No evidence of election law breaches in former Liberal MP Han Dong's nomination race, watchdog says

Calgary Herald

a day ago

In a document submitted to the foreign interference inquiry last year, the commissioner's office said it was investigating five potential contraventions including voter intimidation, inducing others to vote outside of their electoral district and illegal electoral donations by an ineligible donor.
Verriere said the office looked into multiple potential CEA breaches but found that the evidence to support them was either non-existent or insufficient.
'To take formal compliance or enforcement action, the Commissioner must have tangible evidence to substantiate allegations of wrongdoing,' commissioner spokesperson Pierre Verriere said in a statement.
'Following our assessment of the allegations against potential CEA contraventions, we found either no evidence to support formal enforcement action or insufficient evidence, depending on the provision in question,' he added.
But as it was highlighted repeatedly throughout the Foreign Interference Inquiry last year, the commissioner's oversight power during party nomination races is very limited.
She told inquiry staff that her mandate during internal party elections is limited to political financing and that it would be a major resource challenge for her to have to oversee every nomination race for all 343 federal ridings.
She also noted that she does not have the mandate nor the ability to verify intelligence, which was the basis for most of the allegations in Don Valley North.
Dong, who stepped away from Liberal caucus after a string of media stories regarding these allegations in 2023 and did not run in the 2025 election, has always denied any wrongdoing. In June, he settled a two-year defamation lawsuit with Global News.
He told National Post on Tuesday that he was not aware that the commissioner's investigation was closed until National Post reached out to him for comment.
'I have always said that I have always followed the election rules. Unfortunately, my family, my team and I have suffered irreversible harm,' Dong said in a text message.
'I remain hopeful that this conclusion of Commissioner Simard's investigation will bring DVN electors, especially Liberals, full closure and restore public confidence in our democratic process and institutions.'
The other review into foreign interference Simard discussed during the public inquiry was into allegations of Chinese interference against Conservative candidate Kenny Chiu during the 2021 federal election in the B.C. riding of Steveston–Richmond East.
During her testimony in front of the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference (PIFI) last year, Simard said her office had already concluded there was insufficient evidence to support charges of 'undue foreign influence' or any other breaches of the CRA.
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