A Conservative Party fundraising email alleges the Liberals are trying to "tip the scales" in riding recounts, language political watchers say is concerning as some Canadians say they don't trust the results of last week's election.

The email, sent to the Conservatives' mailing list on Wednesday, solicits donations to "help us hold the line" as recounts play out.

"The Liberals are working to flip just enough seats to edge closer to a majority. We can't let that happen," reads the email.

"If we don't act fast, we risk losing the gains we made on election night."

It concludes by saying "the Liberals are fighting hard to tip the scales." 

Under Canadian law, recounts are automatically triggered when the difference in the number of votes received by the top-finishing candidates is 0.1 per cent or less of the total number votes cast. A candidate can also request a judicial recount under certain circumstances.

Elections Canada is the independent agency responsible for overseeing the federal election and recounts, following the rules set out in the Canada Elections Act. 

The Conservative Party did not respond to a CBC News request to explain how they think the Liberals are tipping the scales. 

Chris Tenove, assistant director of the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions, said there are legitimate reasons for parties to help scrutinize results, especially in tight races, to make sure the counting is done correctly.

"On the other hand, some of the language around the Liberals trying to tip the scales was concerning," he said.

"In general that kind of ad that's suggesting there's an emergency that people need to respond to right now to get funding to political parties is troubling."

Tenove and other researchers at the University of British Columbia spent the election monitoring online spaces for narratives sowing distrust around the electoral process — from rumours people were able to vote multiple times to pencil marks being erased.

 

Fact check: Does using a pencil allow ballot tampering?

 

You can bring your own pen or pencil when you go to vote — and if you mark your ballot with a pencil, Elections Canada says it’s not at risk of being changed or tampered with.

A candidate can also request a judicial recount if they believe there was an issue counting the votes. In those cases, the applicant must give notice to Elections Canada, file an affidavit before a judge arguing the formal vote count was carried out improperly and pay a $250 deposit with the court.

The failed Liberal candidate for the riding Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore requested a recount after losing by 77 votes in last week's federal election. The candidate, Irek Kusmierczyk, alleges ballots were wrongfully rejected.

Elections Canada spokesperson Matthew McKenna said — by law — only select people can be in the room for a recount besides the judge.

They include the returning officer, the candidates, the recount teams — each consisting of a handler, a recorder and one representative appointed by each candidate — legal counsel for each candidate, legal counsel for the chief electoral officer and two representatives per candidate who are not members of the recount team.

Canada's elections, which still run on paper ballots, are often praised for being safe from tampering. 

That being said, errors do happen.

On Wednesday, Elections Canada reported that more than 800 special ballots cast by electors in 74 districts were mistakenly kept at the office of a returning officer in B.C.

The federal agency said an initial analysis shows that the outcomes in those districts were not affected by the mislaid ballots.

The agency said its initial analysis showed that the problem was caused by "human error" and "a failure to comply with the written procedures."

Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault said he's asked for a complete review.

"Depending on how all these recounts go, it could increase the Carney government to maybe even a majority, or it could reduce them back down to 165," said Miljan, who also serves as a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute. "We just don't know, given the closeness of a lot of these races."

Already, seats have flipped in close races after Elections Canada validated the April 28 election results. That process does not include recounting ballots. 

Kusmierczyk was only seven votes shy of an automatic recount, which would have been triggered had the difference between the vote totals for the two candidates been less than one one-thousandth of the overall number of valid votes cast in the riding. 

Just over 70,000 people voted in the riding, meaning the difference would have needed to be 70 or fewer votes.  

Kusmierczyk says he believes he has strong evidence to support a recount, which will need to be approved by a judge. The validated Elections Canada results show 536 votes were rejected in the riding. 

"We feel strongly that many of those votes were wrongly rejected," Kusmierczyk said.

The Elections Canada validation process narrowed the vote margin to 77 votes from 233. 

Miljan says it's not unusual for mistakes to happen "either in numbers being transposed or how they're reported" that are then corrected in the validation process. 

But she said Kusmierczyk likely has a good shot at securing a recount.

"I don't think it would be a difficult case for him to make," she said."And he can certainly say given the verification, there were so many votes that were not allocated for whatever reason — that's probably a good enough case."

