THE CANADIAN WHISTLEBLOWER AT CENTRE OF AN INTERNATIONAL SCANDAL GOT HIS START WITH THE LIBERAL PARTY OF CANADA, BUT SOME SENIOR LIBERAL OFFICIALS INSIST THEY HAVE ALMOST NO RECOLLECTION OF HIM.

• The Canadian whistleblower at the centre of an international scandal that helped the Trump campaign capitalize politically from private Facebook information got his start in politics with the Liberal Party of Canada.

But several senior Liberal officials from that time, about a decade ago, insist they have almost no recollection of then-teenager Christopher Wylie — if any at all.

The New York Times and The Observer of London have reported U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign hired a data-analytics company that harvested private information from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users.

Cambridge Analytica, the company behind the massive leak, exploited private social media activity to help allow the Trump campaign to better target voters by profiling their behaviour and personalities ahead of the U.S. election, according to the reports. The firm connected with Trump’s political adviser Stephen Bannon, whom Wylie also met, the reports said.

Wylie, a 28-year-old from British Columbia, is the data scientist who spoke out about the controversy. He’s also the man who helped found Cambridge Analytica.

“I do feel responsible for it and it’s something that I regret,” Wylie said in a video interview posted on The Observer’s web page. “It was a grossly unethical experiment because you are playing with an entire country, the psychology of an entire country, without their consent or awareness.”

The reports provided many details about the whistleblower who in 2007 or 2008 landed his first political gig with the federal Liberals.

At age 17, he worked in the office of Canada’s opposition leader, who at that time was then-Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, said one of the reports. When he was 18 years old, the newspaper said he learned all about data while working for officials on former U.S. president Barack Obama’s campaign team, and later introduced one director to the Liberals.

A senior source with the Liberal Party said Sunday that Wylie last worked for the party less than a decade ago, before Justin Trudeau became leader, and was also previously involved in its youth commission. The source spoke on condition of anonymity.

However, former Liberal officials from that time said they either hadn’t heard of Wylie — or they barely remembered him.

“I vaguely recall him,” wrote one former senior official in an email Sunday. “I think that he was a summer intern.”

One former party official, however, said while they didn’t know Wylie well, they remembered him as a “big advocate of microtargetting.”

One of the newspaper reports said Wylie came up with the idea behind Cambridge Analytica at age 24.

Asked about Wylie, Canada’s Liberal Party said in a statement Sunday that protecting the information of Canadians it engages with is a “foremost priority.”