OTTAWA — Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Thursday the party plans to launch a legal challenge after losing the federal riding of Terrebonne by a single vote.
Blanchet said the party wants a court order to run the vote again because a mail-in vote from a Bloc supporter was returned to sender, which would have brought his party into a tie with the Liberals.
Elections Canada admitted this week that a misprint on an envelope used to mail a special ballot from Terrebonne led to one Bloc voter's mail-in ballot being returned to her. The misprint contained an error in the last three digits of the postal code for where the ballot should have been sent.
Despite the error, Elections Canada said Wednesday the result of the judicial recount in the riding was final. However, Blanchet said the party will contest the result in Quebec's Superior Court.
"Elections Canada, as an institution, does not have the jurisdiction to itself order a do-over of the election. But it has admitted the error raised by the citizen," Blanchet told reporters in French, saying a judge would need to make such an order.
The party said it will file its court application in the coming days.
Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste initially won the riding, but it flipped to the Bloc candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné after a validation process which verifies the addition on the counted ballots. A judicial recount completed on May 10, however, concluded the Liberals had won the riding by one vote.
"The situation is quite clear. The judge has established that the Bloc Québécois would have lost the riding by one vote. The vote appeared in the hands of a citizen in a very clear fashion," Blanchet said.
"In that situation, the law requires the election to be done all over again. This is what we expect."
The returned Bloc vote isn't the only irregularity in the Terrebonne contest — though it is the one upon which the Bloc is basing its court challenge.
Elections Canada said on Thursday five other ballots, which also contained erroneous postal codes on the return envelopes, were received at the local returning office after the deadline.
"There is no information as to whether the delay was due to the incorrect postal code. We note that voters signed the declaration late in the election period," Elections Canada said in a statement.
Blanchet said the party is not asking for an injunction on the result, but wouldn't go so far as giving his blessing for Auguste to sit in the House of Commons when Parliament resumes on May 26 — if the court hasn't come to a decision yet.
Instead, Blanchet said it was up to Prime Minister Mark Carney to make a call on whether Auguste sits, though Blanchet hadn't discussed it with Carney.
"I will ask nothing of Mr. Carney. I will let him manage on his conscience, considering the impact that an MP — from a contested election on very clear grounds — could have an influence on votes in the House," Blanchet told reporters in French.
"Now, we'll see at what moment that influence comes to fruition. If it doesn't make a difference in a vote, there's no real danger. But it could make a difference in an important vote."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2025.
Nick Murray, The Canadian Press