Kusmierczyk said there will be a court hearing Friday where he'll be able to make his case before the judge.

From that point, a recount would be done relatively quickly. "Residents want to see a timely conclusion to this process," he said. "We're talking a matter of days, not weeks."

Elections Canada says on its website that the law stipulates that a recount "must commence within four days after the judge receives the application for a recount."

"The goal of the recount is to provide a timely and final determination as to the elected member of the House of Commons," the website says. "This may be important in determining the makeup of the government. For this reason, timelines in the Act are very tight."

Either way, Kusmierczyk said he will "absolutely and unequivocally" accept the result of the recount if one takes place.

He also said he would "absolutely" work with Borrelli if she remains the winner "to make sure that the community is supported."

Elections Canada has apologized to voters in Nunavik who were unable to cast a vote in Monday's federal election.

CBC News has heard from residents in several Nunavik communities who reported issues at polling stations, including some that closed early or didn't open at all.

Earlier this week, Elections Canada said bad weather affected flights for workers, and they struggled with local recruitment. 

"I deeply regret that some electors in Nunavik were not able to cast their vote. To them, I apologize," said chief electoral officer Stéphane Perrault in a written statement on Wednesday.

According to Makivvik president Pita Aatami, nine of Nunavik's 14 villages did not have local polling staff, so Elections Canada had to fly people in from elsewhere. That led to polls in many of those villages closing early. 

"It showed us how Inuit were made to feel like their right to vote was taken away from them … the issue has to be resolved before the next election," he said in Inuktitut.

Perrault's statement says that over the past three years, Elections Canada has made it a priority to remove barriers to voting services for Indigenous electors.

"Nevertheless, the shortcomings of our services in Nunavik during the general election underscore the importance of the work that remains," he said. 

"Elections Canada will review the circumstances that led to this situation, as well as the measures taken during this election to improve voting services to Indigenous electors. We will publish the findings."

        A sign indicating that the polling station in the Nunavik community of Salluit had to close at 2:30 p.m. local time on election day due to 'unforeseen circumstances.' (Submitted by Mary Papigatuk)

Fair and equal access for all Indigenous communities

Mandy Gull-Masty, the new MP for Abitibi–Baie-James–Nunavik–Eeyou, said she was fielding calls from people in Nunavik throughout election day. She said she's gathered those complaints and submitted them to the compliance officer. 

Now that she's elected, Gull-Masty said she would work toward introducing a bill to Parliament to address some of the shortcomings that might come from the Elections Canada report. 

Two issues stand out to her already: the engagement with locals to help at polling stations, and the lack of communication in Indigenous languages. 

"People need to come to the community sooner. There needs to be more engagement with the local municipal offices. There are a lot of corporate secretaries that have experience in running an election," she said. 

"The use of language would remove so many barriers for so many people. Having access to information in their own written language, not just Nunavik but also [elsewhere] like Eeyou Istchee. We have a lot of people fluent in Cree and do not speak English and French."

Mandy Gull-Masty won the riding of Abitibi–Baie-James–Nunavik–Eeyou. It's the first time in roughly 20 years the seat has been held by a Liberal. ( CBC/Olivia Stefanovich)

Some voters CBC News spoke to also said there were no advance polls in their communities, and they were not aware of any recruitment drive for getting locals on board. 

Mail-in issues

The voting issues weren't just limited to polling stations. 

Some Nunavik residents, like high school teacher Taylor Adams, didn't receive their special ballots by mail despite having applied weeks prior to the deadline. 

"All of our mail comes from Montreal … I think the earliest we can get mail from Montreal is generally about three weeks," the Puvirnituq resident said.

"I just thought that maybe with the election they would have some kind of an express postage system, if it said 'Elections Canada' on the ballot."

Once an elector's application for a special ballot is approved, they're unable to vote another way, such as in-person at advance polls, according to Elections Canada.

For those who did get their special ballots, Adams also wonders whether they would have even made it back to Elections Canada in time for the count. 

"People already have a fearfulness of the systems that are in place and this really doesn't help," Adams said.

Forty-six per cent of registered electors in Abitibi–Baie-James–Nunavik–Eeyou voted in the 2025 federal election. That is roughly in line with the turnout in 2021, and below the 2025 national rate of 68 per cent. 

