Ruby Dhalla disqualified from Liberal leadership race after ‘extremely serious’ violations

The shortlist of candidates to become the next prime minister and Liberal Party of Canada leader got even shorter on Friday after Ruby Dhalla was disqualified from the race.

According to the party, the decision to disqualify Dhalla was made unanimously and came after an extensive process that included interviews, questionnaires and an opportunity for Dhalla to address the party’s committees looking into the matter.

“After a thorough investigation, the leadership vote committee and the leadership expense committee, sitting jointly, 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 Azam Ishmael, Liberal Party of Canada national director, in a statement.

“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.”

The former MP posted on social media Friday afternoon that this decision by the party was “shocking” and “deeply disappointing.”

“The allegations that the party have used against me are false and fabricated,” wrote Dhalla.

“The tactics used to remove me from this race only confirm what we already knew — our message was resonating, we were winning and the establishment felt threatened.”

Ishmael’s statement added that the leadership vote committee determined that the violations by Dhalla were extremely serious and the decision to disqualify her was recommended by the chief electoral officer.

With Dhalla’s disqualification, the remaining candidates include Frank Baylis, Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland and Karina Gould.

Advance voting begins on Feb. 26 and will run until March 9, when the main vote will occur and a winner will be announced that evening.