In the news today: Liberals win Quebec riding by one vote in recount

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Liberals win Quebec riding by one vote in recount

With more recounts still to come, the Liberals are another seat closer to a majority government after a judicial recount saw them narrowly win the Quebec riding of Terrebonne.

A judicial recount of the riding north of Montreal saw the Liberals win the the riding by one vote and now gives them 170 seats in Parliament.

The announcement comes as more recounts are underway, including two in Ontario.

One of those ridings is Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore, where a judicial recount was granted after incumbent Liberal Irek Kusmierczyk argued several ballots were “wrongly rejected” after validation showed he lost to Conservative challenger Kathy Borrelli by 77 votes.

The other Ontario seat, located in the Greater Toronto area, has Kristina Tesser Derksen is ahead of Conservative Parm Gill by 29 votes in Milton East—Halton Hills South. An automatic recount there will happen May 13.

Here’s what else we’re watching…

Hockey players’ sexual assault trial continues

Defence lawyers in the sexual assault trial of five former members of Canada’s world junior hockey team are expected to continue cross-examining the complainant today.

The woman, who cannot be identified under a publication ban, first took the stand on May 2 and spent most of last week facing questions from the defence.

On Friday, she pushed back against a defence suggestion that she was embarrassed and ashamed for the choices she’d made the night of the alleged incident.

She said she made the choice to drink and dance at the London, Ont., bar where she first met some of the accused, not to “have them do what they did back at the hotel.”

Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote have pleaded not guilty to sexual assault in connection with an encounter that took place at the Delta hotel in the early hours of June 19, 2018.

Ontario hospitals spent $9B on agencies: study

Ontario hospitals spent more than $9 billion on nurses and other staff from for-profit agencies in a 10-year period, a new study concludes.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study, released Monday, examined financial statements for 134 Ontario hospital corporations as well as data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

It found that from 2013-14 to 2022-23 public hospital spending on staff increased six per cent, but their spending on private agencies increased 98 per cent.

Study author Andrew Longhurst also found that while the number of hours worked by agency staff in Ontario hospitals accounted for 0.4 per cent of all front-line worker hours in 2022-23, six per cent of hospitals’ labour costs went toward the private staff.

Hospitals turn to staffing agencies for qualified workers that can fill shifts on a temporary basis, but agencies charge double or even triple the regular hourly rate for their staff and hospitals want to reduce their reliance on them.

Skydiving instructor dies in Alberta: RCMP

RCMP say a skydiver has died in a weekend accident west of Edmonton.

Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said police were called to a township road near Onoway on Saturday morning, where he said a 56-year-old man from Edmonton suffered fatal injuries following a jump from a plane.

He said the man was a skydiving instructor.

Skydiving West Edmonton said in a statement that an “experienced skydiver” succumbed to his injuries as a result of “a high-speed malfunction” on Saturday morning.

At this point Savinkoff said the death appears to have been an accident and does not appear suspicious, but he said RCMP, workplace safety officials and the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office continue to investigate.

Leafs waste Woll’s performance in Game 4 loss

Joseph Woll did everything he could to hold the line.

The Maple Leafs goaltender stretched, contorted and sprawled to make save after save against the Panthers’ onslaught.

His teammates weren’t close to that level.

Woll stopped 35 of the 37 shots he faced Sunday in Toronto’s stifling 2-0 loss to Florida that evened the teams’ second-round playoff series 2-2.

The Leafs, who fell 5-4 in overtime two nights earlier, again had a chance to push the defending Stanley Cup champions to the brink, but instead were second-best most of the night — other than their netminder.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2025,

The Canadian Press