Elia Lauzon doesn't trust the government, or the electoral system. Still, she turned up Monday to the polling station in Puvirnituq, Que., to have her say. 

"I do know it's the smallest right that I have offered to me and fought for me by other Indigenous activists over the course of decades," Lauzon said.

Lauzon, who's normally based in Kuujjuaq, was motivated to vote when she saw an Indigenous candidate, a Cree woman, running in her riding of Abitibi–Baie-James–Nunavik–Eeyou. The riding has been held by the Bloc Québécois for two terms now. 

But when Lauzon turned up to the polls, she was told it was closing around 2:30 p.m. — seven hours before it was supposed to, as listed under the Canada Elections Act for districts in the Eastern time zone. 

"I was looking forward to that ability, but now you know what, I'm just mad," she said. 

                "Low voter turn out in Indigenous nations is always going to be reflective of a federal system that does not respect or even recognize Indigenous peoples as people," Kuujjuaq's Elia Lauzon says. (Submitted by Elia Lauzon)

Aside from Puvirnituq, CBC has heard from residents in four other Nunavik villages who say voting booths closed early in their communities.

In a statement, Elections Canada said weather issues were affecting flights for workers.

"The returning officer attempted to implement several different strategies to provide voting services to communities," it said in a statement. 

"In several cases, it was not possible to recruit local teams. In other cases, harsh weather conditions have prevented access to communities."

Elections Canada did not confirm how many villages were affected, or whether polling booths did close down. 

'It's just a terrible mess'

In Salluit, recreation co-ordinator Mary Papigatuk said residents only had an hour and 15 minutes to vote before workers packed up and left at 2:30 p.m. 

She was at the village office the whole time, and saw less than 70 people vote during that short window.  (In the 2021 federal census, Salluit's population was around 1,600.)

For her, this is another example of Inuit being used by politicians and government officials who claim they're engaging with Indigenous people. 

        A sign indicating that the Salluit polling station had to close at 2:30 p.m. local time due to "unforeseen circumstances." (Submitted by Mary Papigatuk)

"We as Inuit, we've had non-Inuit using us for show, but then when it's actually time for us to be involved, we're not involved," she said. 

In Ivujivik, Mayor Adamie Kalingo said Elections Canada staff didn't even set up a station in his community before they left. 

He was expecting them over the weekend, but he started to worry when they still hadn't arrived by mid-morning. 

They eventually did around midday, but after a toilet stop, they took off again. 

"We don't have any official ballot papers or information on how to go about this particular election," he said. 

"I've been getting calls from teachers and social workers and local people wanting to vote but I have no choice but to tell them we don't know what's happening, and it's just a terrible mess."

"Politics are taboo in Nunavik, especially for children. So maybe if we had a translator for these campaigns or if they're broadcasted around Nunavik in Inuktitut, that we'd have more children or more adults who would want to be more involved," Salluit's Mary Papigatuk said. (Submitted by Mary Papigatuk)

Leaving Inuit out — again

Papigatuk is also frustrated that Elections Canada employed nobody local to help with the voting stations — which is something she says she witnessed in the past. 

The lack of information in Inuktitut from all political parties also pains her. 

"There's never really been anyone to translate these campaigns for our elders, or the children, who only know Inuktitut, or people who have a hard time understanding what's going on." 

Voter turnout in Indigenous communities has historically been an issue. 

In the 2021 federal election, out of over 38,000 registered electors in Indigenous communities in Quebec, less than 9,000 cast a vote, according to Elections Canada.

That 23 per cent voter turnout rate lagged behind the average national rate for electors in Indigenous communities, which sat at 44 per cent.

• In this huge Quebec riding, Indigenous voters have lots of power — and specific concerns

• Voter turnout in Eeyou Istchee is traditionally low. Some hope this election will be different

Kuujjuaq's Elia Lauzon recognizes the logistical challenges of voting in the North, but she said she doesn't believe that is acceptable in 2025.

"If you're not going to send people to my region, make it possible for me to vote online," she said.

