election day
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Hate Eco-Fascism. Good thing we elected a minority Govt so we can have democracy. We came close to losing it
NDP's nationwide collapse key factor in federal election results, pundits say
Singh New Democrats lost seven seats to Carney Liberals on Monday, plus 10 to Poilievre Conservatives
Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Published Apr 30, 2025 • 2 minute read
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh tries to regain his composure.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh tries to regain his composure while speaking to his supporters at the NDP headquarters in Burnaby, B.C., Monday, April, 28, 2025.
OTTAWA — Aside from the Liberals’ narrow victory on Monday, the pundits agree: The NDP meltdown was the big story of the night.
Liberal strategist Sharan Kaur said the impact of the NDP collapse could especially be felt in certain GTA and downtown Toronto ridings where the NDP normally do well.
“In Toronto Centre, for example, it’s usually been a race between the Liberals and NDP,” she said.
“The NDP came in third place, which is wild considering the Conservative candidate was nowhere to be seen.”
Evan Solomon easily won Toronto Centre for the Liberals, but NDP candidate Samantha Green placed a distant third, trailing Conservative Luis Ibarra by nearly 5,000 votes.
In all, the NDP lost seven seats to the Liberals on Monday, plus 10 to the Tories.
Another notable loss for the NDP was Hamilton Centre, where Matthew Green came third behind Liberal Aslam Rana and Tory Hayden Lawrence.
Stephen Taylor, a partner at Shift Media, said the NDP’s collapse was a curveball few pundits foresaw.
“Conservative strategy has always depended on a stronger NDP to split the vote with the Liberals,” Taylor said.
“But now that the NDP looks to be on the brink of extinction, it certainly behooves the Conservatives to imagine a world without the NDP and understand how they might need to adjust.”
Flourish logoA Flourish chart
The NDP’s fall, Kaur said, had a lot to do with outgoing party leader Jagmeet Singh losing favour not only with Canadians, but NDP voters as well.
“He doesn’t exactly bring something to the table that gives people confidence,” she said.
“He’s a great guy, he’s a fun guy, I’m sure a lot of people really like him, but being a leader of a party shouldn’t just be a popularity contest. You have to bring something to the table.”
Pre-election polling spelled this out quite clearly.
When NDP supporters were asked which leader was running the best campaign, Singh ranked third behind Liberal Leader Mark Carney and “I don’t know.”
Inheriting the same minority government problems faced by his predecessor, prime minister-elect Carney needs to ensure unity across the aisle as what promises to be a chaotic House session prepares to commence.
“It’s going to be maximum chaos,” she said.
“Maximum chaos for the NDP, it’s going to be maximum chaos for the Conservatives.”
The Tories, she said, are going to have to regroup and rebuild, particularly facing a session with a seat-less leader.
The Liberals being held to a minority, Taylor said, gives him hope the Conservatives will still have a voice in policy.
“We’ll see what kind of shape (Carney’s) government takes in the coming days and what picks he makes for cabinet and whether or not he will make a clean break from Justin Trudeau’s cast of characters or whether he’s got enough new talent to strike a path in a new direction,” he said.
bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume
shiftmedia.co
torontosun.com
Singh New Democrats lost seven seats to Carney Liberals on Monday, plus 10 to Poilievre Conservatives
Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Published Apr 30, 2025 • 2 minute read
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh tries to regain his composure.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh tries to regain his composure while speaking to his supporters at the NDP headquarters in Burnaby, B.C., Monday, April, 28, 2025.
OTTAWA — Aside from the Liberals’ narrow victory on Monday, the pundits agree: The NDP meltdown was the big story of the night.
Liberal strategist Sharan Kaur said the impact of the NDP collapse could especially be felt in certain GTA and downtown Toronto ridings where the NDP normally do well.
“In Toronto Centre, for example, it’s usually been a race between the Liberals and NDP,” she said.
“The NDP came in third place, which is wild considering the Conservative candidate was nowhere to be seen.”
Evan Solomon easily won Toronto Centre for the Liberals, but NDP candidate Samantha Green placed a distant third, trailing Conservative Luis Ibarra by nearly 5,000 votes.
In all, the NDP lost seven seats to the Liberals on Monday, plus 10 to the Tories.
Another notable loss for the NDP was Hamilton Centre, where Matthew Green came third behind Liberal Aslam Rana and Tory Hayden Lawrence.
Stephen Taylor, a partner at Shift Media, said the NDP’s collapse was a curveball few pundits foresaw.
“Conservative strategy has always depended on a stronger NDP to split the vote with the Liberals,” Taylor said.
“But now that the NDP looks to be on the brink of extinction, it certainly behooves the Conservatives to imagine a world without the NDP and understand how they might need to adjust.”
Flourish logoA Flourish chart
The NDP’s fall, Kaur said, had a lot to do with outgoing party leader Jagmeet Singh losing favour not only with Canadians, but NDP voters as well.
“He doesn’t exactly bring something to the table that gives people confidence,” she said.
“He’s a great guy, he’s a fun guy, I’m sure a lot of people really like him, but being a leader of a party shouldn’t just be a popularity contest. You have to bring something to the table.”
Pre-election polling spelled this out quite clearly.
When NDP supporters were asked which leader was running the best campaign, Singh ranked third behind Liberal Leader Mark Carney and “I don’t know.”
Inheriting the same minority government problems faced by his predecessor, prime minister-elect Carney needs to ensure unity across the aisle as what promises to be a chaotic House session prepares to commence.
“It’s going to be maximum chaos,” she said.
“Maximum chaos for the NDP, it’s going to be maximum chaos for the Conservatives.”
The Tories, she said, are going to have to regroup and rebuild, particularly facing a session with a seat-less leader.
The Liberals being held to a minority, Taylor said, gives him hope the Conservatives will still have a voice in policy.
“We’ll see what kind of shape (Carney’s) government takes in the coming days and what picks he makes for cabinet and whether or not he will make a clean break from Justin Trudeau’s cast of characters or whether he’s got enough new talent to strike a path in a new direction,” he said.
bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume
SHIFT Media Strategies
Shift Media is a digital public affairs agency specializing in campaigns and creative production.
shiftmedia.co
NDP's nationwide collapse key factor in federal election results, pundits say
Aside from the federal Liberals' narrow victory on Monday, the pundits agree: The NDP meltdown was the big story of the night.
Y'all gonna shit yo pants that's what'll ya first hear. then feel, then smell then alas see when you're when youre in a transgender transit washroom that has no toilet paper.
