Darkstar Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/02/25/pol-rae-robocalls-saturday.html Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae claims reports of "robocalls" and voter suppression tactics contributed to the defeat of Liberal candidates in at least 27 ridings during the last federal election. These tactics were the equivalent of "stuffing a ballot box," Rae said at a news conference in the riding of Toronto-Danforth on Saturday. Rae called on "the prime minister, any Conservative MP, candidate or party official" who has any knowledge of these reports to come forward and turn the information over to the RCMP or Elections Canada for investigation. According to Rae, these reports are part of a wider misinformation campaign by the Conservatives and he is calling on Parliament to hold an emergency debate on Monday. Both Rae and NDP Leader Nycole Turmel raised the controversy while campaigning in the byelection in Toronto-Danforth and vowed to keep the heat on the governing Conservatives. Turmel said the scandal has eroded Canadians' faith in the electoral process and a thorough RCMP probe is necessary to restore credibility in the system. In an interview with CBC News on Saturday, Dean Del Mastro, the parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said his own campaign in Peterborough, Ont., was "the victim" of dirty tricks. Del Mastro said he would be providing Elections Canada with this information and said the party is calling on anyone with any information about these fraudulent calls to do the same. CBC News has learned that Jim Maloway, former NDP MP and the current member for Elmwood in the Manitoba legislature, has sent a letter to the chief electoral officer asking him to investigate "possible organized illegal activity" in the federal riding of Elmwood-Transcona. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobble Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Nah, pretty sure the Liberals just suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiCHC3 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 If anything, I'm surprised the Liberals got as many votes as they did during the last election. Their whole campaign was nothing short of embarrassing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buggernut Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 That's a pretty serious accusation. Rae better be right. Welcome to Russia Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Common sense Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 That's a pretty serious accusation. Rae better be right. Welcome to Russia Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offensive Threat Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Raes is a bit of a douchebag. His party lost seats, he had a choice to either get over it and move on or cry like a baby. He chose to cry and keep on crying. Well played. Makes the liberals look like dicks to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikeme Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 This happened in the Saanich Gulf Islands riding when Briony Penn was running against Gary Lunn. People were getting 'robocalls' telling them to vote for the NDP candidate that had already dropped out of the race. My dad is/was close with local NDP campaign workers, and they definitely (obviously) were not paying out of their funds for a marketing company to advertise for their already resigned candidate. Sure, the federal Liberals have problems. It doesn't mean the Conservatives haven't committed some election fraud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Common sense Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 So why is it that Rae, instead of managing his party and ensuring that they are competitive for the next election, go create some unsubstantiated story about the Tories? This tweet, for example, shocks me - where's the party accountability; where's the assurance that the people of Nipissing-Timiskaming will have their voices heard by the Libs? Rather, Rae goes and accuses the CPC of getting more votes than Rosa - oh the humanity! https://twitter.com/#!/bobraeMP/status/173891062224523264 Add Nipissing Timiskaming to the list. Anthony Rota lost by 18 votes - evidence of voter suppression Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weber's Playoff Beard Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Rae has lost his mind.. time to find a YOUNGER leader. Preferably under the age of 50... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamero89 Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 As much as I hate the conservatives, they ran a much better campaign They convinced people, that voting conservative was more Canadian, when Canadians in general are more "liberal" in terms of thinking. Like it or not the conservative have more American views on things. Liberals ran a terrible one. None the less, these accusations have to be taken seriously Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeStealth Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 As much as I hate the conservatives, they ran a much better campaign They convinced people, that voting conservative was more Canadian, when Canadians in general are more "liberal" in terms of thinking. Like it or not the conservative have more American views on things. Liberals ran a terrible one. None the less, these accusations have to be taken seriously Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canucks since 77 Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 It's going to be an interesting day on the hill tomorrow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverpig Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Might as well keep this updated. The crap is hitting the fan in parliament and around the country now. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/harper-dismisses-robo-call-scandal-as-smear-campaign-by-sore-losers/article2354253/ The robocalls are being picked up by all the major news outlets, and petitions are flying. The extent of the campaign is pretty staggering. Here's a list of the ridings (so far) that have been affected, and the election results in them: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/28/robocall-ridings/ Thousands of calls to many tens of ridings all across the country - this doesn't look like the work of a single rogue person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buggernut Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 This just further goes to bolster my impression of democracy as a very fragile institution that could be here today but gone tomorrow. Most of the world is ruled by dictatorships. What is so much better about us that physically guarantees the sustainability and perpetuity of our democratic system? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buggernut Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 So why is it that Rae, instead of managing his party and ensuring that they are competitive for the next election, go create some unsubstantiated story about the Tories? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire_Spiky Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 The Liberals are just pissed that they lost......again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverpig Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Weren't you a little too quick to jump to the "unsubstantiated" conclusion, most likely influenced by some partisan biased thinking on your part? Even if the difference wouldn't have won the Libs the election, nor even limited the Tories to a minority, it's the principle that counts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverpig Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Oh, also, the Conservatives were charged with violating the elections act in a previous election for an "in and out" funding issue in which they spent $1.3M more than they were allowed by transferring national campaign money to local constituency offices, and using that money to fund national ad campaigns. They plead guilty and were subject to a $52,000 fine. Apparently they decided to do it again in the 2011 election. Posted this morning on Quebec's Le Devoir: ''Another In-and-Out in Quebec?'' Quebec conservative candidates paid for calls on behalf of the national campaign without knowing why" ''In total, 97 candidates used the services of RMG to make phone calls during last election, with 18 from Quebec. of the 18, 14 paid the same amount: 5000,01$. Two others paid 15 000$ CPC spokesman Fred DeLory: '' These RMG services were paid for by local campaigns'' 2011 CPC candidate Pierre Paul-Hus: '' we received the money from the party and paid the (RMG) bill with it, it was "in-and-out". " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverpig Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 C'mon guys... this is kind of important... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coda Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 C'mon guys... this is kind of important... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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