Elections Scandal in Canada
This is a recap of the election scandal so far, Canada Votes 2011, I have compiled several news articles into 1 place to keep track of this ongoing issue.
Find another batch of compiled info at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5tkPBysJQY
As my friends know, I strongly support democracy and electoral reform in Canada. So when I keep hearing of unethical manipulation of our elections I'm getting really upset.
If I was a conservative party supporter I would be outraged that my own party would engage unethical & illegal vote suppression. I would be annoyed that the opposition is bringing this up months after an election (at least its less time than it took the PCs to unravel the sponsorship scandal). The party leadership should be at the forefront of the issue, taking responsibility where its due and investigating all claims - instead we see the usual partisan lines and bickering among the politicians refusing to take a leadership role.Can you imagine if the Liberals had done this 10 yrs ago during Liberal govt, the conservatives would've jumped into the water in a feeding frenzy.
Lets keep an eye on the big picture here = this is not an isolated incident.
This is not a handful of bad apples, this is not a new thing, its now documented in many ridings across Canada. Its the action of a national policy put into action, with multiple tactics running at the same time, and perpetrated by the Conservative Party's behind-the-scenes power brokers so the MP's don't take the direct heat when RCMP come knocking. These are the same tactics that the USA Republican party engages in, they seem to be teaching the norther counterparts the same ideas.
---
1. The Huge Problem. The former chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley says Elections Canada typically received between 500 and 1,000 calls but in this election the agency has received more than 31,000 contacts.
& This is affecting over 50 ridings as of Mar. 2, 2012. Its never been a secret that Elections Canada's investigative powers are few and limited, but despite the reported problems and investigations in previous elections previous years, there has never been any action taken to enforce the elections act - that needs to change now. The problem is only worse because Elections Canada has most of the time been slow to investigate or to enforce the rules.
Apr. 15, 2011 - http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Elections+Canada+probe+annoying+political+calls+told/6229034/story.html
Feb. 29 - http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Elections+Canada+falling+down+voting+fraud+watchdog+says/6226117/story.html
Feb. 29 - http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=abo&dir=atip/summary&document=sum12&lang=e#feb
Mar. 2 - http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20120302/robocalls-elections-canada-120302/
Mar. 17 - http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1148123--robocalls-call-for-huge-investigation-says-steven-harper-s-ex-chief-of-staff-ian-brodie
Mar. 27 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/27/activist-group-files-legal-challenge-to-overturn-election-results-in-robocall-ridings/?__lsa=b677105c
Apr. 3 - http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/elizabeth-may/robocalls-scandal_b_1368293.html
2. Robocalls, shit hit the fan in Guelph, Feb 2012. Then came the reports of thousands (7000 by 'Pierre Poutine') of automated phone calls that went out to citizens in dozen of ridings, now with a current tally of over 50 ridings. They targeted the areas that were close battles for Conservative and Liberal candidates.
These allegations of voter suppression and impersonating Elections Canada are being investigated by Elections Canada & RCMP, there was a minimal report by Elections Canada on the status of the investigation but most of the information is coming from news investigative journalists.
Feb. 28 - http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=7809b8ab-673f-41e8-8fe4-4a39024921d9
Feb. 28 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/28/robocall-ridings/
Feb. 28 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/28/documents-link-burner-cellphone-tory-candidate-with-robocall-company-racknine/
Mar. 2 - http://www.globalnews.ca/pages/topicNew.aspx?id=6442589761
Mar. 9 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/09/tory-campaign-worker-in-guelph-tweeted-robocall-warning-two-days-before-election/
Mar. 21 - http://yukon-news.com/news/27818/
Mar. 23 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/23/pierre-poutine-recorded-robocall-on-that-appeared-to-be-from-liberal-elections-canada/
Mar. 23 - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/pierre-poutine-taped-election-day-call-impersonating-liberal/article2379712/
Mar. 29 - http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=med&document=mar2912&dir=spe&lang=e
Mar. 29 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/29/pierre-poutine-made-6700-robocalls-in-guelph-on-election-day-using-450-number/
Apr. 2 - http://www.hilltimes.com/news/news/2012/04/02/elections-act-%E2%80%98should-be-improved%E2%80%99-chief-electoral-officer-mayrand-tells-house/30281
3. Call Centres. Real people hired to do a similar job as the robocalls (RackNine and 2call.ca), these people were suppressing voters through aggressive and harassing calling. We know about the call centre owned by Responsive Marketing Group in Thunder Bay because the employees came forward multiple times to say they were hired to suppress votes. Both NationalPost and CBC have identified that the Conservative Party did also hire several call centres in USA which gives evidence contrary to a Steven Harper statement they didn’t hire any USA company.