Three quarters of Canadians say misinformation affected the federal election: Poll
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Catherine Morrison
Published May 03, 2025 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 4 minute read
OTTAWA — More than three quarters of Canadians believe misinformation had an impact on the outcome of the federal election, a new poll suggests.
The Leger poll, which sampled more than 1,500 Canadian adults from April 29 to May 1, suggests that 19 per cent of people think false information or misinformation had a major impact on the election.
Almost a third (32 per cent) said it had a moderate impact, while 26 per cent said it had a minor impact on the election’s outcome.
Only nine per cent of Canadians said misinformation had no impact on the election at all.
The poll, which was conducted online and can’t be assigned a margin of error, suggests that people in Alberta were the most likely to think misinformation affected the election, at 86 per cent.
Seventy-nine per cent of people in Quebec, 76 per cent of people in Ontario and 73 per cent of people in B.C. said misinformation had an impact.
While 80 per cent of men said misinformation played a role, 74 per cent of women said the same.
Voters aged 18 to 34 were most likely to think misinformation affected the election, at 81 per cent, compared to 77 per cent of people aged 35 to 54 and 74 per cent of people aged 55 and older.
Liberal supporters were the least likely to think misinformation had a role in the election, at 74 per cent, compared to 83 per cent of Conservative voters and 87 per cent of NDP voters.
Andrew Enns, Leger’s executive vice-president for Central Canada, said there has been lots of talk over the last few years about foreign interference in Canadian politics and the issue may be in the back of voters’ minds.
During the election campaign, Canadian security officials said they spotted a foreign online operation targeting a federal Conservative candidate opposed to Chinese government policies. The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force also said it spotted an online information operation linked to the Chinese government that focused on Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Laurie-Anne Kempton, assistant secretary to the cabinet for communications, said in late April that Canadians could head to the polls with full confidence in the integrity and security of the system.
Federal officials also said that voters should be on the lookout for online disinformation tied to the election debates.
Enns said that “misinformation” is a large umbrella term and that poll respondents may have cited things like rumours and claims about candidates while filling out the Leger survey.
“I think it could be sort of a catch-all,” he said. “Canadians tend to not like negative campaigns and negative campaign ads, for example, and so sometimes I wonder … does that get lumped into sort of that misinformation as well?”
The poll also suggests that just under two-thirds of Canadians (65 per cent) trust that the election results were accurate.
Thirty-six per cent said they trust the results “a great deal,” while 29 per cent said they trust them “a lot.”
However, 16 per cent said they trust the results only “a little” and 13 per cent said they don’t trust them “at all.”
People in Quebec were most likely to trust the results, at 77 per cent, compared to 70 per cent in B.C., 62 per cent in Ontario and 53 per cent in Alberta.
More people aged 55 and older said they had trust in the results, at 72 per cent, compared to 61 per cent of people aged 18 to 34 and 59 per cent of those aged 35 to 54.
Liberals were the most likely to trust the results, at 96 per cent, compared to 74 per cent of NDP voters and only 44 per cent of Conservatives.
Enns said the results point to an unfortunate but “very real” deterioration in people’s faith in institutions.
“There’s a party break in the trust where the Conservative supporters are less trusting, unfortunately,” he said, adding that mistrust could be due to people hearing about interference or being exposed to conspiracy theories.
Enns said Leger did not ask Canadians about misinformation or trust in results after the 2021 election.
The Elections Canada website says that about half (52 per cent) of people who responded to a National Electors Study thought the spread of false information online was a problem during the 2021 election — 50 per cent said the same thing about the 2019 election.
The study found that a quarter of respondents thought foreign countries or groups trying to interfere with the election or the political opinions of Canadians had been a problem in the 2021 election, compared with 31 per cent in 2019.
Elections Canada says close to one in 10 respondents thought false information had a major impact on the outcome of the 2021 election, and 20 per cent thought it had a moderate impact. Eighteen per cent of respondents said it had only a minor impact on the outcome, while only two per cent said it had no impact. The agency says those results were similar to those obtained after the 2019 election.
Elections Canada says four per cent thought that problems of foreign interference had a major impact on the outcome of the 2021 election, nine per cent thought it had a moderate impact, 10 per cent thought it had a minor impact and one per cent said it had no impact.
The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
— With files from Jim Bronskill
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Catherine Morrison
Published May 03, 2025 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 4 minute read
OTTAWA — More than three quarters of Canadians believe misinformation had an impact on the outcome of the federal election, a new poll suggests.
The Leger poll, which sampled more than 1,500 Canadian adults from April 29 to May 1, suggests that 19 per cent of people think false information or misinformation had a major impact on the election.
Almost a third (32 per cent) said it had a moderate impact, while 26 per cent said it had a minor impact on the election’s outcome.
Only nine per cent of Canadians said misinformation had no impact on the election at all.
The poll, which was conducted online and can’t be assigned a margin of error, suggests that people in Alberta were the most likely to think misinformation affected the election, at 86 per cent.
Seventy-nine per cent of people in Quebec, 76 per cent of people in Ontario and 73 per cent of people in B.C. said misinformation had an impact.
While 80 per cent of men said misinformation played a role, 74 per cent of women said the same.
Voters aged 18 to 34 were most likely to think misinformation affected the election, at 81 per cent, compared to 77 per cent of people aged 35 to 54 and 74 per cent of people aged 55 and older.
Liberal supporters were the least likely to think misinformation had a role in the election, at 74 per cent, compared to 83 per cent of Conservative voters and 87 per cent of NDP voters.
Andrew Enns, Leger’s executive vice-president for Central Canada, said there has been lots of talk over the last few years about foreign interference in Canadian politics and the issue may be in the back of voters’ minds.
During the election campaign, Canadian security officials said they spotted a foreign online operation targeting a federal Conservative candidate opposed to Chinese government policies. The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force also said it spotted an online information operation linked to the Chinese government that focused on Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Laurie-Anne Kempton, assistant secretary to the cabinet for communications, said in late April that Canadians could head to the polls with full confidence in the integrity and security of the system.
Federal officials also said that voters should be on the lookout for online disinformation tied to the election debates.
Enns said that “misinformation” is a large umbrella term and that poll respondents may have cited things like rumours and claims about candidates while filling out the Leger survey.
“I think it could be sort of a catch-all,” he said. “Canadians tend to not like negative campaigns and negative campaign ads, for example, and so sometimes I wonder … does that get lumped into sort of that misinformation as well?”
The poll also suggests that just under two-thirds of Canadians (65 per cent) trust that the election results were accurate.
Thirty-six per cent said they trust the results “a great deal,” while 29 per cent said they trust them “a lot.”
