The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP) released the list of rules for the party's upcoming leadership election, but unlike their federal counterpart, there were no changes in who was eligible to cast a vote.In the lead-up to the leadership race for the federal Liberals, the party announced changes to the party's voter eligibility, which barred temporary residents from voting in leadership elections.The change was made due to a recommendation from CSIS after a public inquiry showed election interference from China and two other countries.The interference was primarily facilitated through diaspora as well as loose regulation allowing international students and temporary residents to vote.In the last federal Liberal leadership race, only Canadian citizens and permanent residents were eligible to vote, a change made to combat this foreign interference threat.The provincial Liberals have decided against this change, and current rules state that anyone who is residing in Canada can be a member of the party and is therefore eligible to vote.In a provincial election, however, only Canadian citizens are eligible to vote, so in practice some of those who elect the party leader would not be able to vote for said leader in the actual election..A statement from the party has said that they have "already taken concrete steps to protect the integrity of the leadership election."The party says that their two-step verification process, as well as mandatory identification when voting, makes any type of interference highly unlikely.They also state that there have never been any allegations of foreign interference against the OLP, and party officials have received a briefing from CSIS regarding this."There have been no allegations of foreign interference in past Ontario Liberal Party elections, and party officials have proactively received a briefing from CSIS to ensure we are following best practices."The leadership race comes due to the current party leader, Bonnie Crombie, having announced her resignation as leader in January, following a disappointing election result in which she failed to win her own seat.The result of the OLP leadership vote will be announced November 21st; as of the time of writing, the only candidate officially announced is former housing minister Nathaniel Erskine-Smith.
