Fate of Trois-Rivières, Brome-Missisquoi and other Quebec ridings still uncertain after Monday's election
Winners were still to be announced in a handful of the 338 federal ridings, a day after the 44th election resulted in the election of a Liberal minority government.
In Quebec, four ridings were awaiting final decisions as of Wednesday afternoon; three where the Bloc Québécois was leading and a fourth held by Minister Steven Guilbeault, who was in the lead, pending the completion of the vote count.
- Check the numbers: Scroll through CTV's riding-by-riding Quebec election map
The closest Quebec battles are in Brome-Missisquoi and Trois-Rivières.
These two ridings have another thing in common: they were abandoned by the outgoing MPs, the Bloc Louise Charbonneau in Trois-Rivières and the Liberal Lyne Bessette in Brome-Missisquoi. Both women elected in 2019 chose not to run in the 2021 election.
In Trois-Rivières, at the last available result, published mid-afternoon Tuesday, Bloc Québécois member René Villemure was ahead of Conservative and former mayor Yves Lévesque by 33 votes.
Liberal Martin Francoeur was in third place, with 660 votes less than the Conservative, as the counting was completed in all but one polling station.
In this riding, 3,397 kits were provided to voters who chose to vote by mail. Those votes have yet to be counted.
The same situation exists in Brome-Missisquoi where 3,067 mail-in ballot kits were distributed.
There, the Bloc Québécois candidate Marilou Alarie had taken the lead once the votes were counted in 278 of the 279 offices. However, she had only 167 votes more than the Liberal Pascale St-Onge, according to the figures published at the end of the day Tuesday.
In Longueuil-Saint-Hubert, Châteauguay-Lacolle and Berthier-Maskinongé, the Bloc's leads were very comfortable, but the postal vote was too high to seal the fate of these three ridings before the count.
Since then, two of those ridings have officially gone Bloc.
On Tuesday, Berthier-Maskinongé officially went to the incumbent, defeating former NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau, and on Wednesday afternoon, it was announced that Longueuil-Saint-Hubert will also be held by its incumbent, Bloc MP Denis Trudel.
The last close battle is in Laurier-Sainte-Marie, where Liberal Steven Guilbeault was 1,905 votes ahead of NDP candidate Nimâ Machouf this week, before the possible counting of 4,131 postal votes.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 21, 2021, with files from CTV Montreal.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
The story of how a B.C. man found his birth mother
After his adopted parents died, Dave Rogers set out to learn more about his birth mother. DNA results and a little help from friendly strangers would put him on a path to a small town in England.
Montreal man on the hook for thousands of dollars after a feature on his Tesla caused an accident
A Montreal man is warning Tesla drivers about using the Smart Summon feature after his vehicle hit another in a parking lot.
Italy's white-collar mafia is making a business killing
Italy's mafia rarely dirties its hands with blood these days. Extortion rackets have gone out of fashion and murders are largely frowned upon by the godfathers.
Spike in 'violent rhetoric' since Oct. 7 attack from 'extremist actors,' CSIS warns
The Israel-Hamas war has led to a spike in 'violent rhetoric' from 'extremist actors' that could prompt some in Canada to turn to violence, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warns.
Russia announces nuclear weapon drills after angry exchange with senior Western officials
Russia plans to hold drills simulating the use of battlefield nuclear weapons, the Defense Ministry announced Monday, days after the Kremlin reacted angrily to comments by senior Western officials about the war in Ukraine and Moscow warned that tensions with the West are deepening.
Summer forecast: What to expect as El Nino weakens
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Actor Bernard Hill, of 'Titanic' and 'Lord of the Rings,' has died at 79
Actor Bernard Hill, who delivered a rousing cry before leading his people into battle in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' and went down with the ship as the captain in 'Titanic,' has died.
Dash cam catches moment suspected drunk driver hits parked car, sends it careening into North Shore flower shop
Police say it’s fortunate no one was injured or killed in a collision at North Vancouver’s Park and Tilford shopping centre Saturday evening that sent one vehicle careening into a flower shop and another into a set of concrete barriers outside a Winners store.
Israeli army tells Palestinians to evacuate parts of Gaza's Rafah ahead of an expected assault
The Israeli army on Monday ordered tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza's southern city of Rafah to start evacuating from the area, signalling that a long-promised ground invasion there could be imminent.