Liberal Victory in Terrebonne by a Single Vote Brings Party Within Striking Distance of Majority
In a dramatic post-election twist, the Quebec riding of Terrebonne has flipped to the Liberals after a judicial recount confirmed their candidate, Tatiana Auguste, defeated Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné by just one vote. With this razor-thin win, the Liberals now hold 170 seats in the House of Commons, just two shy of forming a majority government.
The recount was ordered earlier this week by Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault after initial results had the Bloc incumbent ahead by 44 votes. According to Canadian election law, recounts are automatically triggered when the margin of victory falls below 0.1% of the total vote — a threshold Terrebonne narrowly met.
Conducted by Justice Danielle Turcotte of Quebec’s Superior Court, the recount reversed the previous outcome, giving Auguste 23,352 votes to Sinclair-Desgagné’s 23,351. This outcome marks one of the closest federal races in recent history.
Terrebonne had originally been declared a Liberal win on election night, but was flipped to the Bloc after Elections Canada’s validation process — a standard procedure used to verify the vote totals. That reversal has now been reversed again, reinforcing the importance of recounts in tight races.
Meanwhile, three other ridings are undergoing recounts as the Liberals cling to hopes of eking out a majority. In Milton East–Halton Hills South, a Liberal candidate leads by 29 votes; in Newfoundland and Labrador’s Terra Nova–The Peninsulas, the lead stands at 12. A third recount in Windsor–Tecumseh–Lakeshore, where the Conservative candidate won by 77 votes, will begin on May 20.
In the Ontario riding of Windsor–Tecumseh–Lakeshore, the recount was triggered after the Liberal candidate submitted affidavits from campaign scrutineers claiming that dozens of valid ballots had been wrongly rejected.
Even if the Liberals were to win all remaining recounts, the party would still be one seat short of the 172 needed for a majority, leaving open the possibility of seeking support from other parties in the House or hoping for a favourable by-election outcome in the future.
With such narrow margins determining control of Parliament, every ballot is proving to be more decisive than ever.