The Tories' Dirty Tricks Catalogue

[Urbane]

Well, I agree with both you on all counts. I know that's no fun . . . sorry!

[NAB]

LOL. It's so funny that such threads are so transparent as to the political bias and obvious left wing intentions of those who start them. No class at all

Nab

[Ub2]

What was that about right-wingers always spreading hatred . . .

http://bcblue.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/anti-conservative-group-issues-poster-with-meat-cleaver-stuck-in-harpers-skull/

[Urbane]

This puts a new light on those 31,000 complaints . . .

Online form letters behind ‘majority’ of 31,000 robo-call complaints
STEVEN CHASE
OTTAWA— Globe and Mail Update
Posted on Monday, March 12, 2012

Elections Canada says the bulk of the 31,000 messages it’s received from Canadians concerning fraudulent robo-calls in the 2011 ballot were merely form letters.

“The majority of those contacts were made via automated forms or online form letters,” agency spokesman John Enright said Monday.

Form letters such as those generated by activist website Leadnow.ca – which encourages Canadians to submit them – do not spell out an allegation about specific robo-calls but merely raise concern about the subject.

Elections Canada refuses to say how many of the calls or emails it received from Canadians on election period calls were dedicated to reporting specific complaints of fraud or harassment.

Mr. Enright said the election watchdog also heard from Canadians calling to follow up on existing or past complaints – as well as voters calling to raise general concern.

Separately Monday, the Conservatives tried to turn the tables on opposition attacks over fraudulent robo-calls in Guelph by hammering the Liberals over automated calls made by Grit candidate Frank Valeriote during the 2011 campaign.

The anti-Conservative robo-call in Guelph surfaced at the end of last week and the Liberals have publicly acknowledged they were behind it.

The recorded message does not tell listeners it was funded by the Valeriote campaign.

“The member for Guelph paid for illegal robo-calls that concealed the fact that calls came from his Liberal campaign,” Dean Del Mastro, parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister alleged in the Commons.

“They broke the CRTC regulations; they broke Elections Canada laws.”

Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae dismissed the accusation against Mr. Valeriote and called for a royal commission to investigate allegations of fraudulent robo-calls across dozens of ridings in the 2011 election.

“I can assure the honourable member nobody on this side has anything to fear from a royal commission,” Mr. Rae said. “We ask for it, we demand it, and the people of Canada require it.”

The recorded message – circulated to the media by Conservatives in recent days – attacked Guelph Tory candidate Marty Burke as anti-choice on abortion.

Conservatives accuse the Liberals of deliberately obscuring the fact they were behind the call, a charge the Grits deny.

The message says Mr. Burke believes “that under absolutely no circumstance should a women have the right to choose” to have an abortion.

“Government should not be able to force their beliefs on to me,” the woman delivering the recorded anti-Conservative message said. “The race in Guelph is very close. Vote strategically on Monday to protect our hard earned rights from the Conservatives and Marty’s extreme views.”

The call does not mention who paid for it. Mr. Valeriote has acknowledged the automated message should have identified it was funded by his campaign. His staff said, however, that he claimed it on his expenses for the political race.

Conservatives allege Mr. Valeriote violated Section 320 of the Election Act but the Liberals dispute this.

Elections Canada refuses to say whether the Valeriote ad violated the act but says any election advertising message made during a campaign must mention that “its transmission was authorized by the official agent of the candidate or by the registered agent of the party.”

[Merry]

All this talk of dirty dealings by both sides merely reinforces my view that we need to give Elections Canada the authority to conduct stricter oversight of such things.

I fully support the idea of more regulation surrounding the use of new technologies during elections, including more detailed documentation about WHO is requesting and WHO is paying for robocall type services. This information should then be made available on request to Elections Canada should they require it, in addition to it being a requirement that candidates report all such expenditures on their expense declarations. It would then be a simple matter of cross checking if Elections Canada ever needs to verify such information.

However, that said, an oversight by a candidate about making sure the robocalls identify the source of the call, or a campaign funding reporting error, is not in the same league as someone deliberately trying to suppress someone's vote by giving them misleading information as to the location of their polling station. While an inadvertent mistake is still wrong, and possibly subject to penalty under our Elections Laws, it is not as serious as commiting fraud which is, I believe, a criminal offense. We should not confuse the two.

