Liberal The
Parliament of Canada's
Ethics Commissioner,
Mario Dion, found that Trudeau improperly influenced then
Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in an ongoing criminal case against Quebec-based construction company
SNC-Lavalin. The
Trudeau government has maintained that there was no undue pressure or law broken, that offering SNC-Lavalin a
deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) could save jobs, and that the controversy resulted from a misunderstanding and an "erosion of trust".
The affair became public in February 2019, shortly after Wilson-Raybould had been shuffled to another cabinet position. Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet later that day. This was followed by the resignation of cabinet minister
Jane Philpott, over the government's handling of the affair. In April, Wilson-Raybould and Philpott were expelled by Trudeau from the Liberal caucus; Trudeau cited concerns for division in and subsequent weakening of the Liberal party. On April 2, 2019, Wilson-Raybould, as Liberal candidate for
Vancouver Granville, and Philpott, as Liberal candidate for
Markham—Stouffville, were deselected as candidates. In late August, Party deputy leader
Ralph Goodale, Liberal candidate for
Regina—Wascana,
Lawrence MacAulay, candidate for
Cardigan, and
Francis Scarpaleggia, candidate for
Lac-Saint-Louis, were singled out for their opposition to
same-sex marriage. Pundits argued that Goodale was being hypocritical, due to his role with Scheer and the same-sex marriage incident. Goodale later stated that he had evolved on the position and wanted answers from Scheer. On August 30, Hassan Guillet, Liberal candidate for
Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, was dropped as a candidate following allegations of anti-Semitic comments from
B'nai B'rith. Guillet's nomination previously raised concern that his ethnicity would be out of place in the majority Italian riding. Guillet denied the allegation, alleged that the Liberals were aware of the post, and that they "imposed" his replacement
Patricia Lattanzio, on the riding. On September 20, Guillet announced he would run as an independent. Sameer Zuberi, Liberal candidate for
Pierrefonds—Dollard, was nominated on September 15, despite questioning Osama bin Laden's involvement in 9/11 in a social media post. Zuberi called the accusations false saying it was an attempt by the Conservatives to deflect attention away from their own candidates with extremist or white supremacist leanings. On September 18, ''L'Express of Drummondville'' reported that the Liberal candidate for
Drummond, William Morales' nomination victory was attended by two convicted criminals. Morales said that while he maintains contact with Spanish-speaking members from the Drummondville community the two people were not involved in his campaign and he does not have close relations with them. He later told his local newspaper that he interacts with members regardless of their background. On September 18, Trudeau attracted controversy for a photograph published in
Time magazine, in which he wore
brownface makeup to a party at
West Point Grey Academy, where he was a teacher, in 2001. Trudeau called it a mistake and apologized publicly for it. When apologizing, Trudeau also confessed to having worn similar makeup in high-school. Following his apology, an earlier instance from the early 1990s of Trudeau wearing blackface makeup was uncovered. He also said that it should not be called "makeup" but blackface. Some commentators labelled this hypocritical, since the Liberals had exposed the past misdeeds of some Conservative candidates. Trudeau drew a mixed reaction from the public. Some were upset and contemplated changing their vote, Later, Trudeau announced that he wanted to apologize personally to Jagmeet Singh, who replied that he would only meet Trudeau for an apology if it was "politics-free" and private. Following the announcement, Singh received a call from Trudeau on September 24, and they talked privately for 15 to 20 minutes. In the days following the scandal, pollsters pointed out that the majority of Canadians either were not bothered by the scandal or had accepted Trudeau's apology. On September 23, Del Arnold, Liberal candidate for
Calgary Shepard, apologized to Conservative rival
Tom Kmiec after spreading misleading information about his place of residence. Arnold has not apologized for a deleted tweet that accused Andrew Scheer of having links to "white supremacy" and the 2017
Unite the Right rally in Virginia. On September 28,
Judy Sgro, Liberal candidate for
Humber River—Black Creek, made remarks during an interview with a radio network called GBKM FM defending Trudeau's wearing of brownface/blackface makeup: "Those in the black community have told me how much more love they have for the prime minister, that he wanted to have a black face. That he took great pride in that, too". She later apologized for her remarks, saying that "the comments I made on GBKM FM were insensitive," and further adding "I should have known better, and I apologize". On October 13, due to a security threat, Trudeau appeared 90 minutes late to a campaign rally. Trudeau took extraordinary security precautions at the event. He wore a bulletproof vest and was surrounded by heavily armed security personnel. His wife was also supposed to introduce him, but she did not appear on stage. The Liberal Party did not reveal the nature of the threat. Scheer and Singh both showed concern for Trudeau following the threat. The following day, the RCMP was still with the Liberal leader. Furthermore, Trudeau explained that he followed advice from the RCMP and that this event will not change the way he campaigns. On October 14, Trudeau dodged multiple questions about a possible coalition with the NDP in a minority scenario. He responded that he remains focused on winning a majority.