Kayla Meeko poses with her three-year-old daughter. "Today my right to vote was really putting my life, my daughter's life, all of the people that I live with ... into someone's hands to make decisions for us," Meeko said. (Submitted by Kayla Meeko)

Kayla Meeko, the president of the board of directors at Quaqtaq's daycare, was working out when they would let staff leave so they had their legally-entitled three hours to vote. 

When word spread that the voting station was closing at 2.30 p.m., she and others rushed to the polling booth, but she was too late. 

"I could hear their airplane starting in the background," she said. "Today, I lost my legal right to vote.

"As an Inuk woman, having the right to vote is very, very important. Not that long ago, women were not allowed to vote, and as an Indigenous person of Canada, how our prime minister treats us depends very much on our votes."

After a judicial recount, the Quebec riding of Terrebonne has flipped to the Liberals, who have beaten the Bloc Québécois by one vote. The result means the Liberals have 170 seats in the House of Commons — just two shy of a majority government.

On Wednesday, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada Stéphane Perrault announced the judicial recount after results showed incumbent Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné beat Liberal challenger Tatiana Auguste by 44 votes.

Now, Elections Canada's website shows Auguste received 23,352 votes. Sinclair-Desgagné received 23,351 votes.

According to Canada's election rules, a recount is automatically triggered when a candidate wins by less than 0.1 per cent of the overall vote in that riding, which applied to Terrebonne. In certain circumstances, candidates can also request a recount.

The recount was conducted by Superior Court of Quebec Justice Danielle Turcotte.

Terrebonne had originally been called for the Liberals the day after the votes were cast. But the riding flipped to the Bloc during the validation process — which is different from a recount. Validation is a procedure in which Elections Canada double-checks and verifies the numbers reported on election night.

     A judicial recount has found incumbent Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné has lost the riding of Terrebonne to the Liberals by a single vote. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Results in three other ridings are currently being recounted. 

Elections Canada announced Friday that a recount will take place in Milton East-Halton Hills South, where the Liberal candidate edged the Conservative by 29 votes. That riding was initially declared for the Conservatives, but flipped to the Liberals after the validation process.

A recount is also taking place in the Newfoundland and Labrador riding of Terra Nova-The Peninsulas, where the Liberal candidate won by 12 votes. 

On Friday, a judge ordered a recount in another Ontario riding — Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore, where the Conservative candidate won by 77 votes.

The Liberal candidate had requested that recount, citing more than a dozen affidavits from scrutineers for his campaign who had witnessed ballots be rejected that they say were valid.

The Liberals are now just two seats short of the 172 required of a majority government. But even if the recounts all turn out Liberal victories, the party will still be one short.

The recounts in Terra Nova-The Peninsulas and Milton East-Halton Hills South will begin next week. Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore's recount will start on May 20.

The Bloc Québécois is challenging the result in the federal riding of Terrebonne, where the party lost by one vote, as Elections Canada revealed issues with five more mail-in ballots.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet announced the party's intentions at a news conference at the House of Commons foyer on Thursday morning, alongside Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné — the party's candidate in the riding — and Bloc MP Christine Normandin.

"Since Elections Canada cannot by themselves ask for the election to be repeated, we have to bring this situation in front of a judge, in a court, in order to do the election all over again," Blanchet said.

He noted that it's important for the case to be addressed quickly in the event that an MP whose election is being contested may affect votes in Parliament.

A spokesperson for Elections Canada said in an email on Thursday that five ballots were received at the local office late "even though the return envelope contained an error in the postal code."

"There is no information as to whether the delay was due to the incorrect postal code," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson, who did not sign the email, noted that to date, Elections Canada is aware of only one case where an envelope containing a marked ballot was returned to a voter because of an incorrect address. 

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 spokesperson Matthew McKenna said in an email on Wednesday that the agency does not explicitly provide for the appeal of a judicial recount. 

"Elections Canada is unaware of any appeals brought to a court following a recount," McKenna said, noting that a mechanism exists to contest election results. 

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.

Sinclair-Desgagné said the vote issues in the riding go beyond the results of a single party.  

"It's a matter of trust in our democratic institutions," she said. "It is important in our case to follow through with these steps so that citizens of Terrebonne have a legitimate MP to represent them."