[Merry]

LOL. It's so funny that such threads are so transparent as to the political bias and obvious left wing intentions of those who start them. No class at all

Nab

This is a classic example of allowing one's partisan views to blind oneself to the issue at hand.

If someone from ANY political party, uses dirty tricks to try to get elected, they deserve to be exposed. The fact that this particular thread was started by someone wishing to expose Tory dirty tricks is irrelevant, because there are other threads which attempt to expose the dirty tricks of other political parties. And I applaud those threads as well. Because it is only by exposing such behaviour to the cold light of day and general public scrutiny that we can ever hope to change it.

Politics have always been a bit of a dirty game, but some of the stuff that goes on these days takes that dirtyness to an even higher level. And I for one would like to see this type of behaviour STOP, and consider threads such as these to be one small step towards that goal.

[steven lloyd]

If someone from ANY political party, uses dirty tricks to try to get elected, they deserve to be exposed. The fact that this particular thread was started by someone wishing to expose Tory dirty tricks is irrelevant, because there are other threads which attempt to expose the dirty tricks of other political parties. And I applaud those threads as well. Because it is only by exposing such behaviour to the cold light of day and general public scrutiny that we can ever hope to change it.

Very well said Merry. I will admit that I voted Conservative in the last federal election. That doesn’t mean I made the choice to deliberately stick my head up my *bleep* for the next four years (just imagine how long some of our provincial Liberal supporters have gone without seeing the light of day and wondering what that smell is).

[Al Czervic]

This is a classic example of allowing one's partisan views to blind oneself to the issue at hand.

If someone from ANY political party, uses dirty tricks to try to get elected, they deserve to be exposed. The fact that this particular thread was started by someone wishing to expose Tory dirty tricks is irrelevant, because there are other threads which attempt to expose the dirty tricks of other political parties. And I applaud those threads as well. Because it is only by exposing such behaviour to the cold light of day and general public scrutiny that we can ever hope to change it.

Politics have always been a bit of a dirty game, but some of the stuff that goes on these days takes that dirtyness to an even higher level. And I for one would like to see this type of behaviour STOP, and consider threads such as these to be one small step towards that goal.

Well said Merry.

[Al Czervic]

That doesn’t mean I made the choice to deliberately stick my head up my *bleep* for the next four years (just imagine how long some of our provincial Liberal supporters have gone without seeing the light of day and wondering what that smell is).

I would never stick my head up there....I would be too afraid I'd find the NDP....

[Logitack]

you just had to go there eh, al.....smh

[steven lloyd]

I would never stick my head up there....I would be too afraid I'd find the NDP....

Don't worry Al. If they were up there you would have found them while curling up next to Gordon Campbell's feet.

[wilde]

If you believe everything written in the Tyee you've got a problem. Spin, Spin, Spin!
Of course, you may like feeling dizzy!

[econovan64]

I really think that the so called voter identification thing has to be stopped. The campaigns that can afford it will have people calling everyone on the voters list and trying to determine who they are supporting. While they don't necessarily do this in every riding yet more will be doing it as resources allow. it really is an invasion of privacy and needs to be stopped. I had one such call in Kelowna the last election asking me if I was going to vote Conservative. When I said no the caller made a little remark some thing like "Oh really" in a put down tone of voice that trailed off and then hung up abruptly. Not thank you, or goodbye. I can tell you the next time I get such a call from any party my response will have them taking a smoke break before calling anyone else.

[Merry]

This whole dirty business has really made me think twice about answering questions from someone conducting a phone survey about how I intend to vote.

I think in future I'll just say "that information is my business, and that I intend to keep it that way".

[The Green Barbarian]

This whole dirty business has really made me think twice about answering questions from someone conducting a phone survey about how I intend to vote.

I think in future I'll just say "that information is my business, and that I intend to keep it that way".

People still answer their phones? That's just weird. With call display, if it's a number I don't recognize, the caller can leave a message if they want to talk to me. That screens out every single call I don't want to take.