By The Canadian Press

Federal election: Newfoundland riding flips to Conservatives after judicial recount

May 23, 2025 | 1:07 PM

ST. JOHN’S — A federal election riding in rural Newfoundland flipped to the Conservatives on Friday, netting the party another seat in the House of Commons.

After a recount process that took nearly two weeks, Elections Canada announced that Conservative Jonathan Rowe had defeated Liberal Anthony Germain in the Terra Nova—The Peninsulas riding by just 12 votes.

The result reverses the first tally of the ballots after the April 28 election, which had Germain ahead by 12 votes.

Rowe’s win gives the Conservatives 144 seats in the House of Commons, and brings the Liberals down to 169, which is three seats shy of the threshold for a majority government. The Bloc Quebecois has 22, the NDP has seven and the Green Party has one.

In a video posted to Facebook shortly after Friday’s results were announced, Rowe thanked his supporters and campaign team. He also thanked Germain for a “clean race.”

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“We couldn’t have tried to have a closer race,” Rowe said. “And to all the people out there who voted Liberal, I see you, and I will serve you and every member of this riding to the best of my ability.”

His win underscores a surge in support for the Conservatives across the province, where the party held just one seat heading into the vote last month. The opposition party now holds three of the seven federal seats in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The recount in Newfoundland began May 12 in Marystown, N.L., a town of roughly 5,200 people about 185 kilometres southwest of the provincial capital of St. John’s. It was one of four called after the election last month, and it was the last to produce a decision.

Elections Canada officials have said the recount resulted in roughly 1,000 disputed ballots, all of which had to be debated by lawyers and carefully considered by provincial Supreme Court Justice Garrett Handrigan, who oversaw the review. The results Friday showed 819 ballots were ultimately rejected.

Rowe is an engineer with experience in oil and gas and mining. This is his first time serving as a federal politician.

Terra Nova-The Peninsulas covers a vast region of eastern Newfoundland, stretching from the Bonavista Peninsula and surrounding area on the island’s northeast coast to the tip of the Burin Peninsula along the southern coast. It includes fishing communities, tourism destinations and small towns where many people work in the oil industry, whether at home in the province or away in Alberta.

The riding is home to more than 76,000 people, 41,670 of whom cast a vote in the April 28 election. Officials have said every single ballot was recounted.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2025.

Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press