ST-JÉRÔME, Que. — The lawyer representing former Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, who lost her Terrebonne seat by a single vote in April’s federal election, is asking a Quebec court to overturn the result — arguing that a ballot-handling error by Elections Canada undermined the integrity of the vote.
A three-day hearing began Monday in Quebec Superior Court, where Sinclair-Desgagné’s legal team contends that an Elections Canada mailing mistake effectively disenfranchised at least one voter and possibly more. The Bloc incumbent was narrowly defeated on April 28 by Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste, now the riding’s MP.
The challenge stems from a voter, Emmanuelle Bossé, who said her special ballot was returned to her after election day because the envelope supplied by Elections Canada had an incorrect postal code. She said she had intended to vote for the Bloc, which would have resulted in a tie had her vote been counted.
Sinclair-Desgagné’s lawyer, Stéphane Chatigny, told the court that Bossé’s Charter right to vote was violated and urged Justice Éric Dufour to order a new election. “By refusing to cancel the election, the court would send the message that some votes count more than others,” he argued. “Such an outcome would permanently undermine public confidence in our electoral system.”
Sworn statements filed in court revealed that an Elections Canada employee mistakenly printed his own postal code on several special ballot envelopes roughly three weeks before election day. The worker estimated that at least 40 envelopes were affected. He chose not to alert the returning officer, assuming the rate of returned mail was normal based on previous experience.
Chatigny argued that the mistake constitutes a “serious irregularity” with direct consequences on the razor-thin result, noting that 16 other special ballots were never returned by the deadline and could have been impacted.
Justice Dufour questioned whether the error meets the legal threshold for overturning an election, citing a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that set a high bar for annulling results due to administrative errors. Chatigny insisted it did, saying the mistake “directly affected the outcome.”
Lawyers representing Auguste and Elections Canada are scheduled to present their arguments Tuesday. The case carries high political stakes: the Liberals currently hold 169 seats, three short of a majority in the House of Commons, while the Bloc Québécois holds 22.
The court’s decision could determine not just the fate of one riding, but also the balance of power in Parliament.