Conservative 'Robocalls' tricked voters in last election
- Thread starter mentalfloss
- Start date
They're trying bud, they're trying. Give them time. They're only ideologues you know.
While you hope and pray it can be stuck to Harper, if that fails, your usual spin will do nicely, I'm sure, lol.This one can brew for a while.
You think I'm Harper?
What have I told you about posting, post blaze. It only makes you look foolish. Now that's obvious.
Actually the F-35 news is doing enough damage to Harper. This one can brew for a while.
Yeah okay.
It's either that, or you were unable to follow the sting, or you need to look up mocking and/or spin as well.
Given your admitted abuse of pot, it could be any one of those issues though.
Yes you should. It's a good sign that you recognize that. Especially since it's obvious you're having issues here.
And again, it's good of you to admit that you're having issues here.
Would you like me to explain where you went wrong?
I don't mind helping the mentally challenged, even if it is self inflicted.
Bear? Bear?
The nurse is here now Bear. You need to put on the straight jacket and take your meds now Bear..
Good boy.
Oh wow, will you look at that, more post blaze delusions, and a pic of Winnie to boot!Bear? Bear?
The nurse is here now Bear. You need to put on the straight jacket and take your meds now Bear..
Good boy.
You've really out done yourself, I feel so mocked.
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Didn't you get the memo? It has always been Harper fault. Just like our economy doing so well has always been Harper's fault despite the best efforts of the left.
We have been having the Canadian economy is doing well drummed into us by the CPC for so long now that far too many people believe it.
Here is one report that is not so self back-patting. By a Conservative commentator.
Don't Believe The Economic Hype
Elections Canada's hunt for Pierre Poutine hits another roadblock
Investigators hoping to land a video of Pierre Poutine came up empty when they tracked the robocall culprit to two Guelph, Ont., drug stores where he bought disposable gift credit cards.
After following Poutine's electronic trail for a year, Elections Canada recently learned he paid for deceptive election-day calls with untraceable "burner" credit cards from two Shoppers Drug Marts, so they contacted the company's loss prevention unit and asked to see video recordings of the transactions.
The security videos would have provided images of Poutine as he bought the Vanilla branded MasterCard and Visa cards in April 2011.
Investigators must have hoped they were closing in on the elusive Poutine when they traced the Paypal payments used to pay for the robocalls to cards issued by a Vancouver bank, which were purchased in Guelph.
The tantalizing prospect of a Poutine video evaporated, however, when Shoppers informed the election police that they couldn't provide the video images because too much time had passed.
"Unfortunately we didn't have the video footage they were looking for," said Tammy Smitham, Shoppers' director of communications and corporate affairs. "We don't keep it for that long."
Citing corporate security, Smitham would not say how long the close-circuit security videos are typically retained.
She said Shoppers heard from Elections Canada within the past couple of months.
"They just called our loss prevention people and we looked back to see if we had it for that date, but it's almost a year old."
That setback in the hunt to identify Poutine — the name used to buy a disposable Virgin Mobile cellphone — comes after a failed attempt to obtain records from a server in Saskatchewan. The suspect used freeproxyserver.ca, run out of a private home in the town of Conquest, Sask., to mask the his IP address when he connected with the Edmonton company that sent out the calls on election day.
Elections Canada investigator Al Mathews travelled all the way to Saskatoon chasing that dead lead, only to learn that the electronic records kept by the proxy server company were no longer retained.
In spite of the setbacks, the investigators on Poutine's trail have not given up. In the most recent court filing, Mathews reported to an Ottawa judge that in March he received subscriber information for three Rogers Internet accounts in Guelph.
In his application for a court order to Rogers, he wrote that the data "will assist in establishing the identity and location of the computer using IP address 99.225.28.34." That computer, the files attest, was used to access an account at an Edmonton robocall company the culprit used to send deceptive robocalls to thousands of Guelph voters on election day.
The court documents don't show who owns the Rogers accounts in question, but sources say investigators travelled to Guelph in late April to interview witnesses connected with the local Conservative campaign. Several former campaign workers have retained lawyers.
After following Poutine's electronic trail for a year, Elections Canada recently learned he paid for deceptive election-day calls with untraceable "burner" credit cards from two Shoppers Drug Marts, so they contacted the company's loss prevention unit and asked to see video recordings of the transactions.
The security videos would have provided images of Poutine as he bought the Vanilla branded MasterCard and Visa cards in April 2011.
Investigators must have hoped they were closing in on the elusive Poutine when they traced the Paypal payments used to pay for the robocalls to cards issued by a Vancouver bank, which were purchased in Guelph.
The tantalizing prospect of a Poutine video evaporated, however, when Shoppers informed the election police that they couldn't provide the video images because too much time had passed.