Feb. 27 - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/02/27/f-robocalls-players.html
Feb. 29 - http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/02/29/pol-robocalls-poor-losers.html
Mar. 2 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/02/tories-review-tapes-at-thunder-bay-call-centre-as-questions-grow-over-companys-checkered-legal-history/
Mar. 2 - http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Elections+Canada+widens+probe/6239317/story.html
Mar. 3 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/03/dean-del-mastro-other-tories-hired-u-s-telemarketer-during-election-contrary-to-stephen-harpers-claims/
Mar. 4 - http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Tory+denies+voter+suppression+tactics/6248425/story.html
Mar. 6 - http://www.globalnews.ca/opposition+puts+tory-friendly+company+under+the+microscope+in+robocall+controversy/6442595240/story.html
4. Ballot box stuffing. There was an unusual number of late unregistered voters in the Eglinton-Lawrence riding who got on the voters' list without giving a valid address, although the law requires unregistered voters to provide both a present and former address when filling out a late registration form at a polling station. There were at least 2,700 late registrations, but Elections Canada has not disclosed how many of those were invalid. A stack of late registration forms shows many provided no address; others have bogus addresses like a UPS store or Scotiabank branch.
Mar. 8 - http://www.globalnews.ca/allegations+of+voter+fraud+in+torontos+eglinton-lawrence+riding/6442596870/story.html
Mar. 8 - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/03/08/pol-milewski-eglinton-lawrence.html
Mar. 8 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/08/voting-irregularities-marred-toronto-area-vote-in-federal-election-report/
5. Conservatives deny expanding the investigative powers of Elections Canada. Actually trying to block an in-depth investigation into this scandal, talk about ‘shooting yourself in the foot’, what political school did these guys come from? (see point#6 below to find out which school)
Mar. 6 - http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/national/article/191809
Mar. 7 - http://www.globalnews.ca/harper+refuses+to+explain+why+tory+mps+rejected+elections+canada+finance+request/6442595667/story.html
Mar. 7 - http://www.globalnews.ca/conservatives+relent+back+new+audit+powers+for+elections+canada/6442596541/story.html
6. Linking Dirty Politics to the Conservative Party. We are used to the nasty politicking coming out of the USA but Canadians have prided themselves on not going down to that level, until now. The Conservative Party has demonstrated a willingness and ability to engage in the unethical manipulation of voters. Evidence of Conservative Party candidates going to the Manning Centre school of Campaign Research to learn the tactics of voter suppression.
Nov. 30, 2011 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/11/30/conservatives-admit-theyre-behind-false-byelection-calls-for-liberal-mps-riding/
Apr. 15, 2011 - http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Elections+Canada+probe+annoying+political+calls+told/6229034/story.html
Feb. 28 - http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Robocalls+pattern+Conservative+dirty+tricks/6220420/story.html
Feb. 29 - http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Robocalls+shock+system+Canadian+democracy+American+expert/6230847/story.html
Mar. 5 - http://lkm.liberal.ca/2012/03/letter-editor-conservatives-voter-suppression-school.html
Mar. 6 - http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Conservatives+drop+appeal+over+scandal/6261332/story.html
Mar. 7 - http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/03/07/robocalls-scandal-andrew-coyne/
Mar. 7 - http://www.vancouverobserver.com/politics/2012/03/07/robo-call-scandal-origins-inside-conservatives%E2%80%99-voter-suppression-school
Mar. 8 - http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Firms+linked+voter+confusion+taking+aggressive+stance+against+press/6274317/story.html
Mar. 7 - http://www.vancouverobserver.com/politics/2012/03/07/robo-call-scandal-origins-inside-conservatives%E2%80%99-voter-suppression-school
Mar. 14 - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/03/14/toronto-voting-irregularities-scarborough.html?cmp=rss
Apr. 4 - http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/harper-undoing-canada-146059945.html
Apr. 6 - http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Charity+funded+government+links+Tory+call+centre/6399771/story.html
7. Scapegoats & Blame.
Mar. 14 - http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/young-tory-staffer-becomes-latest-cause-celebre-for-opposition-in-robocall-spat-142688755.html
Mar. 16 - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/robo-calls-warrant-huge-investigation-former-harper-aide-says/article2372338/singlepage/#articlecontent
Mar. 12 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/12/pierre-poutine-remains-in-hiding-as-rae-demands-robocall-royal-commission/
Apr. 9 - http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/style+wedge+politics+Canada+experts/6429420/story.html
Find another batch of compiled info at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5tkPBysJQY
As my friends know, I strongly support democracy and electoral reform in Canada. So when I keep hearing of unethical manipulation of our elections I'm getting really upset.