However, 16 per cent said they trust the results only “a little” and 13 per cent said they don’t trust them “at all.”
People in Quebec were most likely to trust the results, at 77 per cent, compared to 70 per cent in B.C., 62 per cent in Ontario and 53 per cent in Alberta.
More people aged 55 and older said they had trust in the results, at 72 per cent, compared to 61 per cent of people aged 18 to 34 and 59 per cent of those aged 35 to 54.
Liberals were the most likely to trust the results, at 96 per cent, compared to 74 per cent of NDP voters and only 44 per cent of Conservatives.
Enns said the results point to an unfortunate but “very real” deterioration in people’s faith in institutions.
“There’s a party break in the trust where the Conservative supporters are less trusting, unfortunately,” he said, adding that mistrust could be due to people hearing about interference or being exposed to conspiracy theories.
Enns said Leger did not ask Canadians about misinformation or trust in results after the 2021 election.
The Elections Canada website says that about half (52 per cent) of people who responded to a National Electors Study thought the spread of false information online was a problem during the 2021 election — 50 per cent said the same thing about the 2019 election.
The study found that a quarter of respondents thought foreign countries or groups trying to interfere with the election or the political opinions of Canadians had been a problem in the 2021 election, compared with 31 per cent in 2019.
Elections Canada says close to one in 10 respondents thought false information had a major impact on the outcome of the 2021 election, and 20 per cent thought it had a moderate impact. Eighteen per cent of respondents said it had only a minor impact on the outcome, while only two per cent said it had no impact. The agency says those results were similar to those obtained after the 2019 election.
Elections Canada says four per cent thought that problems of foreign interference had a major impact on the outcome of the 2021 election, nine per cent thought it had a moderate impact, 10 per cent thought it had a minor impact and one per cent said it had no impact.
The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
— With files from Jim Bronskill
Three quarters of Canadians say misinformation affected the federal election: Poll
More than three quarters of Canadians believe misinformation had an impact on the outcome of the federal election, a new poll suggests.
I find it worrying that apparently a quarter of Canadians think elections are truthful and honest.
Honest, as in no hanky panky at the polls? Probably true. Were mistakes made? Of course there was. Shit happens in a project this size with a largely inexperienced staff.
Prior to voting, there was a lot of lying by both politicians and external groups, both home grown and foreign.
Recount sees Liberals take Quebec riding of Terrebonne by single vote
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Cassidy McMackon
Published May 10, 2025 • Last updated 20 hours ago • 2 minute read
Tatiana Auguste, the Liberal candidate for Terrebonne in last month's federal election, won a judicial recount by one vote over incumbent Bloc Quebecois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne, Elections Canada announced Saturday, May 10, 2025.
Tatiana Auguste, the Liberal candidate for Terrebonne in last month's federal election, won a judicial recount by one vote over incumbent Bloc Quebecois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne, Elections Canada announced Saturday, May 10, 2025.
TORONTO — The Liberals inched another seat closer to a majority government on Saturday, after a judicial recount left their candidate as the winner in the Quebec riding of Terrebone, by a margin of just one vote.
An official with Elections Canada confirmed to The Canadian Press that Liberal Tatiana Auguste will finish ahead of incumbent Bloc Quebecois candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne.
It brings the Liberals to 170 seats in the House of Commons, two shy of the 172 needed for a majority government. The Bloc seat count falls to 22.
Auguste was initially projected to win the riding by 35 votes after the April 28 election, but on May 1, following the required postelection validation process, Sinclair-Desgagne, who was first elected in 2021, moved ahead by 44 votes.
The win was returned to Auguste following the judicial recount, with Auguste receiving 23,352 votes and Sinclair-Desgagne receiving 23,351.
A judicial recount is automatic when the number of votes cast for the candidate with the most votes and the number of votes cast for any other candidate is less than 0.1 per cent of the valid votes cast. That was true in this case.
The recount was to begin on Thursday and was completed Saturday. Elections Canada said last week that the recount would be overseen by Superior Court of Quebec Justice Danielle Turcotte.
A validation process is done by the returning officer, who reviews the cumulative addition of votes in a riding from every poll, based on the counts determined at every polling station in the presence of party scrutineers and election officers. It does not recount the ballots, or review ballots that were deemed to be invalid.
A judicial recount looks at all the ballots again, verifying the ones that were initially accepted and reconsidering ballots that were rejected. It takes place in the presence of a judge from a Superior Court in the affected province or territory.
The recount in Terrebonne added 74 votes to the total number of valid votes and increased the vote count of four of the six candidates. Auguste gained 56 votes, and Sinclair-Desgagne gained 11. The Conservative candidate, Adrienne Charles gained five votes, and the NDP candidate Maxime Beaudoin, gained four.
The Green candidate saw their vote total reduced by two, while the People’s Party candidate total stayed the same.
Terrebonne is located north of Montreal.
There are three more judicial recounts planned, one in Newfoundland and Labrador and two in Ontario. In all three the Liberals are currently ahead.
In Newfoundland’s Terra Nova_The Peninsulas riding, the difference between leading Liberal candidate Anthony Germain and Conservative party candidate Jonathan Rowe was 12 votes. The recount there is automatic and is to begin Monday.
In the Ontario riding of Milton East_Halton Hills South Liberal Kristina Tesser Derksen is ahead of Conservative Parm Gill by 29 votes. The recount there is also automatic and will begin Tuesday, May 13.
In Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore, a judicial recount was granted after Liberal incumbent Irek Kusmierczyk argued several ballots were “wrongly rejected” after the validation process showed he lost to his Conservative challenger Kathy Borrelli by 77 votes.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Cassidy McMackon
Published May 10, 2025 • Last updated 20 hours ago • 2 minute read
Tatiana Auguste, the Liberal candidate for Terrebonne in last month's federal election, won a judicial recount by one vote over incumbent Bloc Quebecois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne, Elections Canada announced Saturday, May 10, 2025.
Tatiana Auguste, the Liberal candidate for Terrebonne in last month's federal election, won a judicial recount by one vote over incumbent Bloc Quebecois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne, Elections Canada announced Saturday, May 10, 2025.
TORONTO — The Liberals inched another seat closer to a majority government on Saturday, after a judicial recount left their candidate as the winner in the Quebec riding of Terrebone, by a margin of just one vote.
An official with Elections Canada confirmed to The Canadian Press that Liberal Tatiana Auguste will finish ahead of incumbent Bloc Quebecois candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne.
It brings the Liberals to 170 seats in the House of Commons, two shy of the 172 needed for a majority government. The Bloc seat count falls to 22.
