5 close races that proved every vote counts

None of the 338 races in Monday’s federal election appear to have ended close enough to require judicial recounts, which happen when the winner and runner-up are separated by less than one one-thousandth of the total votes cast.

Still, unofficial results suggest there were still some very close races that must have had the winners sweating late into the night, and the losers especially disappointed. Here are the top five closest races:

Elmwood--Transcona

NDP -- 14,699 (34.3%)

Conservative -- 14,648 (34.1%)

Liberal – 12,537 (29.2%)

Green – 1,016 (3.1%)

This Winnipeg riding was very close in 2008 and extremely close in 2011, when the Conservative candidate Lawrence Toet beat New Democrat Jim Maloway by 300 votes. The showdown was repeated on Monday and Toet lost by a mere 51 votes to the NDP’s Daniel Blaikie, a union activist, electrician and son of former MP Bill Blaikie. There were 42,900 votes cast in total, meaning this was close to the recount threshold -- 42 votes or fewer, in this case.

Desnethe—Missinippi--Churchill River

NDP -- 10,300 (34.1%)

Liberal -- 10,230 (33.9%)

Conservative -- 9,110 (30.2%)

Green -- 552 (1.8%)

Last time around, Conservative Rob Clarke easily took this huge swath of northern Saskatchewan over the second-place New Democrats. This time, however, it was a three-way race that ended with Clarke in third and the NDP’s Georgina Jolibois topping Liberal Lawrence Joseph by only 70 votes.

Edmonton Mill Woods

Liberal -- 20,399 (41.2%)

Conservative -- 20,319 (41.1%)

NDP -- 6,326 (12.8%)

Green -- 1,101 (2.2%)

This urban Alberta riding, whose borders have been redrawn, elected Conservative Mike Lake with more than 60 per cent of the vote in 2008 and again in 2011. This time, Liberal Amarjeet Sohi squeaked by with 80 votes over Tory minister Tim Uppal, who was elected in a nearby riding last time around.

Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte

Conservative -- 21,103 (41.7%)

Liberal – 20,993 (41.5%)

NDP -- 5,202 (10.3%)

Green -- (5.3%)

Barrie city councillor Alex Nuttall managed to take this central Ontario riding with just 110 votes over the Liberal Brian Tamblyn, who served as a local college president. The old Barrie riding (with somewhat different boundaries) was held by Patrick Brown, who won nearly three times as many votes as the third-place Liberal in 2011. Brown quit as MP to take over as leader of the Ontario PC Party.

Regina—Lewvan

NDP – 16,844 (35.2%)

Conservative – 16,701 (34.9%)

Liberal 13,144 (27.5%)

Green 839 (1.8%)

The NDP was favoured to win this new urban-only riding and the party’s Erin Weir did manage to beat the Conservative Trent Fraser by 143 votes, but a strong third-place showing by the Liberal Louis Browne nearly cost Weir the win.