OTTAWA — Elections Canada has ordered another judicial recount of votes in an northern Ontario riding, meaning three Conservative wins — two in Ontario and one in Quebec — are now in jeopardy.

Tory candidate Jay Aspin ousted Liberal incumbent Anthony Rota from his Nipissing-Timiskaming riding by only 15 votes, triggering Thursday the third call for a review.

Elections Canada had ordered Tuesday recounts in the Quebec riding Montmagny-L'Islet-Kamouraska-Riviere-du-Loup and the Toronto area riding of Etobicoke Centre.

In Etobicoke, Conservative Ted Opitz took the seat from Liberal incumbent Borys Wrzesnewskyj by a mere 25 votes, while in Quebec, New Democrat Francois Lapointe initially lost by 110 votes to Conservative Bernard Genereux. A first recount showed more than 100 votes were awarded mistakenly to the Green party.

If the NDP candidate is elected at the end of the recount process in Quebec, the Conservative representation in the province will be down to five MPs.

According to the Canada Elections Act, a judicial recount is required when the difference in votes between the first- and second-place candidates is less than one one-thousandth of the total votes cast in a riding.

A fourth riding — Winnipeg North, where the Liberals defeated the NDP by only 45 votes — could still be in question, said Elections Canada spokesman John Enright.

While the results do not fall under the criteria that would force an automatic judicial review, a candidate or an elector in the riding could request a review.

"Nothing prevents an elector or candidate in any riding, no matter what the spread is, from approaching a judge and requesting a recount," Enright said. "It's based on irregularities at the poll — either challenging the count was done improperly, or rejected ballots weren't attributed properly, those kinds of things."

The NDP's Rebecca Blaikie — who lost by just 47 votes to Liberal Kevin Lamoureux — has confirmed she will ask for a recount in Winnipeg North.

cchai@postmedia.com

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