Disqualified Liberal leadership candidate Ruby Dhalla is demanding a refund for the $350,000 she raised during her campaign before the Liberals decided to push her out of the race.
Dhalla was expelled from the leadership race after the party cited 12 allegations of campaign misconduct, including claims she accepted corporate donations disguised as payments to campaign staff.
She was also accused of failing to disclose a non-Canadian citizen’s involvement in her campaign–an issue the party argued could amount to foreign interference had it taken place during an election period.
Dhalla denied the allegations, calling them “fabricated, fictitious, and fake and yet another attempt by unknown sources to have me removed from the debate and the ballot.”
She filed an appeal against her disqualification last month, claiming the party’s decision was a calculated move to clear the path for establishment favourite and the eventual victor Mark Carney.
“They only want to talk about diversity. They only want to talk about representation of women,” said Dhalla in a video she posted to X. “But when it comes down to it, they want to silence you and they want to disqualify you.”
Dhalla’s appeal was ultimately rejected by the Liberal party’s vote committee on Feb. 24, with officials alleging she had violated multiple rules.
“The Committee reviewed Dr. Dhalla’s appeal to the decision of the Leadership Vote Committee and the Leadership Expense Committee that on Friday unanimously determined that Dr. Dhalla was in breach of 10 violations of the National Leadership Rules, Leadership Vote Rules, and the Leadership Expense Rules,” said the party’s national director Azam Ishmael at the time.
Dhalla claimed that with “only 150,000 out of 400,000 eligible members” voting in the leadership race, it was a “clear” indication that the Liberal party “felt threatened” by her candidacy and “did everything in its power to keep her off “the debate stage and off the ballot.”
“Imagine the outcome if the remaining 250,000 registered Liberals had voted,” she said.
Prior to her disqualification, Dhalla had requested a translator for the French leadership debate as she is not fluent in the language but was denied and only permitted to participate in the English debate. She was disqualified before the debate took place.
Dhalla is now demanding that the party refund her the $350,000 that she raised during her campaign, saying it was not meant to fill the “piggy bank” of the Liberal party.