“I find that electoral fraud occurred during the 41st General Election but I am not satisfied that it has been established that the fraud affected the outcomes in the subject ridings and I decline to exercise my discretion to annul the results in those districts.”
“In reaching this conclusion, I make no finding that the Conservative Party of Canada or any CPC candidates or RMG and RackNine Inc., were directly involved in any campaign to mislead voters,” he ruled.
Electoral fraud did take place in 2011 federal vote, judge rules | Canadian Politics | Canada | News | National Post
In its broadest sense, the
May 23 ruling by Justice Richard Mosley went against the eight citizens who brought the case.
In their submission, the eight asked the judge to overturn the results in six ridings, all of which had been won narrowly by the Conservatives.
It was on this that they lost. Mosley ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove the results would have changed had the robocalls not been made.
He also ruled there was not enough evidence to prove that Harper’s Conservatives were behind the robocalls.
Senate and robocall scandals different versions of same pathology: Walkom | Toronto Star
The judge did not make a final ruling on costs, and invited further submissions, yet rapped the Conservative party for making “little effort to assist with the investigation” despite the “obvious public interest in getting to the bottom of the allegations.”
The Conservative Party of Canada released a statement saying the decision concluded “there was no wrongdoing by the Conservative party or any of the candidates or campaign teams targeted” by the lawsuit.
Spokesman Fred DeLorey said that the court found “that not a single voter was produced to testify that they were prevented from voting due to alleged voter suppression
Robocalls: Widespread but ‘thinly scattered’ vote suppression didn’t affect election, judge rules | Toronto Star
