Robocalls?? Tempest in a Teapot. BIG surprise.

[Colpy]

An investigation into misleading and nuisance robocalls made to voters across Canada didn't find an intention to prevent them from casting ballots, so no one will be charged, Elections Canada said today.
A 2012 media report about the investigation into robocalls in Guelph, Ont., led to hundreds of complaints about live and automated calls directing voters in other ridings across Canada to the wrong polling stations ahead of the May 2, 2011 election. There were also complaints about annoying and harassing calls that frustrated people and may have been meant to annoy them enough not to vote.

• Read the Elections Canada report (pdf)

Yves Côté, commissioner of Canada Elections, said in a news release Thursday that the investigation into those calls didn't find an intent to prevent or dissuade Canadians from voting.

"Ultimately, investigators have been able to determine that incorrect poll locations were provided to some electors, and that some nuisance calls occurred," the report into the calls said.
"However, the evidence does not establish that calls were made a) with the intention of preventing or attempting to prevent an elector from voting, or b) for the purpose of inducing an elector by some pretense or contrivance to vote or not vote, or to vote or not vote for a particular candidate."
"This proof of intent is necessary for the commissioner to consider recommending to the Director of Public
Prosecutions that a prosecution under the Act be initiated," the report said.

Robocalls made across Canada in 2011 won't bring charges - Politics - CBC News

 

[Colpy]

Blazing Cat Fur: Liberal Fined For Robocalls

Heh Heh Heh

Mr. Coté’s investigators discovered two recordings of robocalls and one transcript in the course of their work. Yet the report described the two recordings as “innocuous,” while the transcript giving incorrect polling information was sent to a party supporter by his own party’s local campaign.
That’s pretty thin gruel on which to mount the case that democracy has been denied.
To believe that requires two preconditions.
The first is a complete lack of knowledge about the Conservative war-room in the 2011 election. Guy Giorno, the prime minister’s chief of staff, was campaign manager and, while he may have his failings, he is a stickler for due process. During the campaign, he employed a full-time compliance officer to ensure the party didn’t break any election rules.
As one top Conservative operative told me: “Why take the risk in a risk-averse environment? You’d only do it where the risk has a high return, which it doesn’t here. The culture of the party is not one conducive to freelancing. If you do, you get frog-marched out of the door and dispatched for life.”
The second precondition is a sense of absolute powerlessness — the feeling that the “enemy above” is manipulating the system for their own gain.
For the 2011 election Truthers, it is easier to assign responsibility for an emotionally troubling event in a moral context — hence, the Conservatives could only win by cheating.

John Ivison: Sorry, Truthers — the robocalls affair is not Canada’s Watergate | National Post

Heh Yes, I'm loving this.

Told you so.......all it took was a little applied math to know most of this this thing was simply sour grapes.

 

[Locutus]

Conservative Party ‏@CPC_HQ

As we've said all along, and as Elections Canada has now determined, the Conservative Party ran a clean and ethical campaign. 1/4 #cdnpoli


Ezra Levant ‏@ezralevant

Perhaps the most embarrassing 13 minutes the CBC has broadcast in the past year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=tjXFKHyxeN4&app=desktop … #truthers #cdnpoli #robocalls

 

[BornRuff]

Conservative Party ‏@CPC_HQ

As we've said all along, and as Elections Canada has now determined, the Conservative Party ran a clean and ethical campaign. 1/4 #cdnpoli

This seems a bit over enthusiastic. The report clearly says that they did provide people with incorrect polling locations and they did target people with nuisance phone calls.

They simply can't prove intent, so I guess they are only guilty of the electoral version of manslaughter.

 

[captain morgan]

They simply can't prove intent

Which means that they can't prove anything of substance, can they?

... But this: Blazing Cat Fur: Liberal Fined For Robocalls, well, this appears to be much more premeditated.

So, when can I expect the usual suspects to post a myriad of new threads with all of the drama and theatrics relative to the Liberal Party stomping on democracy and the very foundation of our society?

 

[pgs]

Which means that they can't prove anything of substance, can they?

... But this: Blazing Cat Fur: Liberal Fined For Robocalls, well, this appears to be much more premeditated.

So, when can I expect the usual suspects to post a myriad of new threads with all of the drama and theatrics relative to the Liberal Party stomping on democracy and the very foundation of our society?

No he was a rogue agent not acting with the parties approval .
The conservatives on the other hand ---------------

 

[Locutus]

This seems a bit over enthusiastic. The report clearly says that they did provide people with incorrect polling locations and they did target people with nuisance phone calls.

They simply can't prove intent, so I guess they are only guilty of the electoral version of manslaughter.

Hey! I think you're wrong slim! If it actually was over enthusiastic wouldn't there be a lot of those stupid exclamation marks or CAPS you idiots love to use in here? Probably! But I could be WRONG!

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

This seems a bit over enthusiastic. The report clearly says that they did provide people with incorrect polling locations and they did target people with nuisance phone calls.

They simply can't prove intent, so I guess they are only guilty of the electoral version of manslaughter.

I think it is completely understandable. They got grilled in the media and in the commons for months by the Lieberals and the NDP over it. Now they have been vindicated, they have every right to be enthusiastic. Shows that it was just typical political mudslinging by the 2 loser parties.

 

[BornRuff]

I think it is completely understandable. They got grilled in the media and in the commons for months by the Lieberals and the NDP over it. Now they have been vindicated, they have every right to be enthusiastic. Shows that it was just typical political mudslinging by the 2 loser parties.

Words like "vindicated" are exactly what I am questioning here.

Wouldn't you normally think that would mean they were found to have not actually done what people claimed?

