PMO says Trudeau’s cross-country tour not about padding Liberal supporters list

OTTAWA — Justin Trudeau’s cross-country tour to re-engage with grassroots Canadians starts today amid suspicions that it’s really aimed at helping the Liberal party add details about potential supporters and donors to its massive database.

While the government is organizing — and paying for — the tour, Liberal MPs in several of the cities Trudeau plans to visit this week have posted online invitations for anyone wanting to attend town halls with the prime minister.

Those who want to attend are directed to RSVP online, which requires them to provide their names, email addresses, postal codes and phone numbers — all designated as “mandatory” fields.

However, a spokesman for the prime minister said Wednesday that the MPs are using their parliamentary websites to advertise the events and issue invitations, in accordance with House of Commons rules.

Cameron Ahmad stressed that “no information collected by the MP site, including event registrations, is shared with the Liberal Party of Canada.”

“We wanted to ensure that attendance at these events would not simply be limited to partisans or Liberals. In order to do so, MPs took the opportunity to reach out to all their constituents — regardless of political affiliation — and share information on upcoming events,” he added.