Auguste was initially projected to win the riding by 35 votes after the April 28 election, but on May 1, following the required postelection validation process, Sinclair-Desgagne, who was first elected in 2021, moved ahead by 44 votes.
The win was returned to Auguste following the judicial recount, with Auguste receiving 23,352 votes and Sinclair-Desgagne receiving 23,351.
A judicial recount is automatic when the number of votes cast for the candidate with the most votes and the number of votes cast for any other candidate is less than 0.1 per cent of the valid votes cast. That was true in this case.
The recount was to begin on Thursday and was completed Saturday. Elections Canada said last week that the recount would be overseen by Superior Court of Quebec Justice Danielle Turcotte.
A validation process is done by the returning officer, who reviews the cumulative addition of votes in a riding from every poll, based on the counts determined at every polling station in the presence of party scrutineers and election officers. It does not recount the ballots, or review ballots that were deemed to be invalid.
A judicial recount looks at all the ballots again, verifying the ones that were initially accepted and reconsidering ballots that were rejected. It takes place in the presence of a judge from a Superior Court in the affected province or territory.
The recount in Terrebonne added 74 votes to the total number of valid votes and increased the vote count of four of the six candidates. Auguste gained 56 votes, and Sinclair-Desgagne gained 11. The Conservative candidate, Adrienne Charles gained five votes, and the NDP candidate Maxime Beaudoin, gained four.
The Green candidate saw their vote total reduced by two, while the People’s Party candidate total stayed the same.
Terrebonne is located north of Montreal.
There are three more judicial recounts planned, one in Newfoundland and Labrador and two in Ontario. In all three the Liberals are currently ahead.
In Newfoundland’s Terra Nova_The Peninsulas riding, the difference between leading Liberal candidate Anthony Germain and Conservative party candidate Jonathan Rowe was 12 votes. The recount there is automatic and is to begin Monday.
In the Ontario riding of Milton East_Halton Hills South Liberal Kristina Tesser Derksen is ahead of Conservative Parm Gill by 29 votes. The recount there is also automatic and will begin Tuesday, May 13.
In Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore, a judicial recount was granted after Liberal incumbent Irek Kusmierczyk argued several ballots were “wrongly rejected” after the validation process showed he lost to his Conservative challenger Kathy Borrelli by 77 votes.
Recount sees Liberals take Quebec riding of Terrebonne by single vote
An official with Elections Canada says the seat for a Quebec riding has flipped from the Bloc Quebecois to the Liberals by a single vote.
i guess china was being more discreet.Recount sees Liberals take Quebec riding of Terrebonne by single vote
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Cassidy McMackon
Published May 10, 2025 • Last updated 20 hours ago • 2 minute read
Tatiana Auguste, the Liberal candidate for Terrebonne in last month's federal election, won a judicial recount by one vote over incumbent Bloc Quebecois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne, Elections Canada announced Saturday, May 10, 2025.
Tatiana Auguste, the Liberal candidate for Terrebonne in last month's federal election, won a judicial recount by one vote over incumbent Bloc Quebecois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne, Elections Canada announced Saturday, May 10, 2025.
TORONTO — The Liberals inched another seat closer to a majority government on Saturday, after a judicial recount left their candidate as the winner in the Quebec riding of Terrebone, by a margin of just one vote.
An official with Elections Canada confirmed to The Canadian Press that Liberal Tatiana Auguste will finish ahead of incumbent Bloc Quebecois candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne.
It brings the Liberals to 170 seats in the House of Commons, two shy of the 172 needed for a majority government. The Bloc seat count falls to 22.
Auguste was initially projected to win the riding by 35 votes after the April 28 election, but on May 1, following the required postelection validation process, Sinclair-Desgagne, who was first elected in 2021, moved ahead by 44 votes.
The win was returned to Auguste following the judicial recount, with Auguste receiving 23,352 votes and Sinclair-Desgagne receiving 23,351.
A judicial recount is automatic when the number of votes cast for the candidate with the most votes and the number of votes cast for any other candidate is less than 0.1 per cent of the valid votes cast. That was true in this case.
The recount was to begin on Thursday and was completed Saturday. Elections Canada said last week that the recount would be overseen by Superior Court of Quebec Justice Danielle Turcotte.
A validation process is done by the returning officer, who reviews the cumulative addition of votes in a riding from every poll, based on the counts determined at every polling station in the presence of party scrutineers and election officers. It does not recount the ballots, or review ballots that were deemed to be invalid.
A judicial recount looks at all the ballots again, verifying the ones that were initially accepted and reconsidering ballots that were rejected. It takes place in the presence of a judge from a Superior Court in the affected province or territory.
The recount in Terrebonne added 74 votes to the total number of valid votes and increased the vote count of four of the six candidates. Auguste gained 56 votes, and Sinclair-Desgagne gained 11. The Conservative candidate, Adrienne Charles gained five votes, and the NDP candidate Maxime Beaudoin, gained four.
The Green candidate saw their vote total reduced by two, while the People’s Party candidate total stayed the same.
Terrebonne is located north of Montreal.
There are three more judicial recounts planned, one in Newfoundland and Labrador and two in Ontario. In all three the Liberals are currently ahead.
In Newfoundland’s Terra Nova_The Peninsulas riding, the difference between leading Liberal candidate Anthony Germain and Conservative party candidate Jonathan Rowe was 12 votes. The recount there is automatic and is to begin Monday.
In the Ontario riding of Milton East_Halton Hills South Liberal Kristina Tesser Derksen is ahead of Conservative Parm Gill by 29 votes. The recount there is also automatic and will begin Tuesday, May 13.
In Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore, a judicial recount was granted after Liberal incumbent Irek Kusmierczyk argued several ballots were “wrongly rejected” after the validation process showed he lost to his Conservative challenger Kathy Borrelli by 77 votes.
Recount sees Liberals take Quebec riding of Terrebonne by single vote
An official with Elections Canada says the seat for a Quebec riding has flipped from the Bloc Quebecois to the Liberals by a single vote.
Despite polarizing election, poll suggests Canadians don’t want two-party system
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Catherine Morrison
Published May 13, 2025 • 3 minute read
OTTAWA — While the recent federal election turned into a tight race between the Liberals and Conservatives that left other parties trailing far behind, a new poll suggests most Canadians don’t want the country end up with a two-party system.
The poll of over 1,600 Canadians, conducted by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies between May 1 and 3, suggests only 21 per cent of Canadians think the country would be better off with a system where two parties dominate the political landscape.
Forty-nine per cent say a two-party system would not be good for Canada, while 30 per cent say they don’t know.
