Bloc Québécois files court challenge to results of Terrebonne federal election due to irregularities

The Bloc Québécois moved from words to action on Friday.

Its candidate, Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, filed a challenge to the federal election result in the riding of Terrebonne, in Montreal’s north suburbs, in Superior Court, which the Liberals won by one vote after a judicial recount.

“Given Elections Canada’s admission of error, it seems clear to us that, for democracy to be respected, the election must be annulled and the election in Terrebonne must be rerun,” wrote the defeated candidate in a press release.

The political party believes the election must be rerun since a voter revealed “a difficult-to-contest irregularity,” namely that the envelope containing her mail-in ballot—which allegedly favoured the Bloc—was returned to her due to an error by Elections Canada.

Last week, Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet explained that the situation is “specific, historic, and unprecedented,” and that the vote of each member of Parliament could make the difference in this Parliament, where the Liberals are currently two seats short of a majority.

His entourage clarified that the legal process is being pursued on the basis of section 524(1) of the Canada Elections Act. This allows any candidate in a riding to contest the election result by claiming an irregularity that may have influenced it.

The election law provides for the calling of a by-election in the event of a tie following a judicial recount.

After the Bloc Québécois announced its intentions, Elections Canada confirmed that it had received five ballots late, with an incorrect postal code on the return envelope.

The government agency noted that it was unable to say whether the delay was related to this error or to the fact that the voters in question had signed their declarations “late.”

In addition, 16 other ballots were never received, including that of the voter who first reported the situation. Again, Elections Canada notes that this could be due to a number of reasons, including the voter forgetting to vote, abandoning the vote, or losing the ballot.

The result in Terrebonne has fluctuated steadily in recent weeks. Initially, Liberal Tatiana Auguste was predicted to win by 35 votes. But Sinclair Desgagné won by 44 votes following the post-election validation process. A judge who subsequently reviewed each ballot declared Auguste the winner by one vote.

The final result brought the Liberals to 170 seats in the House of Commons, two short of the 172 needed to form a majority government. The Conservatives have 143 seats, the Bloc Québécois 22, the NDP seven, and the Green Party one.

On Friday, another judicial recount confirmed the Conservative Party’s victory in another extremely close race, in the Ontario riding of Windsor–Tecumseh–Lakeshore, but the margin narrowed from 77 votes to just four.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews