 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Riding ofTerrebonne | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registered | 89,725 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 61,118(68.12%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
As part of the2025 Canadian federal election on April 28, 2025, an election took place for the federalelectoral district ofTerrebonne,Quebec. This election was a close contest between the incumbentBloc Québécois candidate,Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, and theLiberal candidateTatiana Auguste.
On the initial count, Liberal candidate Auguste had a 35 vote lead. After theElections Canada validated the vote, Bloc Québécois Sinclair-Desgagné was declared the winner by 44 votes. A subsequent judicial recount declared Liberal candidate Auguste the winner by 1 vote.
On February 13, 2026, the Supreme Court of Canada annulled the result of the election in the riding, requiring a by-election be held.[1]
| 2025 Canadian federal election:Terrebonne | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Tatiana Auguste | 23,352 | 38.741 | +9.37 | ||||
| Bloc Québécois | Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné | 23,351 | 38.739 | −2.66 | ||||
| Conservative | Adrienne Charles | 10,961 | 18.18 | +7.72 | ||||
| New Democratic | Maxime Beaudoin | 1,556 | 2.58 | −4.07 | ||||
| Green | Benjamin Rankin | 630 | 1.05 | −0.38 | ||||
| People's | Maria Cantore | 428 | 0.71 | −1.97 | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 60,278 | 98.63 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 840 | 1.37 | ||||||
| Turnout | 61,118 | 68.12 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 89,725 | |||||||
| Liberalnotional gain fromBloc Québécois | Swing | +6.02 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[2][3] | ||||||||
| Notes: Results were annulled by the Supreme Court of Canada on February 13, 2026.[4] The results were also subject to an automatic judicial recount on May 7, 2025.[5] The number of eligible voters does not include election day registrations. | ||||||||
In a preliminary count, Auguste was originally assumed to be the winner by 35 votes, but on May 1, the validation of election night results declared Sinclair-Desgagné as the winner by 44 votes. The narrowness of this margin triggered an automatic judicial recount overseen by theSuperior Court of Quebec.[6][7] On May 10, the recount added 74 votes, with 56 of them going to Auguste and 11 to Sinclair-Desgagné. After this recount, the result was reversed, with Auguste certified as the victor by one vote. The shift moved the Liberal seat count to 169, three short of amajority government.[7]
The results became controversial after a would-be Bloc voter disclosed on May 13 that her mail-in ballot was rejected and returned to her due to a postal code misprint on the envelope provided byElections Canada.[8] On May 14, Elections Canada acknowledged the error but stated that it did not havelegal standing to overturn the judicial recount. The following day, the Bloc announced that it would challenge the result in the Superior Court and seek aby-election. The same day, Elections Canada stated that five other mail ballots with the incorrect returning address printed had been rejected for having arrived at the Elections Canada office after the deadline; the statement said that they could not determine if the incorrect address had led to the fatal delay.[9] The application was filed in court on May 23,[10] with the hearing taking place in October.[11]
In September, Elections Canada reported that 115 special ballots had been issued to electors in Terrebonne. Their disposition was as follows:[12]
| Outcome | Number |
|---|---|
| Returned on time and counted | 85 |
| Received late | 5 |
| Not returned to the local office[a 1] | 16 |
| Not used, as electors subsequently voted in person | 9 |
| Party | 2021 election | 2021 (transposed)[a 1] | 2025 (preliminary) | 2025 (validated) | 2025 (on recount) | 2025 vs 2021 Change (pp)[a 2] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | 17,475 | 29.6 | 16,528 | 29.4 | 23,296 | 38.7 | 23,296 | 38.7 | 23,352 | 38.7 | +9.3 | |
| Bloc Québécois | 24,270 | 41.2 | 23,298 | 41.4 | 23,261 | 38.7 | 23,340 | 38.8 | 23,351 | 38.7 | -2.7 | |
| Conservative | 6,183 | 10.5 | 5,886 | 10.5 | 10,938 | 18.2 | 10,956 | 18.2 | 10,961 | 18.2 | +7.7 | |
| New Democratic | 3,913 | 6.6 | 3,742 | 6.6 | 1,552 | 2.6 | 1,552 | 2.6 | 1,556 | 2.5 | -3.9 | |
| Green | 847 | 2.4 | 802 | 1.4 | 637 | 1.1 | 632 | 1.0 | 630 | 1.0 | -0.4 | |
| People's | 1,594 | 2.7 | 1,506 | 2.7 | 446 | 0.7 | 428 | 0.7 | 428 | 0.7 | -2.0 | |
| Independent[a 3] | 3,864 | 6.6 | 4,518 | 8.0 | -8.0 | |||||||
| Free | 803 | 1.4 | ||||||||||
The case began on October 20 at the courthouse inSaint-Jérôme, and was originally estimated to last three days. No witnesses were scheduled to appear, as all parties were interviewed over the summer and filed consequentialaffidavits in order to speed up the hearing.[13]
On the first day, it was revealed that the Elections Canada employee estimated that 40 to 60 envelopes had been sent out with the wrong postal code on the return address. He did not think it necessary to inform the returning officer about that, as he had seen envelopes being delivered byCanada Post despite the error, and also noted that the return rate for special ballots was in line with previous elections.[14] The Bloc'sadvocate, Stéphane Chatigny, submitted that this was still a grave error, which was sufficient to meet the high bar set by theSupreme Court of Canada in a previous contested election case in 2012.[14][15]
