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It also comes as the Liberals tout a party membership surge spurred by the onset of the contest, even as the Conservatives, whose path to a potential runaway victory may be contracting, claimed a win of their own this week: an enviable fundraising year that far outpaced that of their rivals.

But as far as Canada’s social media landscape is concerned, leadership candidates are also contending with false narratives online.

Preliminary data from Reset.Tech, a non-partisan organization that monitors digital threats and information warfare around the world, shows that while former bank of Canada governor Mark Carney boasted more online engagement than former deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland, both were the target of misleading claims.听

The global non-profit looked at open-source data on platforms like X and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram from Jan. 20 and 27, and analyzed the level of engagement each leadership contender received. The report, which was voluntarily shared with the Liberal party and seen by the Star, will be part of a larger and final report that will be publicly released when the leadership campaign concludes in March.听

The report notes that Carney garnered an average of 45,000 online mentions a day on听those platforms, while Freeland had an average of 13,000.

Former government house leader Karina Gould received a low amount of engagement during that period, with a daily mention average of 4,100. Only former Liberal MP Frank Baylis and current Nova Scotia Liberal MP Jaime Battiste had fewer mentions, with a daily average of less than 1,000 mentions apiece. Battiste withdrew from the race on Thursday and endorsed Carney.

Former Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, meanwhile, also brought in low levels of engagement, until she posted on X her controversial pledge to “deport every illegal immigrant in Canada,” which saw her mentions rise to just over 10,000 on Jan. 27.

Ottawa-area Liberal MP Chandra Arya had similarly low numbers, which changed on Jan. 26 when he announced he had been booted from the race, prompting his numbers to spike to just under 35,000.

Arya’s mentions on that day, however, were linked to “conspiratorial” posts about the integrity of Canadian elections and what his ouster meant for Carney.

Indeed, Carney’s high levels of engagement, including his own boost on Jan. 26, were linked to unproven “emergent conspiracies that the leadership race is rigged in his favour,” the report notes. Narratives related to climate change also contributed to Carney’s engagement levels, along with claims from right-leaning groups that Carney, also a former bank of England governor, had been deemed “untrustworthy” in the United Kingdom.听

The organization’s analysis of Freeland’s social media mentions revealed that while she was also the target of climate-related narratives and those aimed at her comments about U.S. President Donald Trump, she was also subjected to “abusive rhetoric” on X and the messaging app Telegram, featuring false claims about her mental and physical health, along with misogynistic narratives pushed by “an international network of far-right, pro-Kremlin, and QAnon conspiracy accounts.”

Researchers also identified 15 false advertisements on Meta platforms during that period, impersonating Canadian media outlets听鈥� including the Star听鈥� that spread fabricated claims about Freeland and Trudeau.

A spokesperson for the Liberal party said it is working with top government officials to oversee the integrity of the race, which is also being monitored by Canada鈥檚 Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force.

Candidates, however, are also putting out their own information on social media, as Meta’s publicly available ad tracker shows.听

Carney, for example, has spent just over $107,000 over the last seven days. Freeland, who has a larger following on Instagram, did not spend any money according to Meta鈥檚 library. Neither did Baylis. Dhalla spent $6,866, while Gould spent $146.

On Thursday, the party announced there were nearly 400,000 registered Liberals in the race, up from about 100,000 before Trudeau resigned. Leadership campaigns now have access to the list of those members and can begin using that list to conduct outreach.

The party’s spokesperson confirmed plans to host two leadership debates after Feb. 17, when the final tranche of the race’s $350,000 entry fee is due. Freeland has previously called on the party to host four debates. Gould issued a statement Friday afternoon arguing that waiting until mid-February was irresponsible.听

“In this short race, people are already making up their minds about who they support, without having had the opportunity to hear directly from the candidates,” Gould said in a statement.听听

Gould called on the Parliamentary Press Gallery to organize a debate next week, if the party is unwilling to host one.听

Leading candidates also spent the past week releasing more policy proposals. Carney pledged to scrap the consumer carbon price and replace it with a refined industrial price and incentives or credits to consumers who make environmentally friendly choices, like more efficient appliances and electric vehicles. Gould has pledged to freeze any further increase to the levy and also offer up incentives, while Freeland has promised to scrap the levy entirely.听

That trio of candidates has also called for a strong response to Trump. Freeland called for an immediate 100 per cent tariff on Tesla vehicles and U.S. wine, beer and spirits. Trump ally Elon Musk is Tesla’s CEO.听听

On Friday, Pierre Poilievre鈥檚 Conservatives diverted attention away from the Liberals’ membership boost by crowing about their banner fundraising year, after Elections Canada posted its fourth-quarter filings for 2024.

The Conservative party raked in a whopping $41.7 million over the course of the year, nearly triple the $15.2 million posted by the Liberals, and seven times the amount raised by the New Democrats, which came in at $6.3 million.

“The incredible generosity of hardworking Canadians to the Conservative Party of Canada is directly correlated to the growing movement and resonance of Pierre Poilievre鈥檚 common sense message and promise to put Canada first,鈥� the party鈥檚 director of communications, Sarah Fisher, wrote in a statement.

“It couldn鈥檛 be more clear that Canadians want a carbon tax election so a Common Sense Conservative government can axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime.”