INDEPTH: FEDERAL ELECTION 2004
Recounts
CBC News Online | July 7, 2004
A judicial recount is held when two candidates in a federal riding are tied or almost tied for first place after the votes are counted on election night.
In the 2004 federal election, judicial recounts have been granted in four ridings: Cambridge, Ont.; Edmonton-Beaumont, Alta., Jeanne-Le-Ber, Que., and Western Arctic.
In the case of Jeanne-Le-Ber, the recount was automatic because the margin of victory for Liberal candidate Liza Frulla was less than 0.1 per cent of the total votes cast - only 35 votes. In second place was the Bloc Québécois candidate Thierry St-Cyr. The recount showed Frulla defeated St-Cyr by 72 votes.
In the other three ridings, judicial recounts were allowed after successful applications by the second-place candidate in each riding.
In Edmonton-Beaumont, Liberal David Kilgour won by 134 votes over Conservative Tim Uppal, gaining three votes in the recount. In Cambridge, Conservative Gary Goodyear had a margin of victory of 224 votes over Liberal Janko Peric. In that recount, both the top two candidates lost votes because 31 ballots previously counted were rejected.
In the Western Arctic riding, Liberal Ethel Blondin-Andrew was declared the winner by 52 votes. A recount was ordered on July 17, 2004, but Blondin-Andrew's closest rival asked officials to stop it after a partial recount increased her lead to 53.
There were other close races in 2004:
- In Middlesex-Kent-Lambton, Ont., Rose-Marie Ur won by 164 votes.
- In New Westminster-Coquitlam, B.C., Conservative Paul Forseth won by 114 votes.
- In Simcoe-Grey, Ont., Conservative Helena Guergis won by 100 votes.
In the last election in 2000, judicial recounts were held in five ridings. In two of the ridings, both in Quebec, the recount was automatic. In all five cases, the recount confirmed the original result.
After the national election of 1988, PC candidate Michael O'Brien appeared to have won the riding of York North, Ont., by 58 votes. A series of recounts handed the victory first to his opponent, Liberal Maurizio Bevilacqua, then back to O'Brien when the Ontario Supreme Court intervened. A judicial recount Jan. 11, 1989, finally gave the riding to Bevilacqua.
In the razor-close election of 1972, the balance of power was held in a pair of recounts. Three days after the election, a recount in Drummond, Que., gave the seat to Liberal Jean-Luc Pepin by five votes. Pepin, the trade minister at the time, had appeared to have lost the seat to the Social Credit candidate. That result left the Trudeau Liberals and PCs tied in the House at 109 seats each. Three days after that, a recount gave the Saskatchewan riding of Meadow Lake, which had at first been awarded to the PCs, to the New Democrats.
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