The Liberal Party of Canada is withholding $21,000 in campaign contributions to leadership candidate Ruby Dhalla while it investigates whether 12 donors surpassed maximum contribution limits.
The party is probing donations made on shared credit cards, with Elections Canada data showing 12 contributors each donated the maximum allowable amount of $1,750. Three pairs of donors share the same last names and postal codes.
Dhalla’s campaign provided multiple explanations for the held funds. Initially, the campaign cited missing attestation forms for six couples who donated using the same credit card. In a subsequent explanation, they attributed the issue to donors mistakenly using the campaign website instead of the required party donation portal.
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The former MP trails other leadership contestants in fundraising, having collected $144,880 from 109 contributors according to Elections Canada’s published data.
In a separate development, The Globe and Mail reported Thursday morning that Liberal Party lawyers were questioning Dhalla over alleged foreign interference, citing confidential sources. Both Dhalla and the Liberal Party firmly denied these allegations, with party spokesperson Parker Lund stating none of their inquiries relate to foreign government interference.
Dhalla, who served as MP from 2004 until 2011, had previously shown support for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party, including assistance with state elections in 2017 and meeting Modi in 2022. These activities came before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s September 2023 allegations about Modi’s government.
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