OTTAWA -- The result has finally been announced in the riding of Brome-Missisquoi, a Liberal victory that puts Justin Trudeau's party slightly ahead of the Bloc Québécois as the counting of mail-in ballots winds down.

In Quebec, the Liberals have won 34 seats, the Bloc 33, the Conservatives 10, and the NDP in one.

The Liberal candidate in Brome-Missisquoi, Pascale St-Onge, won 186 more votes than the Bloc Québécois' Marilou Alarie.

Brome-Missisquoi is the only riding so far to have changed hands since Monday's preliminary election results, which did not include some 850,000 mail-in ballots.

In the continuing suspense of this 44th federal election, the fate of Laurier-Sainte-Marie had been sealed earlier.

Minister Steven Guilbeault withstood a second assault by NDP candidate Nimâ Machouf and returned to the Commons as the MP for Laurier-Sainte-Marie.

However, the mail-in ballots have not yet been counted.

The winners in five other federal ridings have yet to be confirmed.

Among them is Longueuil-Saint-Hubert in Quebec. However, Bloc Québécois candidate Denis Trudel is leading the race.

On Wednesday, the fate of Trois-Rivières was sealed, with the election of Bloc candidate René Villemure. The city's former mayor, Yves Lévesque, once again failed in his attempt to become a Conservative MP in Ottawa.

However, with only 93 votes separating the two men, a recount could be held. It will not be automatic, since the majority is more than one thousandth of the 57,990 votes cast. However, one of the defeated candidates could request a recount.

Elsewhere in the country, four ridings in British Columbia are still waiting for a final result.

By Thursday afternoon, the two ridings in Kitchener and Niagara Centre where a winner was still expected had been won by Liberal candidates.

On Monday night, Canadians re-elected Justin Trudeau's Liberals to a second minority government.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 23, 2021.