Conservative About one year after he assumed office, polling showed that Ontario Premier
Doug Ford of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario was deeply unpopular—in some cases even less popular than previous Ontario Liberal Party Premier
Kathleen Wynne when she lost power, which could have deterred voters from voting for Scheer. This worried CPC insiders and prompted the
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario to call an extended recess of the provincial legislature to reduce negative news coverage, in order to help the federal Tories. Meanwhile, the Liberals and Scheer's opponents tried to capitalize on Ford's unpopularity by linking Scheer to the Premier multiple times. Several CPC candidates were dropped leading to and during the course of the campaign. On April 25, Harzadan Khattra, the candidate for
Dufferin—Caledon, was disqualified after a fellow contestant sent the party verifiable information about "membership buying, improper voting, and other concerns". On June 28,
Salim Mansur, the candidate for
London North Centre, was disqualified over alleged fears that the Liberals would characterize Mansur's record as Islamophobic. On July 10, Mark King, the candidate for
Nipissing—Timiskaming, was stripped of his nomination for disputed reasons. On September 12, Cameron Ogilvie, Conservative candidate for
Winnipeg North, resigned as a candidate after the party became aware of withheld social media post which the Conservative Party described as "discriminatory". On October 4, the party announced that Heather Leung, the candidate for
Burnaby North—Seymour, was dropped as reports surfaced of her making anti-LGBTQ comments in a video from 2011. Due to the deadline for naming candidates having passed, her name remained on the ballot. Questions were raised as to why it took the party so long to remove her, since she was "a known commodity" when she was nominated. She had made anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion comments in the past and ignored the media for months. Her riding association had also been criticized for their controversial social media posts. On July 10, Cyma Musarat, Conservative candidate for
Pickering—Uxbridge, faced an allegation from fellow party members that she won her nomination by using improper voting procedures. The Conservative Party faced an accusation that its headquarters had been delaying the nomination contest to find a different candidate. From July 24 to September 15, Ghada Melek attracted attention. This conservative candidate for
Mississauga—Streetsville, was revealed by former organizers of the
Ontario Progressive Conservative Party to have been rejected as a candidate in the
provincial riding over
Twitter posts about Muslim extremism.
National Council of Canadian Muslims had issues over Melek's Twitter posts about Islam and LGBT+ community. Scheer accepted an apology she issued for her comments. Later, CTV News obtained her provincial vetting report and her promotion of conspiracy theories was seen as another factor behind her disqualification. When asked about the provincial party red-flagging Melek, Scheer defended her again. On August 22, Scheer faced questions over a 2005 online video in which he spoke against same-sex marriage Scheer himself did not respond until a press conference a week later where he argued that Trudeau was raising a wedge issue; Several pundits had an issue with his response. Weeks later, Scheer was asked if he needed to apologize for his comments giving the standards he set for his candidates; however he gave no response. After Trudeau's apology regarding blackface, Scheer was asked again if he should apologize for his words; he gave no response. Scheer once again chose to not answer the question directly on popular Quebec talk show . He said that he supports the law and the rights of Canadians, but that he will not walk in Pride parades. Between August 26 and 30, the Conservatives were questioned on abortion.
