Liberal leadership race contender Ruby Dhalla has been kicked out from the race following allegations of irregularities in her campaign. Dhalla rejects the party’s allegations and says she’s being targeted.
“After a thorough investigation, the Leadership Vote Committee and the Leadership Expense Committee, sitting jointly, unanimously determined that Dr. Dhalla was in breach of 10 violations of the National Leadership Rules, Leadership Vote Rules, and the Leadership Expense Rules,” the Liberal Party of Canada said in a statement on Feb. 21.
“The violations include concerns about alleged violations of the Canada Elections Act, certain other election finance matters, non-disclosure of material facts, and inaccurate financial reporting.”
The party said the decision followed “an extensive process and review,” and that the Leadership Vote Committee determined that the violations were “extremely serious.”
Dhalla said in a statement that the allegations are false and that she’s being targeted by the “establishment.”
“This decision is both shocking and deeply disappointing, especially since it was leaked to the media,” she said, referring to the story first being reported by CBC News earlier on Feb. 21 based on an anonymous source.
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“The tactics used to remove me from this race only confirm what we already knew—our message was resonating, we were winning, and the establishment felt threatened.”
The Epoch Times contacted Dhalla and the Liberal Party for further comment.
Dhalla had said earlier that a “fabricated violation” she faced was that donors contributed $21,000 to her campaign instead of using the appropriate link to send the funds to the party first. She said her campaign refunded those donations and that there was no violation of the rules.
Dhalla also said during an earlier CPAC interview that a few donors had donated using the same credit card, and that this was allowed.
Dhalla also added on X that a husband and wife had used their joint-account credit card to make two donations, which was “entirely legal.” She said these donations had been withheld while they completed attestations, which were then submitted to Elections Canada.
Dhalla had also rejected allegations, which were detailed through reporting by The Globe and Mail, that her campaign was contacted by the Liberal Party regarding possible foreign interference in her leadership campaign from the Indian government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
That article also alleged that there had been backroom involvement in her campaign from Brampton Mayor and former Conservative MP Patrick Brown. In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, Brown said he’d had “no involvement” in Dhalla’s campaign, and that he had turned down several Liberal leadership candidates’ requests for support in order to focus on his city.
Dhalla had also rejected the allegations of foreign interference, and suggested she was being targeted because of her status as an “outsider” in the Liberal leadership race.
The other candidates in the race are former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, former Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Liberal MP Karina Gould, and former Liberal MP Frank Baylis.
The Liberal Party also disqualified Liberal MP Chandra Arya from the leadership race in January for undisclosed reasons.
Dhalla formerly served as a Liberal MP in the riding of Brampton-Springdale from 2004 to 2011, before being defeated by a Conservative candidate. She is currently the CEO of the Dhalla Group.
The voting process for the Liberal leadership race is set to open on Feb. 26, and the race will finish on March 9.
Leadership candidates will take part in English and French debates next week.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
