The Flin Flon constituency encompasses the northwestern area of Manitoba covering about 80,000 square km, or 20 per cent of the province’s land area. A 2008 population count indicated 15,300 residents.
Flin Flon is the second-largest riding in Manitoba after Kewatinook (formerly Rupertsland.) The sprawling riding takes in Cranberry Portage, Bakers Narrows, Sherridon and the Snow Lake area as it heads north to Pukatawagan, Nelson House, Lynn Lake, Leaf Rapids and South Indian Lake. Further north, the communities of Brochet, Lac Brochet and Tadoule Lake come in to play.
But it wasn’t always this way. In the early 1900s, the entire land area north of the Saskatchewan River was represented in the provincial legislature by the elected member from The Pas constituency.
The famous ore bodies of Mandy mine, Sherridon and the huge (but complex) ore body at Flin Flon had yet to come on line, and the population and activity north of The Pas was minimal.
The first MLA for The Pas constituency was Dr. Robert Dick Orok, who won a by-election in October 1912, and then a subsequent general election in July 1914.
Originally from Ontario, Orok spent time in the Yukon gold fields before going back to his medical practice within a year. He served as an MLA from 1911-15.
Orok was succeeded by Edward Brown, the provincial treasurer who was first elected as The Pas MLA in August 1915. He was re-elected in June 1920 , in part by claiming that he would bring a railroad to regions north of The Pas, recognizing the bright future of mining.
A businessman originally from Ontario, Brown was listed in 1910 as one of Winnipeg’s 19 millionaires. He served as MLA from 1915-22.
In July 1922, “Honest” John Bracken gained The Pas riding as a Liberal Progressive. Shortly thereafter, he was named premier and remained such until 1943, when he ran for the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative Party.
History buffs will recall Bracken’s support for the railroad to Flin Flon – driving the last spike on Sept. 28, 1928 – and his role in settling the 1934 strike at HBMS, now Hudbay.
Bracken’s resignation prompted a by-election in The Pas constituency. He served as MLA from 1922-43.
By then times they were a changin’ and the old-line parties were giving way to new concepts. The community of Flin Flon, based on the strength of mining, began to flex its influence.
In the election of August 1943, locals such as George Mainwaring, RM McIsaac, and Orson F. Wright weighed in – but a mining engineer from Sherridon (Sherritt Gordon Mines) by the name of Beresford “Berry” Richards snatched the MLA vacancy as a member of the CCF (Cooperative Commonwealth Federation).
Richards was re-elected in 1945 and subsequently became involved in labour problems of the day – but to a greater extent expressing opinions contrary to the “party line.”
Richards was suspended from the CCF in March 1945, sat as an independent, and was re-elected in October 1945, fending off Robert Milton, a former Flin Flon town councillor.
Richards lost his seat in November 1949, having served as MLA from 1943 to 1949, to Francis Lawrence “Bud” Jobin – an unabashed Flin Flonner who was the fifth person to represent The Pas constituency.
Jobin sat as a Liberal-Progressive in the Douglas Campbell government and served as minister of industry and commerce from 1956-58.
Jobin had come to Flin Flon in 1935 and was employed by HBMS – in latter years in the purchasing department. He was one of the organizers of the first union at HBMS, preceding what is today called USW 7106.
In June 1958 Jobin was honoured as the first MLA for the newly designated constituency of Flin Flon. He served on town council, then as mayor, local volunteer organizations and was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, serving from 1976-81.
By the late 1950s and early ’60s, political parties in the province became more entrenched along established party lines – namely the Progressive Conservatives, the Liberals and the New Democratic Party (formerly CCF).
Representing the PCs, Charles Hubert “Buck” Witney defeated Bud Jobin in 1959 – some say riding on a wave of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker’s federal popularity.
Witney had moved to Flin Flon in 1949 and was manager of CFAR radio until 1959. While in office, he held several portfolios in the Roblin government, including mines and natural resources (1959-63), health (1963-68) and labour (1968-69).
In June 1969, the entire northern area of Manitoba, with the exception of Swan River’s farmland, elected NDP candidates. In the Flin Flon constituency Buck Witney lost to NDP candidate Thomas Aiden Barrow.
Barrow, a former coal miner from Springhill, Nova Scotia, was employed by HBMS in Snow Lake, and later as a recreation supervisor at Frontier Collegiate in Cranberry Portage.
Some deemed Barrow’s victory a fluke, but he went on to hold the seat until 1981. Barrow’s election in Flin Flon was even more significant in that the NDP have held the seat ever since his win in 1969.
Barrow did not run in the 1981 election, but the Flin Flon riding went to the NDP’s Jerry Thomas Storie.
Storie came to Flin Flon as an educator with the Flin Flon School Division. He held several portfolios during a lengthy time in office, including minister of housing (1982-83), minister of northern affairs(1983-85), and minister of education (1986-87) along with numerous other ministerial responsibilities.
Storie retired from the legislature in 1994, returning to the field of education with Frontier School Division. He was MLA from 1981-94.
Storie was succeeded by fellow New Democrat Gerard Jennissen, who was born in the Netherlands and emigrated to Saskatchewan in 1952.
The holder of degrees in arts and education, and a Master’s degree in communications, Jennissen worked as an educator at Cranberry Portage’s Frontier Collegiate from 1972-94.
He originally became involved with the NDP in the 1960s after being motivated by Tommy Douglas. He was first elected in 1995, and spent time as the NDP critic for highways and transportation (1995-99) and was appointed to the Manitoba Hydro board in 2000.
Jennissen is the longest-serving MLA in the history of the Flin Flon constituency, serving from 1995-2011, when he retired from politics.
Clarence Pettersen won the Flin Flon seat for the NDP in 2011. The retired Flin Flon School Division educator lost the NDP nomination in late 2015 and earlier this month announced he would seek re-election as an independent candidate.
Flin Flon MLAs over the decades
Dr. Robert Orok
Conservative
1912-1915
Edward Brown
Liberal
1915-1922
John Bracken
Progressive, Liberal-Progressive
1922-1943
Beresford “Berry” Richards
CCF, Independent
1943-1949
FL “Bud” Jobin
Liberal
1949-1959
CH “Buck” Witney
Progressive Conservative
1959-1969
Thomas Barrow
NDP
1969-1981
Jerry Storie
NDP
1981-1994
Gerard Jennissen
NDP
1995-2011
Clarence Pettersen
NDP
2011-2016
