prairies

[prair-ee]

prairies, generally level, originally grass-covered and treeless plains of North America, stretching from W Ohio through Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa to the Great Plains region. The prairie belt also extends into N Missouri, S Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, E North and South Dakota, and S Canada. Many of the prairies of the world were formerly used for grazing purposes, but more and more are now coming under cultivation; hence they are often referred to today as the "vanishing grasslands." The soil of the prairies is basically a black chernozem, which is extremely fertile. The prairies correspond to the Pampa of Argentina, the llanos in northern South America, the steppe of Eurasia, and the high veld of South Africa. Because they have the favorable climate and soil fertility characteristic of prairies, the wheat belts in the United States, Ukraine, and the Pampa of Argentina are among the world's most productive agricultural regions.

See R. Manning, Grassland (1995); S. R. Jones and R. C. Cushman, The North American Prairie (2004).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Anjou—Rivière-des-Prairies

Anjou—Rivière-des-Prairies was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1988 to 2004.

It was created in 1987 from parts of Gamelin, Montreal—Mercier and Saint-Léonard—Anjou ridings.

It consisted of:

the Town of Anjou;
the parts of the Town of Montréal bounded by:
Sherbrooke Street East, Duquesne Street, Rosemont Boulevard and Lacordaire Boulevard; and
Autoroute de la Rive Nord, Henri-Bourassa Boulevard East; the limits of the towns of Montréal-Est, Anjou and Montréal-Nord to the point of commencement.

It was abolished in 2003 when it was redistributed into Bourassa, Honoré-Mercier and La Pointe-de-l'Île ridings.

Members of Parliament

This riding elected the following Members of Parliament:

Jean Corbeil, Progressive Conservative (1988-1993)
Roger Pomerleau, Bloc Québécois (1993-1997)
Yvon Charbonneau, Liberal (1997-2004)

Election results

|- |CORBEIL, Jean ||align=right| 27,451 |- |ARCIRESI, Vincent ||align=right|17,421 |- |MARCHIONE, Vincent ||align=right|6,687 |- |PAUL, Mario ||align=right|1,217 |- |COMMANDEUR, Catherine ||align=right|483 |}

|- |POMERLEAU, Roger ||align=right| 26,179 |- |BIRON, Normand ||align=right|25,621 |- |CORBEIL, Jean ||align=right|7,066 |- |MANDALA, Zamba ||align=right|956 |- |RAYMOND, Gilles computer ||align=right|764 |- |MITTON, Frantz-Albert ||align=right|139 |}

|- |CHARBONNEAU, Yvon ||align=right|24,189 |- |POMERLEAU, Roger ||align=right| 16,558 |- |CORBEIL, Jean ||align=right|9,405 |- |LEMAY AMABILI, Elizabeth ||align=right|752 |- |LE SEIGLE, Yves ||align=right|227 |}

|- |CHARBONNEAU, Yvon ||align=right|28,134 |- |DAGENAIS, Jacques ||align=right|14,755 |- |TANGUAY, Michel ||align=right|2,034 |- |CHIAZZESE, Gianni ||align=right|2,005 |- |NÉRON, Normand ||align=right|918 |- |WHELAN, Bruce ||align=right|624 |- |HÉROUX, Hélène ||align=right|151 |}