Portage—Lisgar

Portage—Lisgar stretches across south-central Manitoba from the outskirts of Winnipeg westward to the Saskatchewan border and south to the American boundary, taking in a broad expanse of intensively farmed prairie. The riding's three urban centres are Portage la Prairie along the Trans-Canada Highway, and the fast-growing Pembina Valley cities of Winkler and Morden. It is one of the most linguistically distinctive ridings in Canada, with a large population of Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonites concentrated in the southern communities.

Candidates

Candice Bergen (Conservative) — The incumbent MP, first elected in 2008. Bergen grew up in Morden and worked in the financial planning industry before entering politics. She served as Manitoba campaign manager for Stephen Harper's 2004 Conservative leadership bid and held the role of Minister of State for Social Development from 2013 to 2015 in the Harper cabinet.

Ken Werbiski (Liberal) — A nurse who worked in the dialysis unit at Portage la Prairie's hospital. Werbiski had also run as the Liberal candidate in the riding in 2015.

Cindy Friesen (NDP) — The NDP candidate for the riding.

Beverley Eert (Green Party) — A longtime Green Party member since 1987 who had run for the party multiple times in Manitoba ridings. Eert lived off-grid in a solar-powered home and grew her own food, embodying the environmental self-sufficiency she advocated.

Aaron Archer (People's Party) and Jerome Dondo (Christian Heritage Party) also sought election.

About the Riding

Portage la Prairie, with roughly 13,000 residents, sits along the Trans-Canada Highway and the CP Rail main line, functioning as a distribution and agri-processing hub for central Manitoba. The city has a significant Indigenous population and serves as a regional service centre. Winkler, with approximately 13,000 residents, and Morden, with about 8,500, are among Manitoba's fastest-growing communities, driven by manufacturing, food processing, and a deeply rooted Mennonite business culture. The Mennonite presence dates to the 1870s, when settlers from the Russian Empire established communities across the Pembina Valley.

The riding contains numerous Hutterite colonies that operate large-scale mechanized farming operations producing a disproportionate share of Manitoba's agricultural output. Canola, wheat, soybeans, and other grains are staple crops, supplemented by hog production and dairy farming. The eastern edge of Spruce Woods Provincial Park lies within the riding's boundaries. Social conservatism rooted in the area's faith-based communities has made this one of the safest Conservative seats in the country for decades.