Hundreds of thousands of new Liberal members from the March 9 leadership race were not counted as ballots, a large discrepancy the Party did not explain. “This year Canadians showed up like never before to support Mark Carney and our Liberal team,” the Party wrote in a statement. 

Despite an initial claim of "nearly 400,000" registered Liberal voters on January 30, a subsequent audit for invalid memberships (under threat of $10,000 penalties) revealed significant discrepancies. 

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Prime Minister Mark Carney, upon winning the leadership on March 9 with 85.9% of the vote, stated the actual number was closer to 300,000. “This Party has more than quadrupled its membership in the past two months.”

Only 151,899 ballots were cast in the leadership contest, leaving hundreds of thousands of members uncounted, according to Blacklock’s.

“This record-breaking support builds on a successful race and national campaign, an unprecedented feat in Canadian history that … elected Mark Carney as leader,” wrote the Party.

However, concerns arose on the legitimacy of Carney's vote, given his consistently uniform totals across all 338 Canadian ridings, and the surprisingly low counts for two cabinet ministers and leadership hopefuls in their own districts.

In Chrystia Freeland’s Toronto riding, she received only 11.8% of the vote (188 votes), while Mark Carney received 83%. Similarly, Karina Gould, another cabinet minister, secured only 190 votes in her home riding, with Carney winning significantly. 

The Liberal Party was unavailable for comment on its disclosure yesterday.

Party Officials earlier tightened membership rules in January following a "fake profiles" controversy and foreign interference threats, acknowledged by caucus.

The Party now offers free memberships to Canadian citizens and permanent residents over 14 with an email account, reversing a policy that previously included foreign students and illegal immigrants.

The decision came after some individuals boasted online about registering fake names, pet names, and even addresses linked to the Prime Minister's residence or the Chinese Embassy.

The Party later disqualified leadership candidates Chandra Arya and Ruby Dhalla, and removed ex-caucus members Paul Chiang and Han Dong as re-election candidates. Grounds for disqualification were not made public.

“There were reviews of candidates’ suitability, myself included, appropriately,” Carney told reporters March 26. “Certain information came to light. I am not privy to the exact information except for [the] process.”

“Can you tell us why this was necessary?” asked a reporter.

“I can assure you information we have, I am saying broadly as a Party, not me personally because I don’t have the specific information, is shared with the relevant authorities,” replied Carney. “We take this incredibly seriously.”