Elections Canada says the result of a recount in the federal riding of Terrebonne is final, despite a misprint that led to one special ballot being returned to sender.

Elections Canada says there was an error on the envelope used to mail a special ballot from Terrebonne, a Quebec riding the Liberals won by a single vote after a recount.

Preliminary results indicated that the Liberals had won the riding, but the seat flipped temporarily to the Bloc Québécois after the results were validated.

After a recount that gave the seat back to the Liberals, however, CBC News reported that a Bloc voter saw her mail-in ballot returned to her.

The agency says an analysis confirmed that part of the return address on the envelope destined for a local Elections Canada office — the last three characters of the postal code — was incorrect.

Despite the error and questions about the possibility of another recount or a byelection, Elections Canada spokesperson Matthew McKenna said "the result of the recount is final."

"The Canada Elections Act does not explicitly provide for the appeal of a judicial recount and Elections Canada is unaware of any appeals brought to a court following a recount," said McKenna.

Elections Canada 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.

McKenna said the returned vote was never part of the recount.

"Any vote that doesn't get to us on time to wherever it's meant to go, whether it's the local office or to our accounting facility in Ottawa, the law basically dictates that it can't be counted," he said.

"So even if it's something that happens as a result of an error on our part, there's really no mechanism for that to be counted."

McKenna said the only thing that could lead to a change in the result is someone officially contesting it.

"Anyone can make an application to a judge to say that they want the results of the election to be reviewed," he said. "There's a possibility that that happens... as far as I'm aware, nobody's put forward such an application yet."

The Bloc Québécois candidate for the Montreal-area riding of Terrebonne says she's evaluating her options after a judicial recount that saw her lose by a single vote.

"Following a judicial recount that caused a vote reversal as spectacular as unexpected, I owe it to myself to evaluate all the options before us," Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné wrote on Facebook on Monday. 

"I'll keep you updated on the next steps."

Sinclair-Desgagné's statement comes as Elections Canada investigates a possible error involving an uncounted mail-in ballot from a Bloc voter in the Terrebonne riding.

Voter Emmanuelle Bossé told Radio-Canada that she mailed in her ballot in early April using an addressed envelope provided by Elections Canada, but it was returned to her as undeliverable.

Elections Canada says it appears that part of the postal code printed on the envelope was wrong and that it's working to gather more facts about what happened.

Liberal Tatiana Auguste was declared the winner over Sinclair-Desgagné, the incumbent, by a one-vote margin after a judicial recount, in an election that returned the Liberals to power with a minority government on April 28.

Both parties declined to comment, and Sinclair-Desgagné's statement did not specifically mention the uncounted ballot.

Auguste was initially projected to win the riding by 35 votes after the election, but Sinclair-Desgagné, who was first elected in 2021, moved ahead by 44 votes following the required post-election validation process.

The win was returned to Auguste on Saturday following the judicial recount, with Auguste receiving 23,352 votes and Sinclair-Desgagné 23,351.

Liberals fall just shy of majority

The final result brought the Liberals to 170 seats in the House of Commons, two shy of the 172 needed for a majority government. The Bloc seat count fell to 22. Other judicial recounts are ongoing.

Julie Simmons, an associate professor of political science at the University of Guelph, described the one-vote margin as "exceptionally unusual." While the judicial recount represents the official final vote tally, she said there is still a process by which candidates or voters can apply to contest the election in court.

During a contested election proceeding, a judge can rule on the eligibility of candidates "or whether there were any other irregularities, fraud, or corrupt or illegal practices that affected the result of the election," according to Elections Canada's website.

While she's not a legal expert, Simmons said there could be a "compelling" argument to be made for a contestation in this case because the vote was so close. A successful challenge would result in a byelection, she said.

 

      1 vote flipped Quebec’s Terrebonne riding Liberal. But the story may not be over yet

 

A Terrebonne, Que., resident says her mail-in ballot could’ve made the difference, but it didn’t count because it was returned to the sender. There was an error in the label with the address that Elections Canada provided. Elections Canada says it's investigating and acknowledges that the postal code printed on the envelope was wrong.

Heidi Tworek, the director of the centre for the study of democratic institutions at the University of British Columbia, said the "twists and turns" in Terrebonne show there are processes in place to ensure the vote result is as accurate and transparent as possible.