When the report shows that they did in fact do it, but they can't prove that they did it to screw with the election(though why else would you do stuff like that?), it seems like a bit more of a tepid approval.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Words like "vindicated" are exactly what I am questioning here.

Wouldn't you normally think that would mean they were found to have not actually done what people claimed?

When the report shows that they did in fact do it, but they can't prove that they did it to screw with the election(though why else would you do stuff like that?), it seems like a bit more of a tepid approval.

From what the Lieberals and NDP were saying back in the day (or maybe it was just their rabid dog supporters like yourself and Cobalt), Stephen Harper himself was personally calling Lieberal supporters and mis-directing them to an incorrect polling station. So I think the word stands. Turns out the only person verifyable hanky panky was a Lieberal. But I am sure he was acting alone.

 

[BornRuff]

From what the Lieberals and NDP were saying back in the day (or maybe it was just their rabid dog supporters like yourself and Cobalt), Stephen Harper himself was personally calling Lieberal supporters and mis-directing them to an incorrect polling station. So I think the word stands. Turns out the only person verifyable hanky panky was a Lieberal. But I am sure he was acting alone.

Lol, no, it was called the "robocall" scandal for a reason.

The finding against the Liberal riding association is a different type of issue. There was no allegation that they were trying to prevent people from voting in any way. It is an issue of them not putting the right identifying information on their call.

 

[taxslave]

The problem is that the left is largely comprised of liars and thieves so they automatically think that everyone else shares their lack of values. We have seen this many times with the NDP in BC.

 

[BornRuff]

The problem is that the left is largely comprised of liars and thieves so they automatically think that everyone else shares their lack of values. We have seen this many times with the NDP in BC.

Lol, right. Certainly have not heard any examples of conservatives lying or stealing recently.

 

[petros]

Maybe no charges but the level of scrutiny in 2015 will be overwhelming and auto dialers a thing of the past.

 

[Spade]

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Canada anymore."
-Dorothy

 

[BornRuff]

Maybe no charges but the level of scrutiny in 2015 will be overwhelming and auto dialers a thing of the past.

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem likely. Political parties use "robocalls" all the time, and I doubt they are going to want to replace them with actually hiring people to make phone calls.

Despite the name, the issue really isn't about automated telephone calls, it is about using them to mislead or harass opposition voters to prevent them from voting.

 

[Count_Lothian]

The problem lies in the fact that most of the complaints were rallied. Of the 40,000 complaints only a few hundred were actual people that got the calls.

It does not mean that it did not happen and people were not misdirected, just that someone rallied people to complain about it who never got the calls.

Hence it gets tossed out.

I'm paranoid enough to believe that the 39,500 people that made the false complaints were urged to do so by a chain of command inside the Conservative party....lol....

but make no mistake, all parties want robo calls..which does not mean the conservatives used it in anything but a vile way.

those clapping their hands that they did not get charged are just part in parcel to the propaganda machine needed to support a False conservative party using the Conservative logo.

The ends the brain washed will go in supporting these people is as amazing or as boring you choose, as Ford Nation.

we do not have sophisticated voting public in Canada , just the brain washed.

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem likely. Political parties use "robocalls" all the time, and I doubt they are going to want to replace them with actually hiring people to make phone calls.

Despite the name, the issue really isn't about automated telephone calls, it is about using them to mislead or harass opposition voters to prevent them from voting.

Even if it was the intended to misdirect. There is nothing to link this to the Conservative Party and the assertions (by idiots like CK) that the Harper Government cheated to get elected is ridiculous.

Another scandal goes by the wayside for opposition parties lacking the ability to generate enough votes to form a government.

 

[Colpy]

The problem lies in the fact that most of the complaints were rallied. Of the 40,000 complaints only a few hundred were actual people that got the calls.

It does not mean that it did not happen and people were not misdirected, just that someone rallied people to complain about it who never got the calls.

Hence it gets tossed out.

I'm paranoid enough to believe that the 39,500 people that made the false complaints were urged to do so by a chain of command inside the Conservative party....lol....

but make no mistake, all parties want robo calls..which does not mean the conservatives used it in anything but a vile way.

those clapping their hands that they did not get charged are just part in parcel to the propaganda machine needed to support a False conservative party using the Conservative logo.

The ends the brain washed will go in supporting these people is as amazing or as boring you choose, as Ford Nation.

we do not have sophisticated voting public in Canada , just the brain washed.

I LOVE you guys!!!

The Conservative Party was EXONERATED. There was NO EVIDENCE of any wrong-doing, outside of that allegedly committed by a loose cannon in Guelph.

This is exactly what I have been saying since day 1......The Conservative Party strategists are not stupid enough to do something like this, even if they were crooked enough, which they are not.

And the fact that a man that is no friend of the Conservative Party exonerated them, while he had a Supreme Court justice looking over his shoulder to ensure everything was kosher, has made exactly NO impression on the Harper haters, as they are NOT interested in justice nor are they interested in the truth........all they want is a gallows on which to hang Harper, and they are psychologically incapable of accepting that the gallows is NOT deserved.

 

[Count_Lothian]

Even if it was the intended to misdirect. There is nothing to link this to the Conservative Party and the assertions (by idiots like CK) that the Harper Government cheated to get elected is ridiculous.

Another scandal goes by the wayside for opposition parties lacking the ability to generate enough votes to form a government.

you are kidding yourself.

The first line of your post, read it.

Just because this does not make it to conviction does not mean there was no smoke.

The fact is people were misdirected. That in and of itself screams scam.

Mr.Poutine worked for the conservative logo.

Over and over again this conservative logo operates in gray areas to say the least.

I do not approve.

People seem to want a pure government with a Conservative logo.
Dat ain't happenin cappin!


Now I agree that they did not get elected entirely on cheating, but cheating did go on.