.26
	Social Credit	Oscar Degarie	978	3.39
Total valid votes			28,884	100.00

Note: NDP vote is compared to CCF vote in 1958 election.

1958 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Osias Godin	11,866	47.10	+4.50
	Progressive Conservative	Anthony Falzetta	8,556	33.96	-2.22
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Harold Prescott	4,772	18.94	-2.29
Total valid votes			25,194	100.00

1957 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Léo Gauthier	8,819	42.60	-15.97
	Progressive Conservative	Anthony Falzetta	7,490	36.18	+15.30
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Harold A. Prescott	4,395	21.23	+5.23
Total valid votes			20,704	100.00

1953 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Léo Gauthier	8,821	58.56
	Progressive Conservative	Alistair MacLean	3,144	20.87
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Gilles Lefebvre	2,410	16.00
	Labor–Progressive	Harold Arthur Proctor	687	4.56
Total valid votes			15,062	100.00

See also

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

References

• "Nickel Belt (federal electoral district) (Code 35056) Census Profile". 2011 census . Government of Canada - Statistics Canada . Retrieved March 3, 2011.
• Campaign expense data from Elections Canada
• Riding history from the Library of Parliament
• 2011 results from Elections Canada

Notes

1. Statistics Canada: 2021
2. Statistics Canada: 2021
3. Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (February 9, 2022). "Profile table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population - Nickel Belt [Federal electoral district (2013 Representation Order)], Ontario". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
4. "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada . Retrieved October 2, 2021.
5. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
6. "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
7. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Nickel Belt, 30 September 2015
8. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates
9. Pundits' Guide to Canadian Elections

46°58′N81°31′W / 46.96°N 81.51°W / 46.96; -81.51