Contested election recount in the now-Liberal constituency of Milton East-Halton Hills South set to commence next week.
Fresh Take:
Elissa Mendes, Staff Writer
Get ready for some nail-biting action, folks! The federal riding of Milton East-Halton Hills South is about to witness a whopper of a recount, starting next Tuesday. Just a week ago, preliminary results saw the Tories snatching the win with a slim margin, but uh-oh, guess who's giving them a run for their money? That's right, the Liberals!
The initial report on April 28's election had Conservative candidate, ex-MPP Parm Gill, triumphing with 32,186 votes, while Liberal candidate Kristina Tesser Derksen trailed closely with 31,888—a mere 298 votes difference.
But here's the twist—after a week-long validation process, Elections Canada revealed some discrepancies in vote counting, flipping the scale in favor of Tesser Derksen with 32,130 votes, while the Tory hopeful, Gill, clocked in at 32,101—a 29-vote lead for the underdog!
It's been quite the emotional rollercoaster ride for Tesser Derksen, who told The Star, "The gap is pretty narrow, it could flip back. We're happy with some guarded optimism."
The vote validation process involves a returning officer scrutinizing the polling station vote records to nab data entry or calculation errors. Once suspected, the next step is, of course, a recount!
In this case, the recount will be presided over by none other than Justice Leonard Ricchetti of the Superior Court of Ontario, as announced in an Elections Canada press release on Friday. Interestingly, a recount happens automatically in instances like these, where the gap between the top and the runner-up doesn't exceed 0.1% of the total number of votes, which was indeed the case here[1][2][3]. So strap in, folks, 'cause we're diving headfirst into a close-knit election drama!
Credit: Additional insights from Clarrie Feinstein and The Canadian Press
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The Team
- The community of Milton East-Halton Hills South is bracing for an intense recount in the federal riding, scheduled to begin next Tuesday.
- The Superior Court of Ontario's Justice Leonard Ricchetti will preside over the recount, following Elections Canada's announcement.
- Media outlets across Canada, including The Star, have been reporting on the nail-biting election drama unfolding in Toronto.
- The recount was necessitated due to discrepancies found during the vote validation process, as stated in an Elections Canada press release.
- The close-knit election, with a mere 29-vote margin between contenders, could have significant implications for Canadian politics and general news.