"Unfortunately we didn't have the video footage they were looking for," said Tammy Smitham, Shoppers' director of communications and corporate affairs. "We don't keep it for that long."
Citing corporate security, Smitham would not say how long the close-circuit security videos are typically retained.
She said Shoppers heard from Elections Canada within the past couple of months.
"They just called our loss prevention people and we looked back to see if we had it for that date, but it's almost a year old."
That setback in the hunt to identify Poutine — the name used to buy a disposable Virgin Mobile cellphone — comes after a failed attempt to obtain records from a server in Saskatchewan. The suspect used freeproxyserver.ca, run out of a private home in the town of Conquest, Sask., to mask the his IP address when he connected with the Edmonton company that sent out the calls on election day.
Elections Canada investigator Al Mathews travelled all the way to Saskatoon chasing that dead lead, only to learn that the electronic records kept by the proxy server company were no longer retained.
In spite of the setbacks, the investigators on Poutine's trail have not given up. In the most recent court filing, Mathews reported to an Ottawa judge that in March he received subscriber information for three Rogers Internet accounts in Guelph.
In his application for a court order to Rogers, he wrote that the data "will assist in establishing the identity and location of the computer using IP address 99.225.28.34." That computer, the files attest, was used to access an account at an Edmonton robocall company the culprit used to send deceptive robocalls to thousands of Guelph voters on election day.
The court documents don't show who owns the Rogers accounts in question, but sources say investigators travelled to Guelph in late April to interview witnesses connected with the local Conservative campaign. Several former campaign workers have retained lawyers.
Toronto riding's election result tossed by judge
Conservative MP Ted Opitz's Etobicoke Centre win overturned; party 'disappointed'
Conservative MP Ted Opitz's 2011 federal election win last year in Etobicoke Centre was declared null and void today in a challenge by former Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj.
Opitz won the May 2011 election by 26 votes, but Wrzesnewskyj challenged the results over voting irregularities. The case required more than 26 votes be thrown out for it to be declared void.
Conservative Party spokesman Fred Delorey said they're disappointed with the court decision after 52,000 people in Etobicoke Centre "followed the rules, cast their ballots and today had their democratic decision thrown into doubt."
"The judge has found problems with the way that Elections Canada ran the election in this riding," he said in an emailed statement.
"As the judge took care to point out in the decision, Ted Opitz and the Conservative campaign team followed the rules.
Wrzesnewskyj told CBC News that the riding needs a by-election to restore democracy.
"Something broke in the last federal election," he said. "It's a terrible thought not to know whether or not someone who is in the House of Commons, voting on laws by which we govern ourselves, whether those individuals are actually an expression of the will of the people."
He and the Conservatives seem to agree there's a need for more training for the volunteers and temporary workers the election agency takes on in advance of voting day.
"Elections Canada has to have the resources to properly train their officials, to make sure that people who vote are — it's as basic as making sure that they actually are Canadian citizens."
79 ballots set aside
Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae wrote a celebratory message on Twitter.
"Borys wins ! And now for round 2...," he tweeted.
Justice Thomas Lederer set aside 79 ballots in his decision Friday in Toronto. Opitz has eight days to appeal. If he does, the case would be heard as soon as possible by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Wrzesnewskyj's lawyer had argued up to 181 ballots were in dispute.
The voting irregularities included some people who weren't on the list but cast ballots after being vouched for by others at the polling station, some people without the proper paperwork completed, and others in which voters cast ballots when they were registered at other polling stations or didn't live in the riding.
Lederer said the core of the case was about the "confidence that Canadians must have in our electoral process."
"If that confidence is diminished, it follows that our interest in, and respect for, government will be similarly diminished. It surely follows that if people who are not qualified to vote were permitted to do so, or if there is a concern that people may have been permitted to vote more than once, confidence in our electoral process will fade."
Lederer noted that it seemed the election was conducted by responsible public officials and well-intentioned individuals who were motivated by nothing less than a desire to do the job properly.
But it can't be good enough to accept some people voted by registration and without registration certificates, without poll books recording who vouched for whom, and without having their names on the final list of voters.
"Our system requires more," Lederer wrote in the 40-page decision.
Elections Canada wouldn't comment on the decision in case there's an appeal.
Lawyers examined ballots
Under a court order, Wrzesnewskyj's lawyers were able to examine the ballots at 10 polling divisions, as well as poll books and electors' lists at Elections Canada's office in Ottawa.
The test to declare the election invalid, and trigger a byelection (after any appeals are exhausted), was a finding that more than 26 ballots, the losing margin, should not have been counted.