If I was a conservative party supporter I would be outraged that my own party would engage unethical & illegal vote suppression. I would be annoyed that the opposition is bringing this up months after an election (at least its less time than it took the PCs to unravel the sponsorship scandal). The party leadership should be at the forefront of the issue, taking responsibility where its due and investigating all claims - instead we see the usual partisan lines and bickering among the politicians refusing to take a leadership role.Can you imagine if the Liberals had done this 10 yrs ago during Liberal govt, the conservatives would've jumped into the water in a feeding frenzy.
Lets keep an eye on the big picture here = this is not an isolated incident.
This is not a handful of bad apples, this is not a new thing, its now documented in many ridings across Canada. Its the action of a national policy put into action, with multiple tactics running at the same time, and perpetrated by the Conservative Party's behind-the-scenes power brokers so the MP's don't take the direct heat when RCMP come knocking. These are the same tactics that the USA Republican party engages in, they seem to be teaching the norther counterparts the same ideas.
---
1. The Huge Problem. The former chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley says Elections Canada typically received between 500 and 1,000 calls but in this election the agency has received more than 31,000 contacts.
& This is affecting over 50 ridings as of Mar. 2, 2012. Its never been a secret that Elections Canada's investigative powers are few and limited, but despite the reported problems and investigations in previous elections previous years, there has never been any action taken to enforce the elections act - that needs to change now. The problem is only worse because Elections Canada has most of the time been slow to investigate or to enforce the rules.
Apr. 15, 2011 - http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Elections+Canada+probe+annoying+political+calls+told/6229034/story.html
Feb. 29 - http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Elections+Canada+falling+down+voting+fraud+watchdog+says/6226117/story.html
Feb. 29 - http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=abo&dir=atip/summary&document=sum12&lang=e#feb
Mar. 2 - http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20120302/robocalls-elections-canada-120302/
Mar. 17 - http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1148123--robocalls-call-for-huge-investigation-says-steven-harper-s-ex-chief-of-staff-ian-brodie
Mar. 27 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/27/activist-group-files-legal-challenge-to-overturn-election-results-in-robocall-ridings/?__lsa=b677105c
Apr. 3 - http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/elizabeth-may/robocalls-scandal_b_1368293.html
2. Robocalls, shit hit the fan in Guelph, Feb 2012. Then came the reports of thousands (7000 by 'Pierre Poutine') of automated phone calls that went out to citizens in dozen of ridings, now with a current tally of over 50 ridings. They targeted the areas that were close battles for Conservative and Liberal candidates.
These allegations of voter suppression and impersonating Elections Canada are being investigated by Elections Canada & RCMP, there was a minimal report by Elections Canada on the status of the investigation but most of the information is coming from news investigative journalists.
Feb. 28 - http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=7809b8ab-673f-41e8-8fe4-4a39024921d9
Feb. 28 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/28/robocall-ridings/
Feb. 28 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/28/documents-link-burner-cellphone-tory-candidate-with-robocall-company-racknine/
Mar. 2 - http://www.globalnews.ca/pages/topicNew.aspx?id=6442589761
Mar. 9 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/09/tory-campaign-worker-in-guelph-tweeted-robocall-warning-two-days-before-election/
Mar. 21 - http://yukon-news.com/news/27818/
Mar. 23 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/23/pierre-poutine-recorded-robocall-on-that-appeared-to-be-from-liberal-elections-canada/
Mar. 23 - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/pierre-poutine-taped-election-day-call-impersonating-liberal/article2379712/
Mar. 29 - http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=med&document=mar2912&dir=spe&lang=e
Mar. 29 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/29/pierre-poutine-made-6700-robocalls-in-guelph-on-election-day-using-450-number/
Apr. 2 - http://www.hilltimes.com/news/news/2012/04/02/elections-act-%E2%80%98should-be-improved%E2%80%99-chief-electoral-officer-mayrand-tells-house/30281
3. Call Centres. Real people hired to do a similar job as the robocalls (RackNine and 2call.ca), these people were suppressing voters through aggressive and harassing calling. We know about the call centre owned by Responsive Marketing Group in Thunder Bay because the employees came forward multiple times to say they were hired to suppress votes. Both NationalPost and CBC have identified that the Conservative Party did also hire several call centres in USA which gives evidence contrary to a Steven Harper statement they didn’t hire any USA company.
