Recount confirms Liberal victory in Milton East-Halton Hills South

Liberal Kristina Tesser Derksen says she found out just before midnight on May 15 that a judicial recount had confirmed her victory in the federal Ontario riding of Milton East-Halton Hills South.

The margin narrowed from 29 votes to 21 with the recount.

Elections Canada ordered the recount last week after the vote validation process showed Tesser Derksen won the riding over Conservative Parm Gill by a slim margin.

A judicial recount is ordered automatically when the top two candidates are separated by less than 0.1 per cent of the valid votes cast.

Gill was declared the victor on election night, but the riding flipped to the Liberals after Elections Canada validated the results.

This recount leaves the Liberals three seats shy of a majority government, with 169 MPs.

On Thursday, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said the party plans to launch a legal challenge after losing the federal riding of Terrebonne by a single vote.

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.