Recount confirms narrow Liberal victory in Milton East—Halton Hills South

A judicial recount in the southern Ontario riding of Milton East—Halton Hills South confirmed Friday that Liberal Kristina Tesser Derksen won the seat.

Tesser Derksen posted on social media shortly after midnight that the official recount had confirmed her victory.

"It is a profound honour to be elected as your MP," she wrote on X.

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.

The recount narried the margin from 29 votes to 21.

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 Liberals after the results were validated by Elections Canada. The validation process requires the returning officer in every riding to check the cumulative addition of votes from all the polls, and happens in the days after the initial count takes place on election night. It does not recount the ballots.

A judicial recount does count the ballots again, including reviewing rejected ballots, and takes place in the presence of a judge from a Superior Court in the relevant province or territory.

The current standings have the Liberals two seats shy of a majority government, with 170 MPs. The Conservatives have 143 seats, the Bloc Québécois 22, the NDP has 7 and the Green Party has one.

There are still two judicial recounts outstanding, and the results in the riding of Nunavut have yet to be validated because a blizzard has prevented a ballot box from getting to the returning office in Iqaluit.

A judicial recount in the Newfoundland and Labrador riding of Terra Nova—The Peninsulas is still in progress. Before the recount, Liberal Anthony Germain led Conservative Jonathan Rowe by 12 votes. 

Elections Canada said Thursday the recount will continue through the weekend if necessary.

A recount in the Ontario riding Windsor—Tecumseh — Lakeshore is scheduled to begin on May 20. The current result shows Conservative Kathy Borrelli edging out incumbent Liberal Irek Kusmierczyk by 77 votes.

The House of Commons is set to resume on May 26.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang