Harper's history with Elections Canada

Part of the reason none of the incompetence, mismanagement, corruption and scandals stick to the Harper Government is that the public seems to suffer from collective amnesia.

Remember this?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's hostility toward Elections Canada is long-standing and visceral. As Elections Canada starts its investigation into harassing and misleading phone calls in the 2011 election, it's uncertain how confident Canadians can be the Conservatives will co-operate or that Elections Canada can proceed without consequence.

As head of the right-wing National Citizens' Coalition, Harper fought Elections Canada all the way to the Supreme Court over the ban on unlimited third-party election advertising and lost. From today's vantage point, that court case has an eerie if not prophetic title -- Harper vs. Elections Canada.

And this?

A judicial inquiry or a Royal Commission would be empowered to unearth the tracks of election fraud engineering by the CPC. So it's unlikely Stevie Spiteful will create either of those, and will deal instead with Elections Canada which he has applied himself to making toothless and thus ineffectual in stopping his steamroller of CONtempt for Parliament.

More about the CPC election fraud here and here.

How Many Links to a Smoking Gun?

Maurice Vellacott had a little chat with The Hill Times and it wasn't about abortion.

But when Stevie Peevie gets a load of this, I think he'll open the Abortion Debate all by himself to distract the brainless big-mouth.

Further to Blame Game Move 5 (blame Elections Canada), Vellacott explains that EC sends voter lists to all parties, once early on in the campaign, and again three days before the election. Note: these lists do NOT contain the all-important telephone numbers.

Then what happens, Maurice?

Mr. Vellacott disclosed the Conservative Party’s central campaign matches the telephone numbers of identified voters, from a range of sources including electoral district information, with the Elections Canada voter lists.

“I don’t know how it works with everybody, but for the most part, because it’s such a massive job in such a short period of time, I would suspect that with most parties, I can’t speak for others, but I suspect it comes from the national party office, you know attempting to do that,” Mr. Vellacott said

“They’ve got all these 308 ridings across the country, but they do the match up for us. We don’t do it ourselves, in terms of the addition [of phone numbers]. I don’t know how it works for others, the new dump of stuff as it kind of progresses through the campaign and then trying to marry those numbers, that’s all done by our national office, at least within the Conservative Party.”

Liberals told The Hill Times on Tuesday their party does not maintain central control over campaign voting lists and voter identification numbers, and a senior NDP official, Brad Lavigne, recently told CBC’s The House that NDP electoral districts maintain their own voter lists.

Mr. Vellacott said he believes the Conservative Party manages the lists and matches voter identification telephone numbers centrally because it has the capacity and the expertise that the job requires.

Given Vellacott's intellectual capacity, perhaps this is just a kindness on CPC's part and done only for him.

We await further clarfication.

From the same article, an interesting tidbit:

Elections Canada confirmed to The Hill Times on Tuesday that for the first time in a federal election a representative of one of the recognized parties, the Conservative Party, had before the election requested that the initial voter list given to the parties at the beginning of the campaign include the location of polling sites. In response, Elections Canada provided the information to the Conservative Party and the other recognized parties.

Chief Electoral Marc Mayrand cautioned about the unusual request in a comprehensive report to Parliament last August.

Hence the warning from EC to parties NOT to give out polling station information.

“Because a polling site can be replaced by another at the last minute, and to ensure that electors always have access to the most accurate information regarding their location, Elections Canada indicated to political parties that the list supplied should only be used for internal purposes and that parties should not direct electors to polling sites,” the report said.

“Political parties were invited to refer electors to the Elections Canada website, their local Elections Canada office or their voter information card for locations, to prevent electors from being directed to incorrect polling sites. Some political parties did not comply with this request.”

It was the Contempt Party of Canada that requested the polling station locations, eh? For the first time, eh?

So, to recap. At least one Con says the telephone numbers were added by the national campaign and that the lists were centrally controlled. Said telephone numbers were used to misinform voters about the location of their polling stations -- locations requested by the Contempters.

Not much, I agree. But the links are there. We've gotta keep at it.

Was there CON election fraud in the ballot counting too?

Before the 2011 federal election, I wondered if the CPC would try to control the results of voting in key ridings by infiltrating Elections Canada with their stooges and goons.

It's not difficult to get hired on as poll clerk or even DRO in ridings that have isolated poll stations.

Which may account for the curious case of 100 ballots for the NDP candidate being "accidentally" assigned to the GPC candidate, in Montmagny-L'Islet-Kamouraska-Rivière-du-Loup.