The poll, which was conducted online and can’t be assigned a margin of error, suggests that people in Ontario and Alberta are the most open to a two-party system, with 23 per cent of people in those provinces saying it would be a good thing.
Twenty-two per cent of people in British Columbia and 20 per cent of respondents in Quebec say they think Canada would be better off under such a system.
At 30 per cent, Conservative respondents were the most likely to think Canada would be better off with a two-party system, compared to 17 per cent of Liberals and 14 per cent of NDP supporters.
Jack Jedwab, president of the Association for Canadian Studies, said the election focused on two parties — the Liberals and the Conservatives — which received over 80 per cent of the vote.
“Now that the … dust is settled on the election, it seems that Canadians are comfortable with not having a system that is as polarized politically as the one that this election seemed to give rise to,” Jedwab said.
“Canadians are still, in terms of our political culture, different from the United States in terms of being more welcoming, or more receptive is a better word, to multiple options in their electoral system.”
While recounts in some ridings are still underway, the Liberals inched another seat closer to a majority government on Saturday when a judicial recount declared their candidate the winner in the Quebec riding of Terrebonne by a margin of just one vote.
It brought the Liberals to 170 seats in the House of Commons, two shy of the 172 needed for a majority government. The Conservatives hold 143 seats, the Bloc has 22 and the NDP has seven.
The poll suggests that 44 per cent of Canadians are happy with the election results, while 40 per cent are not.
The poll also suggests many Canadians don’t want to see another election any time soon.
Only 39 per cent of respondents say they’d like to see another federal election in the next two years, while 44 per cent say they don’t.
Alberta respondents are the most likely to want another election soon, at 50 per cent, compared to 39 per cent of people in B.C., 38 per cent of Ontarians and 33 per cent of Quebecers.
Of the respondents who want another federal election within two years, 70 per cent are Conservatives, 23 per cent are NDP supporters and 15 per cent are Liberals.
Jedwab said it comes as no surprise many Conservatives want another election as soon as possible. He said there was a “roller-coaster ride of expectations” before the election and the party may want an election sooner to build on perceived momentum.
Jedwab said if the Liberals are able to stay in power long-term, despite being in a minority government situation, that likely would encourage Conservatives to reflect on whether they want Pierre Poilievre to lead them into another election in four years.
“If the polls are any indication and the Liberals’ standing continues to stay where it is or changes in a better direction, the likelihood of an election in the next two years is very, very low, which has a bearing on, I think, what the Conservatives’ strategy will be going forward,” Jedwab said.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Catherine Morrison
Published May 13, 2025 • 3 minute read
OTTAWA — While the recent federal election turned into a tight race between the Liberals and Conservatives that left other parties trailing far behind, a new poll suggests most Canadians don’t want the country end up with a two-party system.
The poll of over 1,600 Canadians, conducted by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies between May 1 and 3, suggests only 21 per cent of Canadians think the country would be better off with a system where two parties dominate the political landscape.
Forty-nine per cent say a two-party system would not be good for Canada, while 30 per cent say they don’t know.
The poll, which was conducted online and can’t be assigned a margin of error, suggests that people in Ontario and Alberta are the most open to a two-party system, with 23 per cent of people in those provinces saying it would be a good thing.
Twenty-two per cent of people in British Columbia and 20 per cent of respondents in Quebec say they think Canada would be better off under such a system.
At 30 per cent, Conservative respondents were the most likely to think Canada would be better off with a two-party system, compared to 17 per cent of Liberals and 14 per cent of NDP supporters.
Jack Jedwab, president of the Association for Canadian Studies, said the election focused on two parties — the Liberals and the Conservatives — which received over 80 per cent of the vote.
“Now that the … dust is settled on the election, it seems that Canadians are comfortable with not having a system that is as polarized politically as the one that this election seemed to give rise to,” Jedwab said.
“Canadians are still, in terms of our political culture, different from the United States in terms of being more welcoming, or more receptive is a better word, to multiple options in their electoral system.”
While recounts in some ridings are still underway, the Liberals inched another seat closer to a majority government on Saturday when a judicial recount declared their candidate the winner in the Quebec riding of Terrebonne by a margin of just one vote.
It brought the Liberals to 170 seats in the House of Commons, two shy of the 172 needed for a majority government. The Conservatives hold 143 seats, the Bloc has 22 and the NDP has seven.
The poll suggests that 44 per cent of Canadians are happy with the election results, while 40 per cent are not.
The poll also suggests many Canadians don’t want to see another election any time soon.
Only 39 per cent of respondents say they’d like to see another federal election in the next two years, while 44 per cent say they don’t.
Alberta respondents are the most likely to want another election soon, at 50 per cent, compared to 39 per cent of people in B.C., 38 per cent of Ontarians and 33 per cent of Quebecers.
Of the respondents who want another federal election within two years, 70 per cent are Conservatives, 23 per cent are NDP supporters and 15 per cent are Liberals.
Jedwab said it comes as no surprise many Conservatives want another election as soon as possible. He said there was a “roller-coaster ride of expectations” before the election and the party may want an election sooner to build on perceived momentum.
Jedwab said if the Liberals are able to stay in power long-term, despite being in a minority government situation, that likely would encourage Conservatives to reflect on whether they want Pierre Poilievre to lead them into another election in four years.
“If the polls are any indication and the Liberals’ standing continues to stay where it is or changes in a better direction, the likelihood of an election in the next two years is very, very low, which has a bearing on, I think, what the Conservatives’ strategy will be going forward,” Jedwab said.
Despite polarizing election, poll suggests Canadians don’t want two-party system
A new poll suggests most Canadians don't want the country end up with a two-party system.
Nunavut election result not validated as ballot box held up in cargo by blizzard
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Nick Murray
Published May 15, 2025 • 1 minute read
OTTAWA — The federal election result in Nunavut still has not been validated by Elections Canada, because one final ballot box has been delayed by a blizzard.
NDP incumbent Lori Idlout won the unofficial result by 77 votes over Liberal candidate Kilikvak Kabloona.
Elections Canada has a validation process to confirm the unofficial count completed on election night, but the final box from the community of Naujaat has not made it to Iqaluit to be tallied.
Returning officer Jean-Claude Nguyen confirmed to The Canadian Press the box is stuck at the airline cargo facility in Rankin Inlet.
Iqaluit was hit by a rare late-spring blizzard on Thursday, cancelling flights into the capital and leaving the community without power for about seven hours.