"I think the key is A, this is extremely uncommon, and B, despite it being extremely uncommon there are lots of mechanisms to ensure the vote is free and fair," she said in a phone interview.

While "all systems and all people" can occasionally make mistakes, "the question is whether those are admitted, rectified and you have processes in place to try and prevent them as much as you possibly can, and try to learn from them so the next time you prevent any of those kind of mistakes form happening," she said.

Richard Lacas, a resident of Terrebonne who voted in the election, said a byelection should be held to clarify the vote results. "I think all of us in the riding will be left with a doubt if ever it isn't redone," he said in a phone interview. "We will have a doubt on whether there were others."

Lacas, a staunch sovereignist, voted Liberal for the first time in April because he believed the party was best-placed to stand up to the United States during the ongoing trade war. If a byelection were held, he said he'd go back to voting Bloc, as he has in previous elections, because a Liberal victory wouldn't be enough to secure a majority.

"I wanted the Liberal Party to get in, and it's what happened. So after that I'd come back to my old love and return to the Bloc," he said.

Elections Canada says it is investigating after a voter in a Quebec riding came forward with an envelope that had been returned to sender.

Inside was a vote for the Bloc Québécois in the Terrebonne riding, where, as it stands, incoming Liberal MP Tatiana Auguste was declared the winner by one vote after several recounts.

Elections Canada said the return address printed on this elector's return envelope was incorrect — specifically, part of the postal code.

"We are still working to gather all the facts. We will be able to get back to you as soon as we have more information," the agency said in a statement to CBC News.

The voter, however, remains irked by the situation. Terrebonne resident Emmanuelle Bossé said she sent in her vote on time for the April 28 federal election. 

"I wasn't the one who got Elections Canada's address wrong on the envelope," she told Radio-Canada. "Elections Canada glued this label on the envelope. I had nothing to fill. I just had to put my vote in there." 

She says she mailed her vote in on April 5 and it was returned to her on May 2. 

Auguste's one-vote victory was highly unusual, making international headlines and attracting significant attention on social media, as she appeared to flip a riding long held by the Bloc.

Elections Canada says the return address printed on this elector’s return envelope was wrong. (Radio-Canada)

On election night, Terrebonne initially went to Auguste by 35 votes. But after a standard validation process, the result flipped to the incumbent Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, by 44 votes.

This triggered an automatic judicial recount.

A few days later, the results of the recount showed that Auguste had won by a single vote.

"I think it's a first in recent history," said political commentator Frédéric Bérard.

To recap: on election day, voters go to polling stations and cast their ballots. Once the polls close, Elections Canada workers hand count the ballots and report the results to a returning officer. The results are then posted online.

Next comes the validation process.

This is when Elections Canada double-checks and verifies the numbers reported on election night, looking for errors or discrepancies before making the result official.

A win by less than 0.1 per cent of the overall vote automatically triggers a recount.

"That will be overseen by a judge, and the candidates, their lawyers, some scrutineers and electoral officials will all be present," said Holly Ann Garnett, a political science professor at Queen's University.

"They're going to go through all the ballots, recount them and make sure the tally from election night holds."

During the recount, the judge can rule on whether to keep or reject ballots that were disputed because they were considered spoiled or unclear.

"They'll go through all of the ballots again so everyone has a second look," Garnett said.

Courts could force byelection, expert says

But Ara Karaboghossian, professor of political science at Vanier College, says there's a chance this saga isn't over. He said the election could be contested through Elections Canada's contested elections process. He said irregularities can be the basis for contesting a decision 

"It says that if there is any type of irregularity that has an effect on the result, then the person can actually contest," said Karaboghossian. "The elector can contest. A candidate can contest. It's open to anybody."

The case will hinge on what an irregularity is, but it seems to Karaboghossian that a misprint on a self-addressed, stamped envelope could fall into that category.

"For me, that consists of an irregularity," said Karaboghossian. "But the second step is to determine whether that irregularity affected the result."

An irregularity that doesn't affect the outcome would be discarded. However, in this case, one vote would have made a difference in Terrebonne. Bossé would still need to take Elections Canada to court, and then it will be a legal decision, he explained.