Particularly outstanding is what went on in Polling Division 31, located in a church in Etobicoke. Eighty-six people voted by registration certificate on May 2, meaning they showed up without a voter identification card. Wrzesnewsky's lawyers claim that 68 of those voters actually lived in another polling division and should never have been allowed to vote at polling station 31. Lederer threw out 15 ballots in that polling division.
Two of those voters gave addresses outside the riding and their ballots should be discarded, the lawyers claim. And 32 voters were already on the electors' list in that polling division or others nearby, suggesting it's possible they voted twice.
In another polling division in the riding, five voters who voted by registration certificate are listed as being crossed off the electors' list in another polling division, indicating they most likely did vote twice.
In one polling division, both the deputy returning officer and the polling clerk vouched for more than one voter who showed up without ID, something that, as Elections Canada employees, they should have known was illegal. Lederer threw out the four votes for which they vouched.
Toronto riding's election result tossed by judge - Politics - CBC News
Conservative MP Ted Opitz's Etobicoke Centre win overturned; party 'disappointed'
Conservative MP Ted Opitz's 2011 federal election win last year in Etobicoke Centre was declared null and void today in a challenge by former Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj.
Opitz won the May 2011 election by 26 votes, but Wrzesnewskyj challenged the results over voting irregularities. The case required more than 26 votes be thrown out for it to be declared void.
Conservative Party spokesman Fred Delorey said they're disappointed with the court decision after 52,000 people in Etobicoke Centre "followed the rules, cast their ballots and today had their democratic decision thrown into doubt."
"The judge has found problems with the way that Elections Canada ran the election in this riding," he said in an emailed statement.
"As the judge took care to point out in the decision, Ted Opitz and the Conservative campaign team followed the rules.
Wrzesnewskyj told CBC News that the riding needs a by-election to restore democracy.
"Something broke in the last federal election," he said. "It's a terrible thought not to know whether or not someone who is in the House of Commons, voting on laws by which we govern ourselves, whether those individuals are actually an expression of the will of the people."
He and the Conservatives seem to agree there's a need for more training for the volunteers and temporary workers the election agency takes on in advance of voting day.
"Elections Canada has to have the resources to properly train their officials, to make sure that people who vote are — it's as basic as making sure that they actually are Canadian citizens."
79 ballots set aside
Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae wrote a celebratory message on Twitter.
"Borys wins ! And now for round 2...," he tweeted.
Justice Thomas Lederer set aside 79 ballots in his decision Friday in Toronto. Opitz has eight days to appeal. If he does, the case would be heard as soon as possible by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Wrzesnewskyj's lawyer had argued up to 181 ballots were in dispute.
The voting irregularities included some people who weren't on the list but cast ballots after being vouched for by others at the polling station, some people without the proper paperwork completed, and others in which voters cast ballots when they were registered at other polling stations or didn't live in the riding.
Lederer said the core of the case was about the "confidence that Canadians must have in our electoral process."
"If that confidence is diminished, it follows that our interest in, and respect for, government will be similarly diminished. It surely follows that if people who are not qualified to vote were permitted to do so, or if there is a concern that people may have been permitted to vote more than once, confidence in our electoral process will fade."
Lederer noted that it seemed the election was conducted by responsible public officials and well-intentioned individuals who were motivated by nothing less than a desire to do the job properly.
But it can't be good enough to accept some people voted by registration and without registration certificates, without poll books recording who vouched for whom, and without having their names on the final list of voters.
"Our system requires more," Lederer wrote in the 40-page decision.
Elections Canada wouldn't comment on the decision in case there's an appeal.
Lawyers examined ballots
Under a court order, Wrzesnewskyj's lawyers were able to examine the ballots at 10 polling divisions, as well as poll books and electors' lists at Elections Canada's office in Ottawa.
The test to declare the election invalid, and trigger a byelection (after any appeals are exhausted), was a finding that more than 26 ballots, the losing margin, should not have been counted.
Particularly outstanding is what went on in Polling Division 31, located in a church in Etobicoke. Eighty-six people voted by registration certificate on May 2, meaning they showed up without a voter identification card. Wrzesnewsky's lawyers claim that 68 of those voters actually lived in another polling division and should never have been allowed to vote at polling station 31. Lederer threw out 15 ballots in that polling division.
Two of those voters gave addresses outside the riding and their ballots should be discarded, the lawyers claim. And 32 voters were already on the electors' list in that polling division or others nearby, suggesting it's possible they voted twice.
In another polling division in the riding, five voters who voted by registration certificate are listed as being crossed off the electors' list in another polling division, indicating they most likely did vote twice.
In one polling division, both the deputy returning officer and the polling clerk vouched for more than one voter who showed up without ID, something that, as Elections Canada employees, they should have known was illegal. Lederer threw out the four votes for which they vouched.
Toronto riding's election result tossed by judge - Politics - CBC News