Nguyen said there are fewer than 100 votes in the ballot box, however, and hopes to validate the result by the end of the week.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Nick Murray
Published May 15, 2025 • 1 minute read
OTTAWA — The federal election result in Nunavut still has not been validated by Elections Canada, because one final ballot box has been delayed by a blizzard.
NDP incumbent Lori Idlout won the unofficial result by 77 votes over Liberal candidate Kilikvak Kabloona.
Elections Canada has a validation process to confirm the unofficial count completed on election night, but the final box from the community of Naujaat has not made it to Iqaluit to be tallied.
Returning officer Jean-Claude Nguyen confirmed to The Canadian Press the box is stuck at the airline cargo facility in Rankin Inlet.
Iqaluit was hit by a rare late-spring blizzard on Thursday, cancelling flights into the capital and leaving the community without power for about seven hours.
Nguyen said there are fewer than 100 votes in the ballot box, however, and hopes to validate the result by the end of the week.
Nunavut election result not validated as ballot box held up in cargo by blizzard
NDP incumbent Lori Idlout won the unofficial result by 77 votes over Liberal candidate Kilikvak Kabloona.
they are still having blizzards?Nunavut election result not validated as ballot box held up in cargo by blizzard
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Nick Murray
Published May 15, 2025 • 1 minute read
OTTAWA — The federal election result in Nunavut still has not been validated by Elections Canada, because one final ballot box has been delayed by a blizzard.
NDP incumbent Lori Idlout won the unofficial result by 77 votes over Liberal candidate Kilikvak Kabloona.
Elections Canada has a validation process to confirm the unofficial count completed on election night, but the final box from the community of Naujaat has not made it to Iqaluit to be tallied.
Returning officer Jean-Claude Nguyen confirmed to The Canadian Press the box is stuck at the airline cargo facility in Rankin Inlet.
Iqaluit was hit by a rare late-spring blizzard on Thursday, cancelling flights into the capital and leaving the community without power for about seven hours.
Nguyen said there are fewer than 100 votes in the ballot box, however, and hopes to validate the result by the end of the week.
Nunavut election result not validated as ballot box held up in cargo by blizzard
NDP incumbent Lori Idlout won the unofficial result by 77 votes over Liberal candidate Kilikvak Kabloona.
the only blizzards i want to hear about are dairy queen.
Bloc Quebecois files legal challenge of Terrebonne riding results after one-vote loss
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Published May 23, 2025 • 1 minute read
Tatiana Auguste, the Liberal candidate for Terrebonne in last month's federal election, won a judicial recount by one vote over incumbent Bloc Quebecois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne, Elections Canada announced Saturday, May 10, 2025.
Tatiana Auguste, the Liberal candidate for Terrebonne in last month's federal election, won a judicial recount by one vote over incumbent Bloc Quebecois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne, Elections Canada announced Saturday, May 10, 2025.
TERREBONNE — The Bloc Quebecois says it has filed a Superior Court challenge to overturn the election results in the federal riding of Terrebonne after losing by one vote.
In a news release, the party says there is doubt about who won the riding in the April 28 federal election because a mail-in vote from a Bloc supporter was returned to the sender.
Elections Canada has admitted that a misprint on an envelope used to mail a special ballot from Terrebonne led to one Bloc voter’s ballot being returned to her.
Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste initially won the riding, but it flipped to Bloc candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne after the votes went through a validation process.
A judicial recount completed on May 10, however, concluded the Liberals had won the riding by one vote.
The Bloc says it is seeking a new election in the riding.
“The right to vote is a fundamental right in a democracy, and we must ensure that it has been and will be fully respected,” Sinclair-Desgagne said in the news release.
“In light of Elections Canada’s admission of error, it seems clear to us that, in order for democracy to be upheld, the election must be annulled and a new election held in Terrebonne. The voice of every resident of Terrebonne must be heard, and we will pursue this process to the very end.”
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Published May 23, 2025 • 1 minute read
Tatiana Auguste, the Liberal candidate for Terrebonne in last month's federal election, won a judicial recount by one vote over incumbent Bloc Quebecois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne, Elections Canada announced Saturday, May 10, 2025.
Tatiana Auguste, the Liberal candidate for Terrebonne in last month's federal election, won a judicial recount by one vote over incumbent Bloc Quebecois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne, Elections Canada announced Saturday, May 10, 2025.
TERREBONNE — The Bloc Quebecois says it has filed a Superior Court challenge to overturn the election results in the federal riding of Terrebonne after losing by one vote.
In a news release, the party says there is doubt about who won the riding in the April 28 federal election because a mail-in vote from a Bloc supporter was returned to the sender.
Elections Canada has admitted that a misprint on an envelope used to mail a special ballot from Terrebonne led to one Bloc voter’s ballot being returned to her.
Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste initially won the riding, but it flipped to Bloc candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne after the votes went through a validation process.
A judicial recount completed on May 10, however, concluded the Liberals had won the riding by one vote.
The Bloc says it is seeking a new election in the riding.
“The right to vote is a fundamental right in a democracy, and we must ensure that it has been and will be fully respected,” Sinclair-Desgagne said in the news release.
“In light of Elections Canada’s admission of error, it seems clear to us that, in order for democracy to be upheld, the election must be annulled and a new election held in Terrebonne. The voice of every resident of Terrebonne must be heard, and we will pursue this process to the very end.”
Bloc Quebecois files legal challenge of Terrebonne riding results after one-vote loss
The Bloc Quebecois says it has filed a Superior Court challenge to overturn the election results in the federal riding of Terrebonne.
In essence, the perception of fairness is not just a matter of public opinion; it is a fundamental aspect of a healthy and functional democracy. Without fairness, the system can easily fall apart, leading to instability and a decline in democratic values.
Elections Canada sullies its own reputation with recounts
No, the election wasn't stolen, but the bizarre recount situation is calling the ability of Elections Canada to do their job into question.
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published May 26, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
Vote swings of hundreds, ballots not counted and more call the ability of Elections Canada to do their job into question.
A person walks past an Elections Canada sign on Queen Street West in Toronto prior to the Canadian federal election, Monday, April 14, 2025.
Elections Canada is doing a really good job of sullying its own reputation. The bizarre nature of recounts happening in this last election is making them look like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.
We have ridings won by hundreds of votes by one side flipping to the other, leads reduced to a handful of votes and one riding won by a single vote, but some ballots weren’t counted.
At a time where parts of the public are convinced that every election is stolen — that the establishment or deep state are out to protect the preferred party — this doesn’t help. To be clear, there is no evidence of the election being stolen, of officials putting their thumbs on the scale or anything inappropriate happening.