"This is the interesting part," Karaboghossian said. "We're in uncharted waters."

If the court does decide Bossé's Bloc vote should be counted, "we should have a byelection," he said. "That would be the logic that would apply, but again, this is where the uncharted waters come in."

Elections Canada's validation process has revealed a second closely contested riding's winner has changed after Monday's preliminary result — this time from the Conservatives to the Liberals.

The unofficial results posted on election night showed that Conservative Parm Gill had won the redrawn riding of Milton East-Halton Hills South by 298 votes.

But after double-checking the numbers, Elections Canada now reports that Liberal Kristina Tesser Derksen won by 29 votes.

 Unofficial results on election night reported that Conservative candidate Parm Gill had won the riding of Milton East-Halton Hills South. The Elections Canada validation process has now declared the riding for the Liberals. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

This latest riding flip brings the Liberals back to 169 seats — three seats shy of a majority — while the Conservatives drop to 143.

The Liberals lost a riding on Thursday after a similar validation process in the Montreal-area riding of Terrebonne revealed that the Bloc Québécois had won.

Validation is not a recount

The validation process — which is different from an official recount — is a way for Elections Canada to verify the unofficial results that are reported on election night. Each local returning officer goes through the results reported by each polling station to weed out any potential errors.

"When you're talking about hundreds of or thousands of polling locations and lots of results coming in, errors can happen. Whether it's something gets misheard on the phone or somebody accidentally types in the wrong number on the keyboard," Matthew McKenna, a spokesperson for Elections Canada, told CBC News before election day.

"The returning officer for each riding goes through the statements of the vote from every poll and makes sure that that's checked against the records so that we can adjust for any little errors or mistakes."

Even after the validation process, both Milton East-Halton Hills South and Terrebonne's final tally are so close that it will trigger an official recount. Such a recount is overseen by a judge and is automatically triggered if a candidate wins by less than 0.1 per cent of the overall vote.

Official recounts have flipped ridings in the past. In 2021, the Bloc candidate was declared the winner of the then-named riding of Châteauguay-Lacolle. But an official recount two weeks later gave the victory to the Liberals.

An official recount will also be triggered in the N.L. riding of Terra Nova-The Peninsulas, where the Liberal candidate edged out the Conservative by 12 votes.

The Liberals have dropped one seat after Elections Canada's validation process determined they lost a tightly contested Quebec riding.

Terrebonne, just north of Montreal, was one of the last ridings to be called on Tuesday afternoon. The final vote count had the Liberals flip the seat from the Bloc Québécois by 35 votes.

But Elections Canada is now reporting that, after double-checking the numbers during its validation process, the Bloc in fact held the riding by a margin of 44 votes.

The flip pulls the Liberals — who fell just a few seats short of a majority government — down to 168 seats and the Bloc jumps to 23 seats.

Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, the Bloc incumbent for the riding, wrote in a Facebook post that she's cautiously optimistic but will be waiting for a judicial recount.

"Thank you for your continued support and let's pay attention to what follows. I hope to have the honour of representing Terrebonne once again," she wrote in French.

Validation is not a recount

The validation process — which is different from an official recount — is a way for Elections Canada to verify the unofficial results that are reported on election night. Each local returning officer goes through the results reported by each polling station to weed out any potential errors.

"When you're talking about hundreds of or thousands of polling locations and lots of results coming in, errors can happen. Whether it's something gets misheard on the phone or somebody accidentally types in the wrong number on the keyboard," Matthew McKenna, a spokesperson for Elections Canada, told CBC News before election day.

"The returning officer for each riding goes through the statements of the vote from every poll and makes sure that that's checked against the records so that we can adjust for any little errors or mistakes."

Even after the validation process, the race was so close that it will trigger an official recount. Such a recount is overseen by a judge and is automatically triggered if a candidate wins by less than 0.1 per cent of the overall vote.

Official recounts have flipped ridings in the past. In 2021, the Bloc candidate was declared the winner of the then-named riding of Châteauguay-Lacolle. But an official recount two weeks later gave the victory to the Liberals.

An official recount will also be triggered in the N.L. riding of Terra Nova-The Peninsulas, where the Liberal candidate edged out the Conservative by 12 votes.