Supreme Court Annuls Single-Vote Federal Election Win in Terrebonne

The Supreme Court of Canada, in a rare decision, annulled the 2025 federal election result in the riding of Terrebonne near Montreal that had been decided by a single ballot. The top court has not annulled an election result in recent decades. Last April, Liberal Tatiana Auguste edged out Bloc Québécois candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné by one vote. A voter in Terrebonne said that she had cast her ballot for the Bloc by mail, but her special ballot had been returned to her after election day, marked return to sender. The issue was an error in the postal code of the polling station that the returning officer had put on the prepaid envelope. The Supreme Court heard arguments in the Terrebonne case on Friday morning and then delivered its decision from the bench after a period of deliberation. Chief Justice Richard Wagner said: "A majority of the justices of this court grant the appeal. We declare the annulment of the federal election of April 28, 2025, in the riding of Terrebonne." Julius Grey, the lawyer for Ms. Sinclair-Desgagné, said: "It's important to make certain that in any election the result is really the person who won. Of course, it's never perfect but courts should not hesitate. An election should be redone if it hasn't produced a real winner." The ruling means there will be a by-election in the riding of Terrebonne. The decision represents a significant moment in Canadian electoral law, as the Supreme Court rarely annuls election results. The last major case that weighed a potential annulment happened in 2012 after the 2011 federal election in Etobicoke Centre, where the Court ultimately upheld the initial result in a 4-3 decision.