Liberal MP and provincial Liberal leadership hopeful Nate Erskine-Smith has formally filed an appeal over the results of Saturday’s nomination vote in Scarborough Southwest, listing a number of irregularities that included there being more votes in the ballot box than the number of people who registered to vote—34 added votes, when he lost by a mere 19 votes. There were also accusations that a suspicious number of people arrived to vote who “just lost their drivers’ licence” or “just moved to the riding,” and even more suspicious allegations of those who were on speakerphone or video calls in the voting booth, being directed how to vote.

The party’s interim leader had already dismissed this as Erskine-Smith being a sore loser, but there were scrutineers at the event, who are providing affidavits, who pointed to these irregularities, and they are people who have done election monitoring abroad, so we should be fairly confident in their observations. And even more to the point, Erskine-Smith has effectively removed himself from the race and wants an investigation for the sake of an investigation, because these are serious allegations. There have been operatives from both Liberals and Conservatives over on social media saying these kinds of tactics are endemic, but unfortunately most are pointing to the fact that the party allows temporary residents to vote, meaning that again, there is scapegoating happening (and to be clear, when Erskine-Smith says that there were temporary residents voting, his primary complaint was that they appeared to have no idea why they were there, which is not the same as a temporary resident who got involved in the riding association or campaign. There are problems with how these contests are run, but I’m also not certain that putting them under the jurisdiction of Elections Canada or the provincial election agency is necessarily the answer given how much of an expansion of their mandate and capacity would need to be, to the point that it would be unwieldy.

As for Erskine-Smith’s future, he has confirmed that he is resigning his federal seat regardless by the time the Commons rises for the summer. After that, he’s not sure. He lost this nomination, and it’s clear that there is a segment of the establishment within the Ontario Liberal Party that is going to resist him and his plans to make changes to how things are run, so it may not be worth his time and energy if this is how things will play out. It would be a loss for the provincial party, which needs a good kick in the ass, and he might be the best placed to do it, but if the party establishment is going to pull out all the stops to prevent him from getting that far, is there a point? (Meanwhile, Doug Ford will chortle and be premier for ever).

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia launched over 200 drones early Tuesday, killing at least six people in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Zelenskyy is facing a new challenge now that his former chief of staff has been charged with money laundering.

Good reads:

• Anita Anand and David McGuinty are both in the Middle East to talk defence and security agreements, along with investment deals.
• At the Web Summit in Vancouver, Evan Solomon announced $66 million being spread among 44 digital asbestos projects.
• Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, head of the Royal Canadian Navy, has been promoted to Vice Chief of Defence Staff.
• Catherine McKenna is warning that the proposed changes to environmental assessments are more likely to cause more delays due to litigation and protests.
• Jenny Kwan is calling for transparency over the information sharing agreement between the RCMP and Chinese law enforcement.
• The leader of the Parti Québécois is claiming, without evidence, that the federal government is spying on him and his party.
• Ontario’s Auditor General found that the digital asbestos systems used by Ontario doctors have an alarmingly high rate of hallucinations. (Yikes!)
• One of the separatist organizers behind the voter list leak is stonewalling Elections Alberta, and already has outstanding monetary penalties he refuses to pay them.
• Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer wants any future sharing of voter lists halted until (unspecified) changes can be made to the law.
• Mike Moffatt points to the demographics of why the supposed “silver tsunami” of Boomers selling houses won’t solve the crisis, and that we still need to build.
• Lindsay Tedds explodes the Spring Economic Update from a gender and disability lens, and calls out the demands for gratitude for the inadequate funding.
• Justin Ling chronicles the downfall of the alt-right media ecosystem in the US, in part because Viktor Orbán can no longer subsidise them.

Odds and ends:

For National Magazine, I delve into the Senate’s attempt to amend Bill S-2 on fixing the Indian Act, and why the government’s resistance is a long-standing problem.

New episodes released early for C$7+ subscribers.This week I talk about how separatists can be marginalized in Alberta once more, but it will require regular people to get back engaged in politics. #cdnpoli

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-05-13T00:58:29.380Z

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