Liberals and Conservatives said their rallies drew thousands. We decided to count [Video]

Rally size has become a contentious election issue, with both the Liberals and Conservatives promoting their crowd sizes. CBC News’s visual investigations team investigated Pierre Poilievre and Mark Carney rallies and found that the actual crowd sizes were significantly smaller than reported.

Political campaigns may be significantly off-base when it comes to the number of people they say are present at campaign rallies across the country, a CBC News investigation shows.

Both the Conservatives and Liberals have held major rallies since the beginning of the federal election, with the Conservatives in particular emphasizing the size of their events.

CBC News’s visual investigations team hand-counted people in images taken at four rallies across the country — Conservative rallies in Surrey, B.C., and near Edmonton, and Liberal events in Toronto and Richmond, B.C.

The investigation, including expert analysis by crowd scientists, shows that the actual number of people attending those rallies was …

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