Colin Temple via Getty Images Government documents state Elections Canada spent $430,000 on an election campaign that was ditched two weeks after it was announced.

OTTAWA — Elections Canada spent $430,000 on an abandoned get-out-the-vote campaign that involved social media “influencers,” according to documents tabled in the House of Commons. The pre-election voter information effort tapped 13 social media influencers, including Olympic gold medallist Penny Oleksiak and talk show host Lilly Singh, to raise awareness on what Canadians need to do to ensure they’re registered to vote. The $650,000 campaign was announced in early June and nixed a few weeks later. Elections Canada explained at the time that final vetting of the social media influencers “revealed some past activities that could be perceived as partisan in nature.” Watch: New Canadians cast their votes. Story continues below video.

“After the initiative was cancelled, Elections Canada was able to recover over $200,000 of the project’s initial costs, due to the fact that Elections Canada’s Agency of Record waived its fees, and through other cast measures, bringing the net cost to approximately $430,000,” reads the documents tabled Monday. “Selection criteria for influencers included: their eligibility to vote (Canadian citizens 18 years or older); their non-partisan status; their social media reach; and their availability.” The 13 influencers were supposed to appear in a 60-second video to launch Election Canada’s campaign. No concerns were raised in February 2018 when Elections Canada presented its proposed voter outreach initiatives to the Advisory Committee of Political Parties, according to the documents tabled by the government in response to an order paper question from Conservative MP Michael Chong in December 2019.