Alain Rayes, Scheer's
Quebec lieutenant, attracted attention after he told a Quebec radio station that he misspoke on the party stance on abortion. A few days later, Scheer held a press conference, where he addressed the issue. However, his answers were seen as confusing in the media, and anti-abortion activists found his answers to be mixed-messaging. A day later, Scheer said that he and his cabinet would vote against anti-abortion bills if the debate is re-opened. Scheer reiterated this statement on
Tout le monde en parle. On September 12, Rachel Wilson, Conservative candidate for
York Centre, attracted attention after a video was posted online that called for pro-life legislation. Wilson did not comment when asked about abortion legislation. On September 13, Arpan Khanna, Conservative candidate for
Brampton North, apologized after it was revealed that he offhandedly used the slur "
fag" to tease a friend. She departed a campaign event when confronted by reporters, but later released a statement apologizing for her comments and later stated that her relationship with Goldy ended a longtime ago. However, there were pictures of the two together in 2017—one of them featured Goldy doing the "
OK sign". Conservative campaign manager Hamish Marshall's past role as a director of
Rebel Media was also questioned, since Goldy was an on-screen personality before being fired. On October 7, the Canadian Press discovered that McCaffrey was a member of the controversial religious group
Opus Dei. The CPC's spokesperson responded by saying that they do not question their candidates about their personal religious beliefs. On September 28,
The Globe and Mail revealed that they found no record of Scheer receiving the licence required by law to work as an insurance agent or broker in Saskatchewan despite him claiming so in the past.
Robert Fife, the Ottawa bureau chief for
The Globe and Mail, explained that Scheer was an insurance clerk. Scheer responded by saying that he did receive his accreditation, but that he left the insurance office before the licensing process was finalized. Later, the Insurance Brokers Association of Saskatchewan said that Scheer completed just one of four required courses to become an insurance broker. The IBAS declined to comment further and said that a formal complaint had been launched by Liberal MP
Marco Mendicino to the General Insurance Council of Saskatchewan. On October 3,
The Globe and Mail revealed that Scheer had
dual Canadian and American citizenship. The latter was obtained through his American-born father. He began the process of
renouncing his US citizenship in August. Scheer confirmed that he has filed US tax returns. A party spokesperson added that he let his US passport lapse and that he has not voted in any U.S. election. The party verified that he is registered for
the draft under the U.S.
Selective Service System, which is a list of individuals who can be conscripted into the armed forces in the event of a national emergency. When asked why he had not previously disclosed his dual citizenship, Scheer stated that he had never been asked about it. It was seen as hypocritical since Scheer had attacked former Governor General
Michaëlle Jean on this same issue and because the Conservatives had attacked
Thomas Mulcair and
Stéphane Dion on this issue. Scheer defended the former by stating that he was asking a question to his constituents and said that he was not leading the party at the time when it came to the latter situation. Over the next days, he refused to explain how he traveled to the United States without a valid U.S. passport. It is against the law for U.S. citizens to do so without a valid U.S. passport. On October 11, the CBC filed an application in the Federal Court of Canada against the Conservative party over the use of television excerpts in partisan advertising. They claimed the party's use of excerpts violated the "moral rights" of news anchor Rosemary Barton and reporter John Paul Tasker. The action was brought despite the material having been taken down from websites and deleted from Twitter. The CBC said that it was given no reassurance that such use would not be repeated. The lawsuit says that the use of the material in a partisan way "diminishes the reputation" of the CBC and leaves it open to allegations that it is biased. On October 14, Scheer ruled out any coalition or negotiations with the Bloc Québécois. He said that he "does not need to work with the Bloc Québécois to deliver results for Quebec" and that he can work with Quebec Premier François Legault to deliver them. A day later, he stood by his claim and added that is what has happened in modern history. Journalists pointed out that it was not the case and gave examples such as the
2018 New Brunswick general election and the
2017 British Columbia general election. On October 18 and 19,
The Globe and Mail and CBC News revealed that the Conservative Party hired
Warren Kinsella to "seek and destroy" the People's Party. Bernier filed a complaint to Elections Canada over what he called "a secret campaign to smear his party". Scheer did not say or deny that the Conservatives hired a consultant to destroy the PPC.
New Democratic Party NDP candidates were dropped or stepped down during the course of the campaign. On June 20, Rana Zaman, candidate for
Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, was dropped over comments about the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict that the party deemed "unacceptable". On August 16,
Pierre Nantel, candidate for
Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, was de-selected after reports surfaced of ongoing discussions regarding Nantel joining the
Green Party of Canada. On September 11, Dock Currie, candidate for
Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo, was forced to resign over "flippant and aggressive" comments he made toward pro-pipeline activists. The next day, Olivier Mathieu, candidate for
Lasalle-Emard-Verdun, stepped down following allegations of physical abuse against his ex-spouse. During the election, Jagmeet Singh has faced questions about wearing of a turban and whether that would reduce the number of people who would vote for him. Jonathan Richardson, the former federal NDP's executive member for Atlantic Canada, who defected to the
Green Party, stated in an interview with
CBC Radio, that some potential NDP candidates were hesitant to run in New Brunswick, due to Singh's turban.
