Dirty Conservative tricks cost Liberal seats

[fighter]

Remember those stories about election day dirty tricks where Liberal supporters in southern Ontario were telephoned and falsely told their polling locations had moved?

Surprise, surprise - Elections Canada has traced those robocalls to a company that worked for the Conservative party.

On election day, Elections Canada had complaints from voters in several ridings, mainly in Ontario, who claimed to have received the misleading calls.

"This is an automated message from Elections Canada. Due to a projected increase in voter turnout your poll location has been changed," says one message retrieved by the CBC from a resident's voice mail system in Guelph.

"Your new voting location is at the old Quebec Street mall at 55 Wyndham Street North."

PostMedia News and the Ottawa Citizen have found that Elections Canada traced these calls to Racknine Inc., a small Edmonton call centre that worked for the Tory's national campaign and those of at least nine Conservative candidates, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper's own campaign in Calgary Southwest.

Matt Meier, owner of Racknine, said he was unaware one of his customers was involved in the calls until contacted by Elections Canada in November.

"We couldn't possibly have known that it was Racknine that was the initiator of the fake calls," he told PostMedia.

"I had no idea what the content of the calls were."

Meier added he now knows whose account was used for the calls, but could not reveal the owner, because of client confidentiality and concerns about interfering with the investigation. He says it was someone "down East."

According to PostMedia, the RCMP is aiding Elections Canada in the investigation, while the Tories have also launched their own internal probe into the matter.

In response to the story, the NDP released an open letter to Elections Canada asking for assurances that a full investigation will be conducted.

"As the [PostMedia] story outlines, and has been documented in the past, the 41stGeneral Election was tarnished with a series of controversial automated phone calls near the end of the campaign. These calls seemed to be intended to suppress voting and discourage supporters of other parties," the letter signed by MPs Alexandre Boulerice and Charlie Angus notes.

"For many, these dirty tricks are just further evidence of how Ottawa is broken and tarnish the democratic process."

If Elections Canada finds evidence of wrongdoing over the bogus calls, the case could be referred to Director of Public Prosecutions Brian Saunders, who would decide whether to lay charges.

Update:

Conservative staffer Michael Sona has resigned apparently over the robo-call scandal.

While details are still scarce, CBC News is reporting that Sona, who was a staffer in MP Eve Adams's office, offered his resignation and it was accepted.

[Coeus]

I do not know much about the divide of coservative-liberal.


But here in Sweden the "conservatives" who would do this kind of stuff would get jail time. You call them "tricks" Sweden calls it fraud or criminal behaviour

[AgentOfChaos]

Damn republicunts!

[Alphanumeric]

Politicians.

*shrugs*

[tightrope]

THE CONS ARE USING SONA AS THE 'FALL GUY'.
CONSEVERVATIVES ARE CORRUPTS, CHEATERS!
AND NOW THEY HAVE FINALLY BEEN EXPOSED.

Conservative staffer resigns amid 'robocalls' probe
Michael Sona worked on Conservative campaign in Guelph
By Laura Payton, CBC News
Posted: Feb 24, 2012 3:37 PM ET
Last Updated: Feb 24, 2012 5:37 PM ET
Read 857 comments857


Michael Sona, left, is seen with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in this undated photo released by the Prime Minister's Office. (PMO)

A Conservative staffer has resigned following reports that Elections Canada is investigating fake election day phone calls used to keep voters away from polls.

Michael Sona, who until Friday was a staffer in Conservative MP Eve Adams's office, also worked for Conservative candidate Marty Burke in Guelph, Ont.

Voters in that riding complained they were the target of automated robocalls claiming to be on behalf of Elections Canada that directed them to the wrong polling station. Telling voters to go to the wrong or non-existent polling stations is a voter suppression tactic and illegal under the Elections Act.

Opposition MPs let loose on the Conservative Party on Thursday after an Ottawa Citizen report linked a call centre used by some of their campaigns to the robocalls.

Sona offered his resignation and it was accepted, a source told CBC News.

In a statement Thursday, the Conservatives' 2011 national campaign manager hinted that whoever was behind the robocalls acted alone.

"The party was not involved with these calls and if anyone on a local campaign was involved they will not play a role in a future campaign," Jenni Byrne said in a statement.

There is no public evidence Sona was involved in the robocalls.

Calls traced to Racknine

Nine Conservative campaigns used the services of Racknine, the call centre whose services were used for the fraudulent calls. It's not unusual to use call centres for legitimate campaigning.

Ridings across the country reported fraudulent calls on May 2, 2011, redirecting voters to the wrong polling station.

The RCMP told CBC News on Thursday that Elections Canada is investigating the matter.

Sona made news before the election when he allegedly tried to grab a ballot box at the University of Guelph. He claimed the polling station was illegal. A statement released by Burke's campaign said nobody from their team touched a ballot or ballot box. Elections Canada allowed the ballots to be counted.

Sona graduated from the University of Guelph in 2010, according to a webpage showing his professional history. He worked for Conservative MP Rob Moore from June 2010 until March 2011 and from May to September 2011. He also worked for Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore for four months in 2009.

Liberals demand emergency debate

Liberal Leader Bob Rae announced Friday he's asking House Speaker Andrew Scheer for an emergency debate into voter suppression.

"In my opinion, this debate is necessary because denying someone the opportunity to vote is to deny them the most basic right that exists in our democracy," Rae says in his letter to Scheer.

"These reports undermine the reputation of Parliament and cast a shadow over the legitimacy of all parliamentary proceedings."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2 ... affer.html

[fighter]

No, not politicians.

Conservatives

Nothing more I hate then the Conservatives

[Methylamine]

lol

[fighter]

There is this one stupid "Uncle Tom" El Savador girl who I knew who works for an MP of this criminal political party. She told me how they would spit in the food of non-Conservative MP's at the cafeteria during lunch time.

The lowly workers of these Conservative MP's are just as low as these Cons.

[tightrope]

There is this one stupid "Uncle Tom" El Savador girl who I knew who works for an MP of this criminal political party. She told me how they would spit in the food of non-Conservative MP's at the cafeteria during lunch time.

The lowly workers of these Conservative MP's are just as low as these Cons.

THAT PARTY AND ITS SUPPORTERS PLAY DIRTY
SMFH

[fighter]

They all play f-king dirty. There is nothing worse than these sick sick people.

Hopefully he will come to federal politics and be our PM in 2015. He served Ontario well for the past 3 terms. Now it's time for this man to take our country back.

[hipsterrunoff]

[Alphanumeric]

Please, like Libs haven't had their share of corruptions

[fighter]

Absolutely not Alpha. They are free from corruption. They are a friend of the Somali and immigrant communities.

President McGuinty comes from a family of around 10 siblings. They come from an immigrant Irish family and know our struggle. We must support the Liberal Party of Canada and the Liberal Party of Ontario and our kids must do the same.

We were ranked the highest in terms of the Human Development Index during the era of the Liberals (1st place in the world). Now we are falling every single year after these neo-cons came to power. My quality of life is falling. I feel a significant decrease in wealth, health and happiness.

We must call his provincial constiuency office in Ottawa South and demand that he run for the Federal Liberal in the leadership convention coming up soon.

[Alphanumeric]

That's pretty damn motivating, and I don't even consider myself a Liberal.

I think I'll start looking into political scene now. Are you interested in running?

[famotte]

To the poster who started this thread, are you a real liberal (supporter of gay rights, secularism, environmentalist etc.) or are you just supporting them because they are, as you said, friend of the immigrants?