That said, incompetence will lead to questions about what really happened.
Take, for example, Milton East—Halton Hills South where Liberal candiate Kristina Tesser Derksen defeated Conservative candidate Parm Gill by 21 votes. On election night, Gill had been declared the winner by 298 votes but in the validation of the vote, that turned into a 29 vote loss for Gill.
After a judicial recount, Tesser Derksen turned a 298 vote loss into a 21 vote win.
It’s standard practice for Elections Canada to tally the votes again the day after counting is done. Still, how does a 298 vote win for Gill turn into a 29 and then 21 vote loss for the Conservatives?
This one has people questioning the statistical probability of such an outcome. Thankfully, due to the judicial recount process where all parties are present and they can challenge ballots and decisions, there is no need to doubt the outcome. While strange, it is legitimate.
In Windsor Tecumseh Lakeshore, Conservative Kathy Borrelli won the riding by 233 votes on election night over Liberal Irek Kusmierczyk. After the validation of vote, Borelli’s lead dropped to 77 votes and after a judicial recount, she eventually won by just four votes.
Meanwhile, in the Newfoundland riding of Terra Nova–The Peninsulas, Liberal Anthony Germain won the riding by just 12 votes but in the end, Conservative Jonathan Rowe won, by just 12 votes after a recount.
The weirdest riding though was Terrebonne in the Montreal area. It went to the Liberals by 35 votes on election night, then flipped to the Bloc after the validation process and then went back to the Liberals by one vote after a judicial recount.
That’s when the mess really started.
Voters came forward to say that their special ballots that they mailed in on time didn’t make it because Elections Canada printed the wrong postal code on the return envelope and the ballots were returned to sender. Based on all of that, the Bloc Quebecois has taken the result to court asking for the election to declared null and void and a byelection to be held.
While experts debate the validity of the Bloc’s claim — and there have been law experts claiming they have a valid case and others saying it should be thrown out — the reality is the mistakes by Elections Canada do cast a shadow of a doubt over the current result. A byelection should clearly be held so that no MP is sitting in the House of Commons with an asterisk next to their name.
All of these examples combined do make you wonder, how many other ridings were closer than we know simply because we didn’t bother double checking the work?
It isn’t normal to see the work of Elections Canada called into question, but between these messy recounts, their website not working on election night and a general distrust of institutions that is spreading, it’s natural and understandable that this is happening.
Next time around, Elections Canada needs to run a tighter ship.
torontosun.com
No, the election wasn't stolen, but the bizarre recount situation is calling the ability of Elections Canada to do their job into question.
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published May 26, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
Vote swings of hundreds, ballots not counted and more call the ability of Elections Canada to do their job into question.
A person walks past an Elections Canada sign on Queen Street West in Toronto prior to the Canadian federal election, Monday, April 14, 2025.
Elections Canada is doing a really good job of sullying its own reputation. The bizarre nature of recounts happening in this last election is making them look like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.
We have ridings won by hundreds of votes by one side flipping to the other, leads reduced to a handful of votes and one riding won by a single vote, but some ballots weren’t counted.
At a time where parts of the public are convinced that every election is stolen — that the establishment or deep state are out to protect the preferred party — this doesn’t help. To be clear, there is no evidence of the election being stolen, of officials putting their thumbs on the scale or anything inappropriate happening.
That said, incompetence will lead to questions about what really happened.
Take, for example, Milton East—Halton Hills South where Liberal candiate Kristina Tesser Derksen defeated Conservative candidate Parm Gill by 21 votes. On election night, Gill had been declared the winner by 298 votes but in the validation of the vote, that turned into a 29 vote loss for Gill.
After a judicial recount, Tesser Derksen turned a 298 vote loss into a 21 vote win.
It’s standard practice for Elections Canada to tally the votes again the day after counting is done. Still, how does a 298 vote win for Gill turn into a 29 and then 21 vote loss for the Conservatives?
This one has people questioning the statistical probability of such an outcome. Thankfully, due to the judicial recount process where all parties are present and they can challenge ballots and decisions, there is no need to doubt the outcome. While strange, it is legitimate.
In Windsor Tecumseh Lakeshore, Conservative Kathy Borrelli won the riding by 233 votes on election night over Liberal Irek Kusmierczyk. After the validation of vote, Borelli’s lead dropped to 77 votes and after a judicial recount, she eventually won by just four votes.
Meanwhile, in the Newfoundland riding of Terra Nova–The Peninsulas, Liberal Anthony Germain won the riding by just 12 votes but in the end, Conservative Jonathan Rowe won, by just 12 votes after a recount.
The weirdest riding though was Terrebonne in the Montreal area. It went to the Liberals by 35 votes on election night, then flipped to the Bloc after the validation process and then went back to the Liberals by one vote after a judicial recount.
That’s when the mess really started.
Voters came forward to say that their special ballots that they mailed in on time didn’t make it because Elections Canada printed the wrong postal code on the return envelope and the ballots were returned to sender. Based on all of that, the Bloc Quebecois has taken the result to court asking for the election to declared null and void and a byelection to be held.
While experts debate the validity of the Bloc’s claim — and there have been law experts claiming they have a valid case and others saying it should be thrown out — the reality is the mistakes by Elections Canada do cast a shadow of a doubt over the current result. A byelection should clearly be held so that no MP is sitting in the House of Commons with an asterisk next to their name.
All of these examples combined do make you wonder, how many other ridings were closer than we know simply because we didn’t bother double checking the work?
It isn’t normal to see the work of Elections Canada called into question, but between these messy recounts, their website not working on election night and a general distrust of institutions that is spreading, it’s natural and understandable that this is happening.
Next time around, Elections Canada needs to run a tighter ship.
LILLEY: Elections Canada sullies its own reputation with recounts
Vote swings of hundreds, ballots not counted and more call the ability of Elections Canada to do their job into question.
Newfoundland voters concerned after apparent voter mistakes void hundreds of ballots
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Sarah Smellie
Published Jun 03, 2025 • 3 minute read
ST. JOHN’S — Two voters in Newfoundland say they hope Elections Canada can learn from a dramatic judicial recount that revealed hundreds of people in their riding may have marked their ballots in the wrong spot.
Jennifer Barnett says she didn’t receive instructions about how to mark her ballot when she voted for Conservative candidate Jonathan Rowe in an advance poll ahead of the April 28 federal election.
The rural Newfoundland riding of Terra Nova-The Peninsulas is home to many seniors and others who may have needed more instruction than she received to properly fill in a ballot, Barnett said.
