Liberals questioning Ruby Dhalla campaign over $21K in donations

Liberal leadership candidate Ruby Dhalla is denying any wrongdoing as the party withholds $21,000 in contributions to her campaign.

The funds are being held as the party probes whether 12 of Dhalla’s donors surpassed maximum contribution amounts.

“When multiple maximum donations are processed on the same credit card, the party reaches out to those donors directly to confirm that these donations were made on the credit card issued from a joint bank account held in the names of both co-donors,” the Liberal Party said in a statement to CBC News.

Under Canadian election law, couples are allowed to make separate donations using the same credit card.

On Tuesday, Elections Canada published the donation data it received from the party over the course of its leadership race so far. 

It showed Dhalla trailing the field behind the four other contestants, with $144,880 amassed from 109 contributors.

However, Elections Canada also published a list of 12 donations under a tab called “Statement of Contributions returned to Contributors or Remitted to the Chief Electoral Officer.” 

Of the 12 names on the list, three pairs share the same last name and postal code. All 12 have $1,750 associated with their names, the maximum amount permissible by law.

Dhalla campaign says all documents provided to party

In an initial statement, Dhalla’s campaign told CBC News it was “unable to collect the funds of $21,000,” and that “some additional attestation paperwork is required from the contributors.”

The campaign said the party had sent attestation forms to the donors and would be making a decision “upon receipt of the paperwork” whether to release the money to Dhalla’s team or refund it to the contributors.

The campaign then said it had provided the Liberals “with all requested information including all necessary documents.”

But in a later email responding to further questions from CBC News, the campaign provided multiple explanations for the held donations.

Dhalla spokesperson Jacy Lafontaine said that “six couples donated using the same credit card” and the party did not provide the required attestation forms at the time of donation.

“As a result, an attestation form was [later] sent to the six couples to confirm that each donation was made by an individual,” she said.

But Lafontaine also said the remittance occurred because donors “mistakenly used the donation link on the campaign’s website instead of the official Liberal Party link.”

She said the party required using its site for donations after a certain date, but some donors were unaware of the change.

“Once this error was identified, the contributions were refunded and the donors were subsequently directed to use the correct link,” she wrote.

The party said the requirement to complete attestation forms is standard procedure, and they have done this for “every election campaign.”

Of the other contestants, Mark Carney and Frank Baylis each had one contributor listed under the same Elections Canada tab, and Karina Gould had three. 

Dhalla, party deny foreign interference allegations

In a story published on Thursday morning, The Globe and Mail reported Liberal Party lawyers were questioning Dhalla over alleged foreign interference, citing confidential sources.

Both the Party and Dhalla deny this is the case. 

“The allegations are shocking, false and completely baseless,” Lafontaine wrote.  

“Dr. Dhalla, a proud Canadian born and raised in Winnipeg, is being unfairly targeted simply because of her Indian heritage. This is a deliberate attempt to smear her record and distract from the real issues affecting Canadians.”

Liberal Party spokesperson Parker Lund told CBC News in a statment that “none of the questions put to Dr. Dhalla’s campaign relate to interference by a foreign government.”

A former Liberal MP first elected in 2004, Dhalla lost her re-election bid in 2011.

During her years away from Parliament, her social media activity showed her to be active in Indian politics, including in helping Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in state legislature elections in 2017.

She has also repeatedly posted on social media about him and his party, and visited Modi as part of a Sikh delegation in 2022.

However, her posts predate Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s September 2023 allegations that Modi’s government has ties to the assassination of a Sikh activist in British Columbia, and the subsequent fraying of ties between Ottawa and New Delhi.

Modi’s government has denied those accusations.

In a statement to CBC News, Dhalla’s spokesperson Lafontaine did not directly answer a question about whether her past support of Modi came up during her vetting process for the leadership contest, but said the candidate’s “priority is Canada and Canadians. Her policies and vision are entirely focused on putting Canada first.” 

She added that “her heritage should never be misconstrued as a link to foreign interference. There are absolutely no ties to the Modi government — her record and commitment to Canada speak for themselves.”