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“As the rules decree that one needs to pay $30,000 for the privilege of being a candidate, I will be an unofficial candidate,” DiNovo said Tuesday morning from the west-end Toronto United Church where she once served as a minister. “Money should not in any way be a barrier for the leadership of a Democratic Socialist Party.”

“I think politics should be about more than money, and certainly democratic socialism should be about more than money,” DiNovo said. She said she would focus on grassroots and “rank-and-file” support and doesn’t care if any sitting MPs back her bid or if the party machinery likes it.

However, the law tells a different story. A spokesperson at Elections Canada pointed to the rules governing leadership candidates, which states if DiNovo wants to fundraise, even from grassroots supporters, she must be an officially registered candidate.

Every person who accepts contributions, loans or transfers, or incurs leadership campaign expenses has to register as a leadership contestant

“Every person who accepts contributions, loans or transfers, or incurs leadership campaign expenses has to register as a leadership contestant even if he or she later decides not to run for the leadership,” the electoral rules for leadership candidates state.

The vagaries of DiNovo’s announcement prompted a torrent of questions online. And, even if she doesn’t plan to run fundraisers — and she interjected on Twitter — the definition of a candidate involves more than dollars and cents.

“From a political financing perspective, a person is deemed to be a leadership contestant from the date a contribution, a loan or a transfer is accepted or a leadership campaign expense is incurred,” according to the Political Financing Handbook for Leadership Contestants and Financial Agents.

After all the back-and-forth, DiNovo responded in the early in the day to say she is, in fact, registering her candidacy with Elections Canada, but without the formal party backing and in a less official capacity than if she paid the $30,000 fee.