Latest news with #NathalieSinclairDesgagne
CBC
23-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Bloc Québécois files legal challenge to have election in Terrebonne overturned
The Bloc Québécois says it has filed a legal challenge in the Superior Court to have the election in Terrebonne overturned after losing by one vote. Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste won the riding, but it later flipped to Bloc candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne after validation.
Globe and Mail
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Bloc to ask court to overturn election outcome in riding that Liberals won by single vote
The Bloc Québécois is going to court to seek a new election in a Montreal-area riding where the Liberal candidate won by one vote. Elections Canada says the outcome – the result of a judicial recount – is final, but Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet says lawyers for the party will go to the province's Superior Court to overturn it. 'I will not comment on the legal process per se because I am not a lawyer,' Mr. Blanchet told a news conference Thursday on Parliament Hill. 'We will initiate a process to ask the court to order a new election to be held in the riding of Terrebonne as quickly as possible.' The Liberals have 170 seats in the House of Commons – just two shy of a majority – to the Conservatives' 143. The Bloc has 22, the NDP seven and the Green Party one. Mr. Blanchet acknowledged that the case may eventually end up in the Supreme Court of Canada. At issue is the situation in the riding of Terrebonne, where Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste defeated Bloc candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné by a single vote. A Bloc voter in the riding said her mail-in ballot was returned to her on May 2, four days after the election, apparently because of an incorrect postal code on the envelope's preprinted address. Had her vote been counted among the more than 60,000 cast ballots, the race might have ended in a tie. Elections Canada spokesperson Matthew McKenna said in a statement that, in the event of a tie, the Chief Electoral Officer would have informed the Speaker of the House of Commons and a new election would have been held. Asked about the Bloc's legal plans, Mr. McKenna said Thursday that the results in Terrebonne have been validated and the recount is final. However, he said, if the legal effort to contest the election is successful, the result becomes null and void and a by-election must take place. 'Elections Canada's role is to provide courts with all necessary information in a completely neutral way,' he said. Ms. Sinclair-Desgagné, who attended the Bloc's news conference, said the situation has been an emotional roller coaster. 'We went from being ahead to losing by one vote,' said the former economic adviser to the City of Montreal, who was initially elected in 2021 and was seeking a second term. 'This is an issue that goes beyond party politics. It's an issue of trust in our democratic institutions,' she told journalists. 'It's important, in our case, to go right as far as we can to ensure that citizens of Terrebonne have a legitimate member of Parliament.' Mr. Blanchet said he did not want to aggravate the unusual situation by suggesting the electoral system should be changed. 'We're talking about a specific case where the citizens have a right to be properly represented in a case of this irregularity, meaning a new election is necessary. That will come from an order of the court.' There are three more judicial recounts scheduled, though Mr. McKenna said there is still no timeline for completing them. Such exercises occur when there is a difference of less than 0.1 per cent between the leading candidate and the second-place candidate. Recounts are under way in the Toronto-area riding of Milton East-Halton Hills South, where Liberal candidate Kristina Tesser Derksen leads Conservative candidate Parm Gill by 29 votes, and in the Newfoundland and Labrador riding of Terra Nova-The Peninsulas, where Liberal Anthony Germain leads Conservative candidate Jonathan Rowe by just 12 votes. A third, in the riding of Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore, is not scheduled to begin until next Tuesday. There, Conservative challenger Kathy Borrelli leads Liberal incumbent Irek Kusmierczyk by 77 votes.
CBC
15-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Bloc Québécois to contest judicial recount in Terrebonne riding: sources
The Bloc Québécois is expected to launch a legal challenge against the judicial recount that saw the party lose the federal riding of Terrebonne by one vote after a mailing error led to a special ballot not being counted. Radio-Canada sources say Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet will announce the party's intentions this morning. He will be holding a news conference at 11 a.m. in Ottawa with Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné — the party's candidate in the riding — and Bloc MP Christine Normandin. The announcement comes a day after Elections Canada declared that the result of a recount in Terrebonne is final, despite a misprint that led to one special ballot being returned to sender. Elections Canada investigated after Terrebonne resident Emmanuelle Bossé came forward with an envelope that contained a vote for the Bloc Québécois which had been returned to sender. Results on election night indicated that Liberal MP Tatiana Auguste won the riding by 35 votes. After a standard validation process, the seat flipped temporarily to Sinclair-Desgagné by 44 votes. A judicial recount then found the Liberals had won, but only by a single vote. The independent agency said that this is the only case they know of in the recent election of an envelope containing a marked ballot being returned to a voter because of an incorrect address.
CBC
15-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Bloc Québécois to contest judicial recount in Terrebonne riding: sources
The Bloc Québécois is expected to launch a legal challenge against the judicial recount that saw the party lose the federal riding of Terrebonne by one vote after a mailing error led to a special ballot not being counted. Radio-Canada sources say Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet will announce the party's intentions this morning. He will be holding a news conference at 11 a.m. in Ottawa with Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné — the party's candidate in the riding — and Bloc MP Christine Normandin. The announcement comes a day after Elections Canada declared that the result of a recount in Terrebonne is final, despite a misprint that led to one special ballot being returned to sender. Elections Canada investigated after Terrebonne resident Emmanuelle Bossé came forward with an envelope that contained a vote for the Bloc Québécois which had been returned to sender. Results on election night indicated that Liberal MP Tatiana Auguste won the riding by 35 votes. After a standard validation process, the seat flipped temporarily to Sinclair-Desgagné by 44 votes. A judicial recount then found the Liberals had won, but only by a single vote. The independent agency said that this is the only case they know of in the recent election of an envelope containing a marked ballot being returned to a voter because of an incorrect address.
National Post
14-05-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Is this Quebec riding already headed toward a byelection? Here's what to know
Depending on what happens over the coming days, the voters in a Quebec riding thought to be decided by a single vote could be headed back to the polls as a result of a tie. Article content Article content Two days after a judicial recount certified Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste as having barely defeated Bloc Québécois incumbent Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, Noovo Info and CBC reported that a mail-in ballot sent before Elections Canada's deadline was returned to the sender on May 2, four days after the election. Article content Article content And it turns out Emmanuelle Bossé is a Bloc supporter. Article content Article content In an email to National Post, the independent agency confirmed an 'error with the return address printed on this elector's return envelope. Specifically, part of the postal code was wrong.' Article content What happens now will likely depend on what Elections Canada decides and, as of Tuesday, they 'are still working to gather all the facts.' Under the Canada Elections Act, in the event of a tie following a judicial recount, the Chief Electoral Officer shall, through a report or via two MPs or two candidates who have been declared elected, promptly notify the House of Commons, 'that, as no candidate was declared elected in the electoral district because of the equality of votes, a by-election will be conducted.' Article content Whether Bossé's lost but otherwise legitimate vote will be counted as part of the judicial recount remains to be seen. It's not immediately clear in this situation if it's under the purview of the courts or the Chief Electoral Officer. Article content Article content Should the vote not be counted, and Sinclair-Desgagné wishes to challenge the validity of the vote to potentially force a byelection, she or an elector can formally contest the result via the courts. Article content Article content 'In a contested election proceeding, a judge determines … whether there were any irregularities, fraud, or corrupt or illegal practices that affected the result of the election,' Elections Canada explains.