Feb. 27 - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/02/27/f-robocalls-players.html
Feb. 29 - http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/02/29/pol-robocalls-poor-losers.html
Mar. 2 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/02/tories-review-tapes-at-thunder-bay-call-centre-as-questions-grow-over-companys-checkered-legal-history/
Mar. 2 - http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Elections+Canada+widens+probe/6239317/story.html
Mar. 3 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/03/dean-del-mastro-other-tories-hired-u-s-telemarketer-during-election-contrary-to-stephen-harpers-claims/
Mar. 4 - http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Tory+denies+voter+suppression+tactics/6248425/story.html
Mar. 6 - http://www.globalnews.ca/opposition+puts+tory-friendly+company+under+the+microscope+in+robocall+controversy/6442595240/story.html
4. Ballot box stuffing. There was an unusual number of late unregistered voters in the Eglinton-Lawrence riding who got on the voters' list without giving a valid address, although the law requires unregistered voters to provide both a present and former address when filling out a late registration form at a polling station. There were at least 2,700 late registrations, but Elections Canada has not disclosed how many of those were invalid. A stack of late registration forms shows many provided no address; others have bogus addresses like a UPS store or Scotiabank branch.
Mar. 8 - http://www.globalnews.ca/allegations+of+voter+fraud+in+torontos+eglinton-lawrence+riding/6442596870/story.html
Mar. 8 - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/03/08/pol-milewski-eglinton-lawrence.html
Mar. 8 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/08/voting-irregularities-marred-toronto-area-vote-in-federal-election-report/
5. Conservatives deny expanding the investigative powers of Elections Canada. Actually trying to block an in-depth investigation into this scandal, talk about ‘shooting yourself in the foot’, what political school did these guys come from? (see point#6 below to find out which school)
Mar. 6 - http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/national/article/191809
Mar. 7 - http://www.globalnews.ca/harper+refuses+to+explain+why+tory+mps+rejected+elections+canada+finance+request/6442595667/story.html
Mar. 7 - http://www.globalnews.ca/conservatives+relent+back+new+audit+powers+for+elections+canada/6442596541/story.html
6. Linking Dirty Politics to the Conservative Party. We are used to the nasty politicking coming out of the USA but Canadians have prided themselves on not going down to that level, until now. The Conservative Party has demonstrated a willingness and ability to engage in the unethical manipulation of voters. Evidence of Conservative Party candidates going to the Manning Centre school of Campaign Research to learn the tactics of voter suppression.
Nov. 30, 2011 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/11/30/conservatives-admit-theyre-behind-false-byelection-calls-for-liberal-mps-riding/
Apr. 15, 2011 - http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Elections+Canada+probe+annoying+political+calls+told/6229034/story.html
Feb. 28 - http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Robocalls+pattern+Conservative+dirty+tricks/6220420/story.html
Feb. 29 - http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Robocalls+shock+system+Canadian+democracy+American+expert/6230847/story.html
Mar. 5 - http://lkm.liberal.ca/2012/03/letter-editor-conservatives-voter-suppression-school.html
Mar. 6 - http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Conservatives+drop+appeal+over+scandal/6261332/story.html
Mar. 7 - http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/03/07/robocalls-scandal-andrew-coyne/
Mar. 7 - http://www.vancouverobserver.com/politics/2012/03/07/robo-call-scandal-origins-inside-conservatives%E2%80%99-voter-suppression-school
Mar. 8 - http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Firms+linked+voter+confusion+taking+aggressive+stance+against+press/6274317/story.html
Mar. 7 - http://www.vancouverobserver.com/politics/2012/03/07/robo-call-scandal-origins-inside-conservatives%E2%80%99-voter-suppression-school
Mar. 14 - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/03/14/toronto-voting-irregularities-scarborough.html?cmp=rss
Apr. 4 - http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/harper-undoing-canada-146059945.html
Apr. 6 - http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Charity+funded+government+links+Tory+call+centre/6399771/story.html
7. Scapegoats & Blame.
Mar. 14 - http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/young-tory-staffer-becomes-latest-cause-celebre-for-opposition-in-robocall-spat-142688755.html
Mar. 16 - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/robo-calls-warrant-huge-investigation-former-harper-aide-says/article2372338/singlepage/#articlecontent
Mar. 12 - http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/12/pierre-poutine-remains-in-hiding-as-rae-demands-robocall-royal-commission/
Apr. 9 - http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/style+wedge+politics+Canada+experts/6429420/story.html
