Supreme Court annuls single-vote margin Liberal victory in key Quebec riding

The Supreme Court of Canada has invalidated the single-vote victory of Liberal Tatiana Auguste in the Terrebonne riding, who had been declared the winner of the April 28 general election, granting an appeal by Bloc Quebecois candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne.

The results went back and forth on election night between the two candidates, with final preliminary results showing a 25-vote win for the Liberal candidate, per The Gazette. Upon validation, there was a 44-vote lead for then-incumbent Sinclair-Desgagne. A judicial recount placed the win back with Auguste by a single vote.

Sinclair-Desgagne challenged the results after a Bloc Quebecois voter tried to vote by mail, but her ballot was returned to her due to an error with the postal code printed on the label supplied by Elections Canada.

Sworn statements in the case showed that an Elections Canada employee discovered he had printed his own postal code on several special ballots around three weeks before election day by mistake. At least 40 of these ballots went out to voters, however, the employee said he didn’t think it was necessary to inform his superior because the number of ballots returned to the elections office had not been higher than in past elections.

A superior court justice ruled in October that the postal code error did not constitute an irregularity under federal electoral law, but Sinclair-Desgagne appealed to the Supreme Court, saying the decision "contains several errors of fact as well as an interpretation of the law and jurisprudence that invites an appeal." The superior court justice had ruled, " is a simple human error, which sometimes occurs in general elections, committed inadvertently and without any dishonest or malicious intent."

Sinclair-Desgagné said outside the courtroom after Friday’s ruling, "The Supreme Court decided today that every vote counts, that one person’s vote is not worth more than another person’s vote, and that, in the event of a tie, the election must be rerun."

"Until today, there was someone sitting who, nevertheless, lacked the legitimacy to do so. Fortunately, that has been rectified today," she added. Auguste had been the MP for the riding since being sworn in on May 22.

The vacant seat brings the Liberal Party’s seat countdown to 168, four short of a majority. Elections Canada said that a byelection will be called within 180 days to fill the seat.