The Liberal party has kicked Ruby Dhalla out of the leadership race just days before the contestants were to face off in two debates in Montreal.
Party national director Azam Ishmael says in a statement published late Friday that the decision was made unanimously by the Liberal Leadership Vote Committee.
He says a “thorough investigation” concluded that Dhalla’s campaign had 10 violations of the national leadership rules, the vote rules and the expense rules.
He said those include alleged violations of the Canada Elections Act, not disclosing “material facts,” inaccurate financial reporting and other election finance violations.
The committee determined the violations were “extremely serious,” Ishmael added.
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The decision comes a day after The Globe and Mail reported that the party had reached out to Dhalla with multiple questions about her campaign finances and possible allegations of foreign interference.
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In multiple statements on X and in an interview with Global News, Dhalla denies all the allegations calling them “fabricated, fictitious and fake.”
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She indicated that she learned of her disqualification from a CBC report, not from the party.
Dhalla said the party had questions about some of the donations made to her campaign, but said none of them were really a problem.
She said six out of several hundred donations involved a couple using their joint credit card to make donations for both the husband and wife.
“This is entirely LEGAL,” she posted.
She said another “fabricated violation” was that donors made $21,000 in contributions directly to her campaign instead of using the required custom link that sends the funds first to the party.
“The campaign refunded the donations and asked the donors to resubmit them via the customized link,” she said. “These donations estimated $21,000. This was not a VIOLATION. Yet another fake, false and fabricated allegation, designed to keep me from the ballot.”
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In his statement Ishmael said the investigation was extensive, including “interviews, questionnaires and an opportunity for Dr. Dhalla to directly address the committees.”
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Dhalla had paid the full $350,000 entry fee to the party by the deadline earlier this week, $300,000 of which is non-refundable.
This narrows the field to four candidates: former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, Montreal businessman Frank Baylis and former Liberal House leader Karina Gould.
They will face each other in a French language debate in Montreal Monday, followed by an English language debate on Tuesday.
The party selects its next leader on March 9.
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