CTV News covered a Singh event in
Verner, Ontario and spoke to a number of voters there, including NDP supporters, who said that they would not vote for a leader wearing a turban.
CBC News found a similar reaction in
Ruth Ellen Brosseau's riding. Singh responded to these concerns. He explained some things about his turban and recorded a French ad without it to alleviate people's worries. Furthermore, according to
Alexandre Boulerice, the party's Deputy Leader and
Quebec lieutenant, the NDP is targeting young voters and they do not care about the turban. On October 2, a man told Singh to cut off his turban to look more Canadian during a campaign stop. Singh replied that Canadians "look like all sorts of people" before walking off. During the campaign, Singh talked about what he would do in a minority. On August 22, due to the controversy over Scheer's previous comments about same-sex marriage, he announced that the NDP would not support a Conservative minority government under any circumstances. On September 22, Singh announced that despite Trudeau's past brownface and blackface incidents, he would not rule out working with the Liberals in a minority scenario. On October 10, he laid out the conditions for NDP support in a minority Parliament: a national single-payer universal pharmacare plan, a national dental care plan, investments in housing, a plan to waive interest on student loans, a commitment to reduce emissions, to end subsidies for oil companies and to deliver aid to oilpatch workers to transition them out of fossil fuel industries, the introduction of a "super wealth" tax, a commitment to closing tax loopholes and reducing cellphone bills. He later added that changing the way the country votes is also a condition (Singh's NDP backs a system of
mixed-member proportional representation). He added that he does not rule out supporting a pipeline-owning Liberal minority government. On October 13, Singh said he would "do whatever it takes" to keep the Tories from power, including forming a coalition government with the Liberals. He added that he is "ready to work with anyone", when he was asked about the Bloc. The following day, Singh backed off those comments and urged Canadians to vote NDP in order to receive services like universal pharmacare and dental care. Later, Singh said that coalition is not a dirty word and doubled down on his view that under no circumstance would his party support the Conservatives in a minority.
Bloc Québécois On August 9, André Parizeau, Bloc candidate for
Ahuntsic-Cartierville, created attention over his past communist affiliations as Leader of the Parti communiste du Québec (PCQ). Parizeau disavowed the PCQ in order to be accepted as candidate. In October, the Bloc Québécois called on Quebeckers to vote for candidates "who resemble you" (" des gens qui nous ressemblent ") in the election, prompting NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to denounce the message as unacceptable and divisive. In his closing statement during Wednesday's French-language debate, Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet called on voters to "opt for men and women who resemble you, who share your values, who share your concerns and who work for your interests, and only for the interests of Quebeckers." The Bloc has said the comment has nothing to do with someone's background or religion but with Québécois values. During the English debate, Blanchet called the translation of his words dishonest and mentioned that the same words were used by
Igniatieff in 2011 and
Mulcair in 2015. On October 10,
Le Journal de Montréal discovered that four BQ candidates had made anti-Islam and racist social media posts. A Bloc spokeswoman said it was up to Quebeckers to judge its candidates' social-media posts. Later, the candidates all posted the same apology on their respective social media accounts and Yves-François Blanchet apologized for his candidates' Islamophobic and racist social media posts. On October 13, Blanchet announced that they will not support a coalition or a party in a minority scenario. The Bloc will go issue by issue and support what is best for Quebec.