The CON candidate had been declared the winner, until the NDP demanded a recount.

The defeated CON's churlish, sore loser behaviour is predictable, particularly if he'd been assured his victory was *in the bag* thanks to post-voting fraud support.

Perhaps such "accidents" account for some of the surprising and inexplicable CON "victories" in the GTA. A few 100 voting ballots "reassigned" here and there - it all adds up to a fraudulent "majority".

Elections Canada should be MASSIVELY pressured to do a recount of votes cast in those key ridings.

The photograph came from this article which describes how Citizen Observer volunteers in Russia are being trained to spot election fraud.

Bad times, good times.

As I wrote to a friend this morning:

"These times are tough indeed for CONs. Though a week late, I think the New Orleans jubilant exhortation for Mardi Gras is more than appropriate for democracy-lovin' folks who can't wait to see the back of those carpetbaggers: 'Laissez l'bon temps rouler!'

Ouais. Rouler all over them like a MASSIVE steam roller, though the CPC scam will leave a stain that'll never wash out. Good. Our history and collective memory need a reminder that democracy requires vigilant defenders."

On May 2nd pale at A Creative Revolution posted, with links to CBC news items, a report of the curious incidents of robocalls harassing and mis-directing non-reformaTory voters.

DAMMIT JANET! also raised the issue last May here, here and here.

Yesterday Dr Dawg noted the heavy silence of the Globbin'Fail with regard to the alleged CON robocalls. Sour grapes? Imagine being scooped by the NatPo!

The Toronto Star's Joanna Smith reminds the NDP sent a letter to Elections Canada in April.

The Montreal Gazette has the Liberals' response.

If the so-called 'mainstream media' overlords had allowed their journalists to be diligent and vigilant - as many of the bloggers are - this story would have emerged in May, before the odious, vote-suppressing, corrupt CONtempt Party started its wrecking ball on the Canada we love and cherish.

It appears even Radio-Canada is vulnerable to pressure from Stevie's Politburo. This week the director of news reporting, Alain Saulnier was fired. On his watch "Enquêtes" did ground-breaking investigative journalism that exposed the corrupt underpinning and religious zealotry of the CPC.

The best word on this vote suppression scam belongs to Stephen Lautens:

"It just goes to show that the only way a far right agenda can win in Canada is by cheating."

The last image: a smug, complacent PMSHithead at the Calgary Stampede.

The last words (from good cop John McClane): "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker."

RoboScam: RackNine Paid in US Dollars?

Right now there are more questions than answers in the RoboScam election fraud affair. (I had no idea we [ok, deBeauxOs] here at DAMMIT JANET! had been on this for so loooong.)

Here is my question for now.

Why were some RackNine invoices either billed in or paid in US currency?

It's an Edmonton company working a Canadian election.

Have a look at the invoices, receipts, and emails.

The invoice to Leon Benoit's campaign has a note about the amount in equivalent Canadian dollars.

Jason Kenney's invoice has a scribble at bottom near the total that looks like 'US $'.

Yet noted on the RackNine invoices:

Unless otherwise agreed in writing by the supplier all invoices are payable on or before the due date noted above, in the currency of the invoice drawn on a bank based in Canada or by such other method as agreed in advance by RackNine Inc.

The RackNine receipts specify CAD beside the amount, but invoices just say 'Total (in $)'.

Do Conservatives love the US so much they prefer to use its currency?

Or was it an attempt to limit Elections Canada's jurisdiction?

And more questions: Alison has questions about connections between Campaign Research and deniability in general and the robocalls in particular.

We hate to say we told you so but ...

actually, we do like to say "We told you so!" though in this case it's not triumphant, simply an observation that DAMMIT JANET! suggested there was something fishy about the robocalling scam.

Right after elxn41, we urged journalists to investigate the curious matter of phone calls to folks ^NOT identified as CONtempt Party supporters.

Some of the robocalls were harassment, some gave false instructions about voting on Election Day and deliberately directed people to non-existent polls locations. None of the calls said they had been initiated by the CONservative Party; in fact some claimed they were from Elections Canada.

More election fraudulence? The Cons are furiously trying to distance themselves from this stinking mess and bets have been placed: many think this political operative will take the blame and be thrown under the expediency bus ... only to be eventually resuscitated and recycled by Stevie's Politburo, no doubt. Cheating and fraud, as well as getting away with it has become an achievement of the reformatories.

