Judicial recounts are still underway in three federal ridings where April 28 election results were determined by narrow vote margins, with one finalized recount in Terrebonne, Quebec, resulting in a one-vote Liberal win — the slimmest federal race outcome in over 60 years.Superior Court Justice Garrett Handrigan is overseeing a recount in Terra Nova–The Peninsulas, Newfoundland and Labrador, where the Liberals were ahead by only 12 votes on election night — the closest margin nationally. Blacklock's Reporter says a second recount in Milton East–Halton Hills South, Ontario, began today under Justice Leonard Richetti. Liberals led there by 29 votes..The final recount is scheduled for May 20 in Windsor–Tecumseh–Lakeshore, Ontario, to be conducted by Justice Ross Macfarlane. Conservatives unseated Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk there with a 77-vote lead. Kusmierczyk previously served as parliamentary secretary for labour.The completed Terrebonne recount confirmed Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné’s defeat by a single vote. A member of the Commons public accounts committee, she was known for challenging federal oversight.“We wonder if ministers even know that is happening on a daily basis within their departments,” she said during a 2024 hearing. “This is throughout the government.”.Single-vote outcomes are exceptionally rare in federal politics. The last instance before Terrebonne occurred in 1963, when Conservative MP Paul Martineau won in Pontiac–Temiscamingue, Quebec, after the returning officer cast the deciding ballot following a tie. Martineau was then parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.A similar case took place in 1930, when Conservative MP Paul Comtois lost his seat in Yamaska, Quebec, by one vote. Comtois was later appointed lieutenant governor of Quebec and died in a 1966 fire at his official residence.“A good man and a devoted civil servant,” Prime Minister Lester Pearson said at the time..Close results were more frequent in the 19th century, often amid fraud and corruption. According to The History of the Vote in Canada by Elections Canada,“Between 1874 and 1878, 49 of the 65 contested elections submitted to the courts were voided, forcing nearly one third of the members of the House of Commons to resign.”Before election reforms, voters cast ballots by show of hands in public meetings on different dates across ridings. In 1867, the Conservatives extended the voting process over six weeks. In 1872, it took nearly three months.
