Ruby Dhalla disqualified from Liberal leadership race

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OTTAWA — Two Liberal leadership committees unanimously decided to disqualify former MP Ruby Dhalla in the race to become leader of the party on Friday, alleging that she breached no less than 10 violations of the rules of the race including inaccurate financial reporting.

The party’s national director, Azam Ishmael, said in a statement that the decision followed “an extensive process and review” including interviews, questionnaires, and an opportunity for Dhalla to directly address the concerns to the committee members.

“After a thorough investigation, the Leadership Vote Committee and the Leadership Expense Committee, sitting jointly, unanimously determined that Dr. Dhalla was in (violation) of 10… of the National Leadership Rules, Leadership Vote Rules, and the Leadership Expense Rules,” Ishmael said.

“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,” he continued, adding that violations were “extremely serious.”

Dhalla dismissed the allegations against her as “baseless” and claimed they were an attack on her ethnic origin.

“I will not allow my campaign to be tarred with baseless allegations of foreign interference because of my Indian heritage and being the daughter of an immigrant,” she wrote on social media. “These types of comments are a direct attack on all immigrants, which I will not allow.”

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Her disqualification occurred just days after Dhalla successfully met the race’s deadline to pay the full amount of $350,000 in donations to stay in the leadership race. It is also happening before the party is set to hold its debates in both official languages early next week. Dhalla asked for translation for the French debate, which was refused by the party, before asking for a personal translator, but she said this week the party had not responded to that request.

In a press release, Dhalla’s team said the allegations were made to “complete Mark Carney’s coronation” and that she was “the only candidate running neck and neck with him in the polls.”

“It is evident that the Liberal Party did not want Ruby, the only candidate who could challenge Carney in the debates, win the race, and become Leader and Canada’s next Prime Minister,” the release said.

Multiple polls have suggested that Mark Carney is by far the front-runner in the leadership race. He has also led the race in fundraising, with campaign data released by Elections Canada showing that Carney had raised $1.9 million as of Feb. 9. Dhalla came in last out of all the candidates, raising $144,880.

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Dhalla said in a statement that the “corruption and bias” of the Liberal Party would not be forgotten.

“When the Prime Minister handpicked Mark Carney as his successor, we knew this would be an uphill battle,” Dhalla said. “But today proves this was never a fair race — it was a sham from the beginning.”

Dhalla, who served as Liberal MP from 2004 to 2011, is no stranger to controversy.

She was forced to resign as the Liberals’ multiculturalism critic in 2009 because of allegations of mistreatment towards two caregivers she hired to take care of her aging mother. Dhalla has always claimed the allegations were false and unsubstituted but ended up paying a settlement to one of them for unpaid overtime.

With Dhalla out of the Liberal leadership race, that means there are four contenders left: Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland, Karina Gould and Frank Baylis.

National Post, with additional reporting from The Canadian Press
calevesque@postmedia.com

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