Green Party Several GPC candidates were dropped or stepped down during the course of the campaign. On July 23, Brock Grills, Green candidate for
Peterborough—Kawartha, stepped down for "personal reasons". Grills was accused of fraud by a former employer but he and the EDA president stated that accusation was not the reason behind his stepping down. Grills, who repeated his reasoning, also mentioned the Green Party central office "pushed" for his resignation because he was reaching out to other parties to ask them to adopt policies to curb climate change. On August 16, Luc Saint-Hilaire, Green candidate for
Lévis—Lotbinière, was forced to resign because of a Facebook post demanding Boufeldja Benabdallah, co-founder of the
Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec, to denounce a man who allegedly lit his ex-wife on fire. On September 12, Erik Schomann, Green candidate for
Simcoe North, resigned over a 2007 Facebook post which appeared to suggest he wanted to mail pieces of a pig carcass to Muslims in support of the protesters during the
Muhammed comic controversy. On October 7, Marthe Lépine, candidate in
Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, was dropped over anti-abortion comments; however, as the party missed the deadline to remove her from the ballot, she remained despite being disavowed. On September 9, the Green Party issued a statement insisting that there is "zero chance" of reopening the abortion debate; few hours after May stated the Green Party will not ban members from trying to reopen abortion debate in an interview. May later added that MPs risk being ousted if they move to reopen the debate. From September 10 to 16, attention was focused on
Pierre Nantel, the candidate for
Longueuil—Saint-Hubert. He created this attention over his comments about
Québec separatism on a Quebec radio station. May disputed that Nantel was a
Quebec sovereigntist, but Nantel contradicted her afterwards. However, May stated he could be still be a candidate. Furthermore, May was asked by the son of the late
Jack Layton to not use the latter for political points when defending Nantel. On September 10, Mark Vercouteren, the candidate for
Chatham-Kent-Leamington, and Macarena Diab, the candidate for
Louis-Hébert were revealed to have made "anti-abortion statements". A spokesperson defended both of them but a few days later, it was revealed by May that Vercoutern was being "re-vetted" over the party not noticing Vercouteren's questionnaires. A week after the original comments were revealed, Vercouteren stated his view aligned with the party. On September 12, Dale Dewar, Green candidate for
Regina—Qu'Appelle, apologized for making past negative comments on social media about Israel,
Zionism and
Israelis. On October 15, the Green Party found anti-Islam social-media posts by four of its Quebec candidates. Starting on September 23, the GPC drew scrutiny around the world for manipulating a picture of Elizabeth May to make it seem as if she was using a reusable cup and metal straw instead of a disposable cup. When she was on , May clarified that the original photo featured a compostable cup; the picture was modified to add the GPC's logo. She did admit that it was ridiculous that a staffer modified the picture. Leading up to and during the campaign, May talked about what she would do in a minority. On September 3, she announced that she would not be prepared to prop up any minority government of the major parties given current climate plans. Later, on September 26, May announced that the GPC would not prop up a minority government that moves forward with the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. In the final week of the campaign, the idea of a coalition took hold. May said that in countries with
proportional representation, parties can plan to govern together before the election, but that in Canada such talk is "meaningless" due to the
first-past-the-post system.
People's Party In February 2019, LaPresse discovered that Martin Masse, the PPC's spokesperson, had written controversial blog posts in the past.
The Star discovered that four members of the PPC had used racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric. They were removed from the party as a result. Bernier responded to this by saying racists are not welcome in his party and acknowledging that Canada is a diverse country. Bernier told the media that everyone is welcome at his events, that he is unaware of their views, that he would condemn them if the media could show that they were racists and that racists were not welcome in his party, but experts were skeptical of Bernier and thought that he was well aware of who was attending. On September 23, news sites revealed that one of the PPC's founding members was a
White nationalist and two others had ties to
Anti-immigration groups. One of those founding members—a former American neo-Nazi leader—was volunteering for the party. He was also a member of the
Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. He was removed from the party on August 29, after his past came to light. The PPC's spokesperson said that it did not come up during the vetting process since he came from the US. They later cited to
Global News that his removal was an example of the Party taking a stand against racism. The party told
Le Devoir that they did not have enough resources to vet them at the beginning of the PPC 's formation and the two other members denied having racist views. On July 30, Cody Payant, People's candidate for
Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, attracted attention for a social media post defending
Lindsay Shepherd. Payant argue that it was taken out of context. Bernier defended Payant after he spoke to Payant and was satisfied with his explanation. On September 2, Maxime Bernier called
