As Canadians count down the days until a new Liberal party leader is chosen and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigns, many on X are exposing vulnerabilities in the Liberal Party of Canada’s registration process.
A Conservative leadership election committee chair and Elections Canada have expressed concerns with the membership rules that open the Liberal party up to foreign interference ahead of the first federal leadership race.
Now, several X users are registering under fake aliases, such as their dogs, and using fake addresses, including the Prime Minister’s residence and Chinese consulate buildings.
According to the rules governing membership registration Liberals, voters do not need to be Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
“SCHEDULE A Qualifications for Registration Registration in the Liberal Party of Canada is open without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age or physical disability,” it says.
To be eligible to register for the party, a person must be at least 14 years old and “support the purposes of the party.” For those currently in Canada, the party requires individuals to “ordinarily live in Canada.”
David Portier, a self-identified “prospective candidate for the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada,” said he was able to register to vote while using a European internet connection and a fake name and registered his address as 24 Sussex Drive, the official residence of the Prime Minister of Canada.
Alex Brown, an author, said he used the address of the Chinese consulate in Ottawa to vote, telling others to do the same in the hope of fixing the system before voting begins.
“And just like that, Xi Jinping was signed up to vote in the Liberal leadership race,” he said. “This is too easy, even by the low standards of repeated traitors to Canada.”
Author and independent journalist Dahlia Kurtz said she registered her deceased dog to vote and joked about doing it again using various names she called him.
“I just registered my dearly departed dog Fozzie Bear to vote in the Liberal leadership election. Yes, Fozzie Bear will vote for the next prime minister of Canada,” she said in a post on X. “Imagine if I sign him up to vote with all the names I called him. Fozzie Bear will change history!”
Others have raised concerns about these vulnerabilities as well, including Toronto Sun columnist Brian Lilley and former Conservative MP Derek Sloan, the leader of the provincial Ontario Party.
“Believe it or not…Liberal Party rules mean people who can’t vote in a general election will be choosing Canada’s next prime minister,” Lilley said in a post on X. “Teenagers from China. Senior citizens from India. This is ripe for all kinds of foreign interference. Insane.”
Though a date for the leadership race is yet to be announced, Governor General Mary Simon granted Trudeau’s request to prorogue the government until March 24 to give time for the Liberal Party to choose a new leader.
As parliament cannot vote a non-confidence motion during prorogation, whoever wins the Liberal leadership race will likely become Canada’s next prime minister without a general election being called.