Susan Delacourt makes interesting connections about voter apathy.

At Dawg's Blawg, the combined research capabilities and political acumen of Alison at Creekside and the Dr are on top of the story.

In May last year, I attended an evening of information sharing about political websites and discovered the awesomeness that is The Pundits' Guide to Canadian Federal Elections. Check it out.

That's Michael Sona - the putative *masturmind* of the CONs' robocalls scam, lurking in the background.

Dear Contempt Party of Canada:

you lie you lie you lie YOU LIE

Your MASSIVE Con Jobs - senators Doug Finley and Irving Gerstein, past party director Michael Donison, and past CFO Susan Kehoe - charged with criminal offenses were ^NOT "cleared of wrongdoing".

Your lawyer plea bargained to avoid a trial.

Crown prosecutor Richard Roy argued there was no point in sticking with the initial, more serious charges and dragging the matter out in court because the maximum fines allowed would have been the same.

As to dropping the charges against the four top Tory officials who actually carried out the in-and-out scheme Roy told reporters that "the public interest does not require that we continue on these charges."

How did you subvert the Crown prosecutor? Did you threaten his family or promise him a more lucrative job with your tar sand cronies?

What you did was illegal. From here:

The Conservative Party of Canada and its fundraising arm, the Conservative Fund of Canada, were fined $52,000 after pleading guilty to exceeding national advertising spending limits and improperly reporting the expenses incurred through a sophisticated “in-and-out” scheme.

Under it, Harper’s party shifted national advertising money, through wire transfers into and immediately out of local riding campaign accounts, in order to claim national ad spending as local. In the words of national campaign director Doug Finley, it would “run a major slam dunk” over competitors in the final weeks of the campaign.

You are a party of criminals that obfuscate constantly to evade public scrutiny and accountability.

Smells like a plea bargain.

Walks and quacks like one, too!

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have struck a deal with prosecutors to avoid embarrassing Elections Act charges against four officials accused of deliberately exceeding spending limits in the 2006 campaign that vaulted the Tories to power.

In return, the Conservative Party of Canada and its fundraising arm are pleading guilty to lesser charges that characterize what took place as a mere error instead of intentional misconduct.

What a splendid display of the Contempt that PMSHithead's and his Con jobs have for the criminal justice system and the rule of law.

It's the way the Contempt Party rolls.

The results of a judicial recount was declared in the Québec riding of Montmagny-L'Islet-Kamouraska-Rivière-du-Loup.

It confirmed NDP candidate François Lapointe won that election, beating the Con incumbent Bernard Généreux, who was declared the winner on election night, with a 110-vote lead over his closest rival. From here:

However when the result was validated the following day, Lapointe came out on top by five votes.

The slim margin of victory prompted a judicial recount that began Wednesday and concluded Friday evening with Lapointe being confirmed the winner by nine votes.

Généreux played the sore loser, muttering vague threats about the recount, claiming a travesty of democracy. It was the habitual Con spin about what actually happened; during the first counting of ballots on election night, 100 votes for Lapointe had been incorrectly awarded to the Green Party.

It makes you wonder about all those GTA ridings the Cons claimed, doesn't it?

This loss leaves Contempt leader SHithead with only five Québec MPs from whom to choose possible cabinet ministers. One of those is Maxime "MPty Suit" Bernier.

The most important story of elxn41

First, the most important story isn't as *sexy* as some elements in the Ruth Ellen Brosseau saga.

By the way, it's important to note that she's not the first poteau elected to the House of Commons. A number of those were swept into Parliament by Mulroney's mammoth wave of new-elected Progressive Conservative MPs in 1984. I don't recall they were subjected to the same level of sustained scrutiny as she's been since her election.

So, the critical story is the increasing use of US-style political dirty tricks exploited before and during election campaigns. Excellent deconstructions of the Contempt Party's use of attack ads to plant negative images and narratives that might influence how electors view the Opposition leader were done here and here.

But it puzzles me that nobody in the purported *liberal* media has produced a thorough investigation of the MASSIVE amount of robo-calls deployed in specific ridings to deliberately irritate electors and to present false information.

It's been determined by tracing some of them to their source that most if not all originated with one US-based company. It is critical to establish who produced this carefully-crafted harassment campaign and how it was paid for.

Did #Contempt Party political operatives encourage supporters to fund this initiative and did they tell them to direct their financial contributions to a US-based company in order to evade the purview of Elections Canada?

Canadians want and need to know if this is the case.

