NOMINATION MEETING IS MORE AGGRESSIVE THAN THE ELECTION (CAMPAIGN.)

In ridings a party believes it will win, “the nomination meeting is more aggressive than the election campaign,” Szabo said, because whoever wins is expected to automatically vault into Parliament.

Spengemann was interested in the seat and had contacted Szabo twice for help, Szabo told the Post. Ultimately, Szabo backed a different candidate, Julie Desjardins, and became her financial agent for the 2014 nomination race.

“By this time, (Spengemann) was dating (now-science minister) Kirsty Duncan, he was spending a lot of time with (now-innovation minister) Navdeep Bains and with (now-parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs) Omar Alghabra and, as a matter of fact, he helped them run Justin (Trudeau)’s campaign in downtown Toronto. He was there every day,” Szabo said.

“So he was earning stripes with people who were closer to the machinery of the Liberal Party.”

During the nomination campaign, Szabo noticed alleged irregularities he details in the letter to MPs and senators. None of his allegations have been proven in court.

From a list of people eligible to vote on the nominees, Szabo describes identifying 349 memberships submitted by Spengemann’s campaign that appeared invalid, most of them from specific apartment complexes. About half of those people said they were never