Greta Thunberg "mentally unstable" on Twitter. A few days later, he backtracked his comments stating his intention was to criticize her role as "a spokesperson for
climate alarmism" and did not mean to denigrate her. After the campaign, Bernier classified these comments as his only election regret and as a mistake. On September 18,
Steven Fletcher, People's candidate for
Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, denied allegations for illegally using campaign signs and voter data from the Conservative Party. Fletcher also suggested that the move was political motivated from the Conservative and took issues to the fact that the letter was leaked online. On September 19, 2019, Nancy Mercier, People's candidate for
Beauséjour, raised concern from local organizations over comments about
Islamism and
immigration Mercier indicated her concerns are with Islamic terrorism and not members of any race. On October 10, Sybil Hogg, the candidate for Sackville-Preston-Chezzetcook, came under fire for a series of
anti-Islam tweets calling Islam "pure evil" and for the religion to be banned in Canada. The PPC's executive director reached out to her to understand the context and Hogg explained that she failed to draw the distinction between "Islam" and "Islamism" or "radical Islam". She added that her concern was radical Islam and not Islam. Due to the response, the PPC said they would not take action against her. Later, Bernier called the tweets "absolutely racist and Islamophobic" and confirmed that she will not face consequences. Several candidates were dropped or stepped down before the election. On September 6, Ken Pereira, People's candidate for
Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, stepped down because of a "terrible family tragedy". When announced as the candidate, Pereira had attracted attention for his online "anti-vaccine" and "pro-conspiracy theory" posts and was defended by the party. On September 12, Brian Misera, People's candidate for
Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, claimed that he was removed for asking Bernier to denounce racism more clearly in an online video posted on Misera's Twitter account. However, the PPC stated that Misera was removed after he allegedly admitted to the party that he was his own financial agent, a violation of
Elections Canada rules. Yet a statement of Misera's disqualification obtained by City News made no reference to the PPC's claim or Misera's claim. On September 30, Chad Hudson, People's Party candidate for the Nova Scotia riding of West Nova, tweeted that he would no longer be running for the party, less than two hours before Elections Canada's deadline for candidates to officially register to be on the ballot. He criticized the party and its leadership for being "divisive", as well as "bad for democracy" and contributors to the "toxic state of politics". Hudson, later admitted that he did not notify the party of his decision. On October 8, Victor Ong, the People's Party of Canada candidate in Winnipeg North, resigned after deciding the party is "racist and intolerant".
Third-party organizations On August 19, environmental groups were warned by
Elections Canada that any third party that promotes information about climate change during the election period with paid advertising could be engaging in partisan activity. Registered charities with a charitable tax status would be required to register as a third party for the election if they engaged in any partisan activity incurring $500, which would include advertising and surveys, or risk their charitable tax status. These regulations were a result of
People's Party of Canada leader
Maxime Bernier expressing doubts about the legitimacy of climate change, because a third party that advertises the dangers of climate change during the election period may be considered to be indirectly advocating against the People's Party. On August 25, billboards purchased by a True North Strong & Free Advertising Corp., a third party promoting the
People's Party of Canada's immigration policy, with the text "Say NO to Mass Immigration" appeared in Vancouver, Calgary, Regina, and Halifax. True North Strong & Free Advertising Corp is run by Frank Smeenk, the chief executive of a Toronto-based mining exploration company. The Peoples Party of Canada told the media that it had no contact with the group. Initially,
Pattison Outdoor Advertising defended the billboards, arguing that they complied with the
Advertising Standards Canada Code but later decided to pull them and said that they would review their protocols on advocacy advertising. The Pattison president later revealed that the billboards would have stayed up had True North Strong & Free identified themselves on the billboards and how the public could get in touch with them. On October 3, the CBC revealed that the
Manning Centre is a driving financial force behind a network of anti-Liberal Facebook pages pumping out political messaging and memes during the federal election campaign. Facebook pulled one of their ads due to the excess violence. The Manning Centre's donations to those groups, worth more than $300,000, are hidden, since the think tank, which did not register as a third party, does not intend to disclose them. Elections Canada says there is nothing in the law to prevent outside groups from raising money and then passing those donations along to third-party advertisers. As a result of this lack of disclosure,
Democracy Watch filed a complaint to Canada's
Chief Electoral Officer. It argued that the Manning Centre should have registered as a third party. Furthermore, due to this controversy,
Jean-Pierre Kingsley, the former chief electoral officer, said that the next federal government must close the gap in the law that allowed the Manning Centre to raise money and then pass it along to third-party groups without disclosing the source of those donations. ==Platforms==