OTTAWA — 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 said that she received word that her victory had been confirmed about five minutes before midnight on May 15.
It ended what she described as a "17-day election night."
"It was a hard earned success and one that's been a long time coming, because election night was back on April 28," she said. "You take a breath and then, all right, now there's work to do. There's a gravity that comes with that news, there's expectations and we're facing some challenging times."
Tesser Derksen served on Milton city council before seeking federal office, and had been on leave from that position while campaigning.
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 narrowed 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 involve recounting the ballots.
A judicial recount does count the ballots again, reviews 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 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 of 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 results there were just outside the automatic recount threshold but Kusmierczyk requested a recount and was granted it.
"If nothing else, these close elections show people that their engagement really is important and that every vote counts," Tesser Derksen said.
The House of Commons is set to return on May 26.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2025.
David Baxter, The Canadian Press