“Being able to vote is such a privilege, and if your vote is spoiled because of a simple error, I think it’s very sad,” the 43-year-old said in a recent interview. “I think it’s very important, going forward, that we take a page from this.”
Elections Canada said it has several measures in place to ensure voters have the correct instructions for filling in their ballot, including visual instructions posted on the back of voting screens.
“As we do after each election, we will look back at what went well and where we could improve things so that we can adjust our efforts to better serve electors, including the ways we communicate about how to properly mark ballots,” spokesperson Matthew McKenna said in an email.
A judicial recount in the eastern Newfoundland riding last month resulted in an “unprecedented” 1,041 disputed ballots, according to a report last week from provincial Supreme Court Justice Garrett Handrigan, who oversaw the process.
On many of the disputed ballots — “maybe as many as half,” Handrigan’s report said — the voter had placed their mark in the rectangular boxes containing a candidate’s name. In some of those so-called “rectangle votes,” the elector had also made a mark in the circle to the right of the candidate’s name.
The Canada Elections Act is clear: any ballot “that has not been marked in a circle at the right of the candidates’ names” should be rejected. Accordingly, the judge rejected the “rectangle votes,” his report said.
In all, 819 ballots were rejected in the recount. Rowe was declared the winner, defeating Liberal Anthony Germain by 12 votes. The Liberal party said last week that it accepts the results.
The average age in Terra Nova-The Peninsulas is 50, the highest among the seven ridings in the province — though not by much. In the ridings of Central Newfoundland and Long Range Mountains, the average is age 49, according to Elections Canada.
There were fewer rejected ballots in both ridings — 492 and 452, respectively.
Amanda Bittner, a political science professor at Memorial University in St. John’s, said anything Elections Canada can do to decrease the confusion around voting is good.
“Clearly, there were a lot of voters who wanted to have their voice heard in this election, if there were that many ‘confused but clear’ ballots,” Bittner said in an email. “That speaks to a gap between voter understanding of what to do and Elections Canada processes.”
“Fortunately, Elections Canada takes voter turnout very seriously, and I am sure they have already made note of this issue and are working on tweaking their processes for next time,” she added.
Liberal volunteer Sheilagh Crombie-Brown said she didn’t receive instructions when she cast a ballot at an advance poll in Bonavista, a community in the Terra Nova-The Peninsulas riding. She believes her 83-year-old husband would have mistakenly spoiled his ballot if she hadn’t have been there to help him.
The 62-year-old also hopes Elections Canada will try to figure out why so many ballots were cast incorrectly. The federal elections agency does provide instructions, she acknowledged, but if people can’t read or understand them, they won’t be of much use.
Meanwhile, Barnett is pleased that Rowe won and she doesn’t question the results of the recount. However, she hopes Elections Canada will take note of what happened and ensure it won’t happen again.
“I think if they don’t, they’d be doing an injustice to the whole system,” she said. “Because when you see something of this magnitude happen, to not talk about it is just wrong.”
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Sarah Smellie
Published Jun 03, 2025 • 3 minute read
ST. JOHN’S — Two voters in Newfoundland say they hope Elections Canada can learn from a dramatic judicial recount that revealed hundreds of people in their riding may have marked their ballots in the wrong spot.
Jennifer Barnett says she didn’t receive instructions about how to mark her ballot when she voted for Conservative candidate Jonathan Rowe in an advance poll ahead of the April 28 federal election.
The rural Newfoundland riding of Terra Nova-The Peninsulas is home to many seniors and others who may have needed more instruction than she received to properly fill in a ballot, Barnett said.
“Being able to vote is such a privilege, and if your vote is spoiled because of a simple error, I think it’s very sad,” the 43-year-old said in a recent interview. “I think it’s very important, going forward, that we take a page from this.”
Elections Canada said it has several measures in place to ensure voters have the correct instructions for filling in their ballot, including visual instructions posted on the back of voting screens.
“As we do after each election, we will look back at what went well and where we could improve things so that we can adjust our efforts to better serve electors, including the ways we communicate about how to properly mark ballots,” spokesperson Matthew McKenna said in an email.
A judicial recount in the eastern Newfoundland riding last month resulted in an “unprecedented” 1,041 disputed ballots, according to a report last week from provincial Supreme Court Justice Garrett Handrigan, who oversaw the process.
On many of the disputed ballots — “maybe as many as half,” Handrigan’s report said — the voter had placed their mark in the rectangular boxes containing a candidate’s name. In some of those so-called “rectangle votes,” the elector had also made a mark in the circle to the right of the candidate’s name.
The Canada Elections Act is clear: any ballot “that has not been marked in a circle at the right of the candidates’ names” should be rejected. Accordingly, the judge rejected the “rectangle votes,” his report said.
In all, 819 ballots were rejected in the recount. Rowe was declared the winner, defeating Liberal Anthony Germain by 12 votes. The Liberal party said last week that it accepts the results.
The average age in Terra Nova-The Peninsulas is 50, the highest among the seven ridings in the province — though not by much. In the ridings of Central Newfoundland and Long Range Mountains, the average is age 49, according to Elections Canada.
There were fewer rejected ballots in both ridings — 492 and 452, respectively.
Amanda Bittner, a political science professor at Memorial University in St. John’s, said anything Elections Canada can do to decrease the confusion around voting is good.
“Clearly, there were a lot of voters who wanted to have their voice heard in this election, if there were that many ‘confused but clear’ ballots,” Bittner said in an email. “That speaks to a gap between voter understanding of what to do and Elections Canada processes.”
“Fortunately, Elections Canada takes voter turnout very seriously, and I am sure they have already made note of this issue and are working on tweaking their processes for next time,” she added.
Liberal volunteer Sheilagh Crombie-Brown said she didn’t receive instructions when she cast a ballot at an advance poll in Bonavista, a community in the Terra Nova-The Peninsulas riding. She believes her 83-year-old husband would have mistakenly spoiled his ballot if she hadn’t have been there to help him.
The 62-year-old also hopes Elections Canada will try to figure out why so many ballots were cast incorrectly. The federal elections agency does provide instructions, she acknowledged, but if people can’t read or understand them, they won’t be of much use.
Meanwhile, Barnett is pleased that Rowe won and she doesn’t question the results of the recount. However, she hopes Elections Canada will take note of what happened and ensure it won’t happen again.
“I think if they don’t, they’d be doing an injustice to the whole system,” she said. “Because when you see something of this magnitude happen, to not talk about it is just wrong.”
Newfoundland voters concerned after apparent voter mistakes void hundreds of ballots
Two voters in Newfoundland say they hope Elections Canada can learn from a dramatic judicial recount.