1860: A legislative committee agrees to give the Quebec riding of Argenteuil to Conservative John Abbott. He lost the Province of Canada election two years earlier to fellow Conservative Sydney Bellingham by 200 votes, then promptly contested the result, accusing his opponent of bringing in voters who didn’t own property or live in the riding.
In the 1874 election, Abbott wins by four votes. His opponent, Liberal Lemuel Cushing succeeds in having the results declared void and wins the by-election. That, too, is voided and a second by-election is won by Thomas Christie. Abbott loses to Christie in the 1878 election, challenges the results and beats Christie in a by-election two years later. No surprise, that is also declared void. He wins an 1881 by-election by acclamation and Argenteuil’s history of challenged results and voided elections comes to an end.
Leave a comment