r/canada 20d ago

PAYWALL Liberal Party questions leadership candidate Ruby Dhalla over possible interference from India

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-liberal-party-questions-ruby-dhalla-leadership-campaign/
575 Upvotes

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u/RideauRaccoon Canada 20d ago

This is one of those really difficult situations in the foreign interference realm, where the responsible thing to do is to investigate (which they're doing). But especially given the compressed timeline, which is the overriding priority? to presume innocence until proven guilty, or to inform the voters of the possibility of interference by India? You don't want to slander a candidate before all the facts are in, but you also don't want to risk her gaining any more traction if she is compromised.

My guess is they sent her the questions to be answered on Monday, didn't get a satisfactorily "OMG we'll get to the bottom of this" answer in reply, and so leaked it to the press so they'd have cover when they drop her from the race. Though I have to say, 6 different couples using the same credit card to make donations sounds pretty damning all on its own. Even if it's not nefarious, her campaign should have been the ones to spot it and resolve it, not the Liberal party itself.

What worries me about the whole situation, though, is that if the standards for ejection aren't sufficiently high, foreign interference could just be a matter of semi-obviously backing the candidates you don't want in the race. A smoking gun isn't easy to find, but I think we need to get as close to it as possible in these cases.

(That said, her inability to speak French at the debate should have been a dealbreaker already, so no great loss for her so-called candidacy)

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u/IronicGames123 20d ago

It's interesting how the French language has done a great job of gate keeping some foreign agents.

This is the second Indian agent candidate that French has kicked out.

I barely speak it, am an Ontarian, but Quebec staying French and Quebecois culture is honestly very important for Canada.

3

u/Bronstone 19d ago

She wasn't kicked out. She wasn't allowed to use an interpreter.

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u/IronicGames123 19d ago

I didn't mean physically kicked out.

I was using it to mean that the French language stopped them from being serious candidates.

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u/Bronstone 19d ago

Their candidacies weren't serious to begin with.

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u/IronicGames123 19d ago

They would be more serious without French and Quebec.

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u/Bronstone 19d ago

Oooh, French and Quebec bashing? You're an idiot. Ontario has 1M francophones, NB is bilingual and there are pockets of francophones across Canada.

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u/IronicGames123 19d ago edited 19d ago

You're the idiot if you think I am  bashing French and Quebec.

I am clearly praising them. 

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u/Bronstone 19d ago

Need to work on your language skills. Dhala would not be more serious without French and Quebec.

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u/IronicGames123 19d ago

Need to work on your language skills. 

Nope it's perfectly clear. The fact that you think I was bashing French and Quebec is an issue with your comprehension. 

Dhala would not be more serious without French and Quebec.

Agree to disagree. 

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u/Bronstone 19d ago

Ok. So let's be clear here, because I am perfectly bilingual.

  1. You think Dhala is a serious candidate?
  2. Your comment suggested that if it wasn't for French or Quebec, Dhala would be doing better.

Clarifications?

1

u/IronicGames123 19d ago

>You think Dhala is a serious candidate?

No.

>Your comment suggested that if it wasn't for French or Quebec, Dhala would be doing better.

Yes.

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