Bev Oda: Canadian trend-setter ...

or ∧NOT?

In the Excited States, a governor who vetoed hundreds of bills that his legislature passed announced that he's seeking his party's support to run for president.

Self-made millionaire and former two-term New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson said on Thursday he will seek the Republican nomination for U.S. president in 2012. As a state governor, Johnson pushed for lower taxes and lower government spending, and set records by vetoing some 750 pieces of legislation.[...]

Johnson mentioned President Barack Obama just once, saying he supports repealing Obama's health care overhaul legislation. But he also criticized Republicans, saying they also are to blame for out-of-control spending. He said he opposed the Iraq war from the start and though he initially supported the war in Afghanistan, he no longer believes American troops should be there.

He also supports legalizing marijuana as a way to eliminate much of the violence along the Mexico border.

The US political scene is almost as entertaining as Canada's, whenever the focus is on polarizing, headline-seeking, RWNJ-placating personalities.

By the way, a veto is just a formal ∧NOT.

However. A vote is a vote is a vote is a vote. Do it! Advance polling starts tomorrow, and even if you didn't receive your card in the mail, call Elections Canada to find out where and how you can vote.

Sour Grapes from the Contempt Party. (updated)

Alison at Creekside summarizes the sad little tale of arrogance and incompetence thus:

You really have to wonder what was going through the head of Michael Sona, communications director for Guelph Conservative candidate Marty Burke, when he barged into the special advance ballot arranged by Elections Canada for students at Guelph University, "making a huge scene stating that this polling station was illegal and tried to grab for the ballot box."

Imagine you're Sona, MASSIVELY hung over from the Cyclops Phi Kappa keg party last night. You get a panic phone call from some underling at the riding campaign HQ, nattering on and on about some stupid elections poll or drop-off on your campus. You're told that you have to check it out and take an assigned scrutineer along.

Your foggy brain dimly remembers some shit that some CPC guy blathered on about Elections Canada and some dumb rules about polls and voting, and a signed form the candidate's representative is supposed to show, but hey, who cares about all that stupid bureaucratic shit, right?

So you show up with your posse and these clerks won't let you sit there, giving the losers and geeks who show up your best imitation of Dear Leader' baleful glare. Because you don't have that stupid piece of paper!

So you pull a John Baird and you start bellowing and grabbing at shit, and some Elections flunky says to another "Call the cops now" so you back off and tell those losers that you'll let the Important People know about this.

And since you've been well trained in the traditions of the Conservative Party, you'll make sure someone else takes the blame.

Meanwhile over at Sycophant Central, Stephen Taylor hopes to create a diversion.

As well, there should be an explanation later today as to why the Contempt Party is running a disinformation campaign against the independent candidate in Simcoe-Grey, implying she is Charlie Sheen's twin sister.

Update from Elections Canada release:

While the initiative at the University of Guelph was not pre-authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer, the Canada Elections Act provides that electors may apply for and vote by special ballot. A special ballot coordinator, appointed by the local returning officer, oversaw the activities at the University of Guelph. All information at our disposal indicates that the votes were cast in a manner that respects the Canada Elections Act and are valid.

Did ex-Con candidate get kicked out?

From here:

The only Conservative candidate who refused to participate in the party’s in-and-out election financing scheme says he’s gratified that the Federal Court of Appeal has sided with Elections Canada and that charges have been laid against Tory officials.

David Marler, a lawyer who ran for the party in 2006, turned party officials down when they asked to deposit money in his campaign account and almost immediately remove it for national advertising. About 66 other candidates agreed to the request.

“It always seemed to me that the in-and-out was irregular and illegal,” Marler said in an interview.

“It is gratifying to note that the Federal Court (of Appeal) has come to the same opinion, which always seemed to me to be obvious. I think they’re doing the right thing by prosecuting the alleged offenders.”

The Contempt Party of Canada does not welcome losers or whiners.

Novice politician Jack MacLaren has staged an upset win over veteran Tory MPP Norm Sterling to become the Progressive Conservative candidate in Carleton-Mississippi Mills in the upcoming provincial fall election.

An estimated 1,200 delegates showed up at Scotiabank Place Thursday night to choose between Sterling's 34 years of experience at Queen's Park and MacLaren's libertarian message of small government, lower taxes, and less regulation.

MacLaren explained his victory by comparing himself to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who defied all the experts and political elites in that city with his election win.

This Rob Ford? Oh yeah, baby.