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Even before the meeting, Wylie had experience working at the highest levels of the party.

From 2007 to 2009, he worked in the office of the Liberal leader, when the party was helmed by Stephane Dion and Michael Ignatieff. He was also a member of the party’s youth commission.

Following the meeting, the Liberals signed a contract with Wylie in 2016 and he launched a pilot project, the source confirmed. The source would not provide further details on the nature of the contract or its duration, saying only that Wylie’s services were focused on “information management.”

After seeing what Wylie had to offer, the party chose not to proceed further with the project, said the source, who added that it’s not uncommon for political parties to try out the services of contractors for brief periods of time.

The contract was awarded in accordance with all the procurement rules, and at no time did Wylie have access to anyone’s personal data, the source added.

Earlier this week, The Canadian Press spoke with an acquaintance of Wylie’s who described having drinks with the data expert in Ottawa in November 2015, a few weeks after the federal election.

However, Liberal party spokesman Braeden Caley said in an email that the party did not contract Wylie to do any work after staffers met with him in January 2016.

The acquaintance said Wylie talked about his plans to shop his Facebook data-mining techniques in the national capital, including with the Liberals, and also in Washington with the Republican party.