The Liberals' advocate presented his case on the second day, submitting that what happened could be described as an everyday error, and a single vote represented just a margin of 0.0016%. The advocate for Elections Canada stated that it recognized that an error had been committed in the election, but noted that the Supreme Court, while giving high priority to the right to vote, also said that Canadian elections were not designed to attain perfection.[16]
The proceedings achieved notoriety not only in Canada, but also internationally, being reported in such outlets asCNN[17] andThe Guardian.[18]
On October 27, the court ruled that a by-election would not be held.[19] Dufour J held that what happened did not constitute an irregularity as defined in Canadian election law, saying, "It is a simple human error, which sometimes occurs in general elections, committed inadvertently and without any dishonest or malicious intent."[20]
On November 3, Sinclair-Desgagné announced that she would be appealing the ruling to theSupreme Court of Canada, saying, "The judgment of the Superior Court of Quebec contains several errors of fact as well as an interpretation of the law and jurisprudence that invites an appeal", and she was also planning to set up acrowdfunding campaign to raise money for the litigation costs.[21][22][23] The Liberal Party subsequently filed a complaint with theCommissioner of Canada Elections, alleging that litigation costs form part of campaign expenses under theCanada Elections Act, and the anonymity given to crowdfunding donors violates the Act's limits on individual and corporate donations. Sinclair-Desgagné responded that she had received two legal opinions on the matter before proceeding with the initiative, and stated that the Liberal claim was "unfounded and malevolent".[24]
On December 12, theSupreme Court announced that it would be hearing the appeal on February 13, 2026.[25] On February 13, 2026, the Supreme Court annulled the result of the election in the riding.[26] Auguste ceased to be an MP immediately. Reasons for the decision will be released at a later date.[27]Elections Canada confirmed the announcement, noting that the Speaker of the House of Commons will issue a warrant to the chief electoral officer, and a by-election can be called as soon as 11 days after its receipt.[28]
This is the first time since 1942 that the Supreme Court, on appeal, annulled a federal election, when the 1940 election of Liberal MPRobert Davidson inStanstead was overturned because of corrupt practices arising from the buying of votes with whiskey and money.[29][30] That ruling was also the first time the Supreme Court had set aside a lower court decision with respect to an election verdict.[31] This did not automatically trigger the issue of a writ for election: Under theDominion Controverted Elections Act then in force, the matter had to be referred to the HousePrivileges and Elections Committee for a recommendation as to how to proceed.[32] The committee would not report until May 1943, clearing the way for the byelection to be held.[33]
Davidson attempted to return to office in the byelection held August 9, 1943, but was defeated by theBloc Populaire candidateJoseph-Armand Choquette.[34]
This is not the first time that Terrebonne has witnessed an unusual electoral result. In 1841, during the election for the1st Parliament of the Province of Canada,Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine was forced to withdraw because of intimidation by supporters of his opponentMichael McCulloch, thus allowing McCulloch to be elected byacclamation. LaFontaine would enter the Legislative Assembly in a later by-election elsewhere.[35]
In the1935 provincial election, the election ofAthanase David was contested on the ground that the ballot papers were not printed in the form prescribed under theElection Act. At the subsequent hearing, the judge ruled that all cast ballots were thus void. Immediately afterwards, the returning officer announced that, as this resulted in a 0–0 tie, he cast his deciding vote in favour of David.[36][37] The returning officer's action was considered to have been without precedent anywhere in the world in countries with parliamentary-style legislatures.[38] The Conservatives lodged an appeal,[38] but the result was upheld by theQuebec Court of Appeal in April 1936.[39] David would become the only member of the Assembly in Quebec history to be elected on only one cast vote.[40][41]
In theMarch 2025 provincial by-election, while the riding flipped from theCAQ back to thePQ after being held for two elections byPierre Fitzgibbon,Québec solidaire was also squeezed out of third place by thePLQ, dropping in support by over eight percentage points (while the Liberals had lost two points). Nadia Poirier, a second-time QS nominee,[42] complained afterwards about the lack of support she received from the party, noting that none of its 12 MNAs came out to help in her campaign and that the party had solidarity in name only.[43] QS responded that, as Terrebonne had been apéquiste stronghold for 25 years, it allocated its resources based on a serious analysis of its chances of winning.[42] In June 2025, Poirier announced that she was leaving QS to join the PQ.[44]
