Bloc Québécois wins Terrebonne riding after vote validation 

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the Bloc won the riding after a recount. It was actually after an Elections Canada vote validation process.

The Bloc Québécois has won the riding of Terrebonne after a vote validation process, taking it from the grasp of the Liberal candidate who previously thought she won by a small margin.

The seat count for the parties is now 168 for the Liberals and 23 for the Bloc.

The Bloc’s Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné won by 44 votes over Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste in the riding north of Montreal. She confirmed the result in a social media post Thursday afternoon. Auguste was previously declared the winner by 35 votes.

“We will now proceed to a judicial recount,” Sinclair-Desgagné wrote in her Facebook post. “For someone to be officially declared elected, we must wait until this process is complete. Nevertheless, we have reversed the trend, and that’s a relief.

“Thank you for your continued support, and let’s stay tuned for more. I hope to have the honour of representing Terrebonne again in the coming years.”

The riding was put in electoral limbo after the Bloc Québécois was informed by Elections Canada of errors made during the vote count for the riding, and that an audit was underway.

Elections Canada’s validated results indicate that Sinclair-Desgagné received 23,340 votes, while Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste received 23,296.

Terrebonne is eligible for an automatic judicial recount because the vote difference between the top two candidates is below one thousandth of the total number of votes. In this case, the threshold was 60 votes because 60,204 ballots were cast.

“Validation checks to make sure that what was counted at the polls is what stands as the final result,” Elections Canada spokesperson Diane Benson told CityNews.

“Although the result following a recount, where they happen, would be the final version.”

Elections Canada’s validated results indicate that 60,204 valid votes were cast in the riding and 903 ballots were rejected. Preliminary results said there were 60,130 valid votes.

Earlier Thursday, Benson explained results are unofficial until they are validated, something that “typically happens within a week following election day.”

“Since the local Elections Canada office gets the results from each polling location by phone before entering them into the system, human error can happen during the reporting process (e.g. if staff at the Elections Canada office misheard a result that was called in or made a mistake entering the data into the system),” Benson wrote in an email.

“The validation step enables the returning officer to find and correct any errors that may have been made.”

Elections Canada explains that validation involves checking the official records from each individual polling station and correcting any errors made during the transmission of results on a busy election night.

As results are validated, they’re posted on their website. This continues until all validated results are in.

“Like the counting of votes, the validation process is transparent and open to scrutiny,” said Benson. “The entire process is witnessed by candidates or their representatives so there is added accountability.”

Once the results are validated, they are final, unless changes are made following a judicial recount or a contested election proceeding.

The official voting results that are published several months after the election are the same as the validated results, only more detailed.

Après recomptage, Élections Canada annonce que la candidate du BQ @NathalieSincla3 remporte l'élection par 44 voix.

Félicitations Nathalie! Ce sera un plaisir de continuer à collaborer ensemble pour #Terrebonne.

Je salue Tatiana Auguste pour son engagement dans la campagne! pic.twitter.com/pzIGQe3xP8

— Mathieu Traversy (@MathieuTraversy) May 1, 2025

Mathieu Traversy, mayor of the city of Terrebonne, congratulated Sinclair-Desgagné and said it would be a pleasure to continue collaborating with her. He said he saluted Auguste for her commitment to the campaign.

Terrebonne has been held by the Bloc for nearly 30 years, minus a brief stint under the New Democrats during the famous orange wave of 2011.

CityNews reached out to the two parties and has yet to receive a response.