Conservative candidate Jonathan Rowe has defeated Liberal Anthony Germain by 12 votes in the Newfoundland district of Terra Nova-The Peninsulas following a judicial recount.
Rowe initially lost the seat on election night to Germain by 12 votes — but has now won the seat by a total of 19,605 votes to 19,593, according to Elections Canada.
The margin of victory following the recount is the exact number of votes Germain initially won by.
“Twelve votes. It’s not a lot, but it’s enough. And we’re thankful for it,” Rowe told CBC News shortly after his win was declared. “It’s certainly exciting.”
Rowe’s victory gives the Conservatives their third seat in Newfoundland and Labrador. It also moves the Conservatives to 144 seats nationally, and keeps the Liberal party at a minority government of 169 seats.
Rowe says he doesn’t have time to celebrate the victory with the amount of work he knows is ahead. He’ll be travelling to Ottawa on Saturday, leaving his career as an engineer to head for Parliament Hill.
“We’re a little bit behind … but the focus is still the same,” he said.
“We’ve got a district that’s reliant on natural resources. We’ve got to make sure that we’ve got to hold this Liberal government accountable and make sure they’re aware of the importance [that] natural resources has on our industry and make sure we can get good, you know, powerful paychecks to local people.”
The recount started in Marystown on May 12, nearly two weeks ago.
A judicial recount is automatically triggered if the number of votes separating the winner and a runner-up is less than 0.1 per cent of the total votes. More than 41,000 votes were cast in the newly redrawn riding on election night, with Germain — a former CBC journalist turned teacher — initially winning by 19,704 votes to 19,692.
The recount, overseen by Supreme Court Justice Garrett Handrigan, was expected to take between two and three days, but an unprecedented 1,041 ballots needed to be reviewed before the recount could be completed.
The election was April 28, but there are no official results yet to declare either Liberal candidate Anthony Germain or Conservative candidate Jonathan Rowe the winner of the riding of Terra Nova-The Peninsulas. As the CBC’s Heather Gillis reports, that’s expected to change Friday.
Some of those disputed ballots might have included those rejected on election night. In all, 579 were rejected in the initial count. A rejected ballot can be accepted during the recount process if the recount teams — which include representatives for each candidate — unanimously agree that the ballot should be reclassified.
Elections Canada had reported 819 ballots were rejected as part of the final results.
The recount was also delayed on Wednesday after public buildings in Marystown were forced to close due to a scheduled water shutoff in the town. A spokesperson for Elections Canada said Wednesday that ballots were stored securely during the delay.
In a social media post on Friday afternoon, Germain congratulated Rowe on his victory.
“While the official recount did not result in the outcome we had hoped, I want to thank the incredible volunteers, dedicated supporters and everyone across our community who helped drive our campaign,” the statement said in part.
“I’m energized to keep working to make out community a better place.”
Rowe told CBC News that he wished Germain well, adding they have the shared experience of sleepless nights waiting for the result to be validated.
“My heart goes out to him,” Rowe said. “And you never know, maybe, in a few years time, there’s another rematch.”
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