Liberal leadership candidate Ruby Dhalla disqualified from race

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.
In a statement that was released late on Friday, party national director Azam Ishmael claims that the Liberal Leadership Vote Committee made the decision unanimously. He claims that Dhalla’s campaign committed ten violations of the national leadership, vote, and expense rules after a “thorough investigation.” According to him, these include alleged violations of the Canada Elections Act, including inaccurate financial reporting, not disclosing “material facts,” and other election finance violations. The committee determined the violations were “extremely serious,” Ishmael added.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.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 that a couple used their joint credit card to make donations for both the husband and wife in six of the hundreds of donations. “This is entirely LEGAL,” she posted.
Another “fabricated violation,” according to her, was that donors gave $21,000 directly to her campaign rather than using the required custom link, which sends the money first to the party. “The campaign refunded the donations and asked the donors to resubmit them via the customized link,” she said. “These contributions were estimated at $21,000. There was no violation here. Yet another false, fabricated, and fake claim made to prevent me from voting. In his statement Ishmael said the investigation was extensive, including “interviews, questionnaires and an opportunity for Dr. Dhalla will speak directly to the committees. By the deadline earlier this week, Dhalla had paid the entire $350,000 entry fee to the party, $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.
On Monday, they will square off in a debate in Montreal in French, followed by a debate in English on Tuesday. The party selects its next leader on March 9.