03.29.2011 10:25 AM

BCL: Conservative astroturfing scheme is back

Seen here.

Says the irrepressible BCL:

Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Halifax. I don’t suppose that tells us much about who they might be (presumably not the CPoC itself, at least not directly).

22 Comments

  1. MIchael Behiels says:

    Whomever is responsible for this scheme is being bankrolled by some organization that is linked indirectly to the CP of C.

    None of this surprises me and should not surprise any of Warren’s readers.

    The social media can be, and will be, manipulated and abused by all the political parties.

    Elections Canada will have to get its act together and investigate all possible uses of the social media to work around the Elections Canada Act and its regulations.

    The Harperites will exploit every possible loophole in the Act and its regulations. They did so in 2004, 2006, and 2008.

  2. Roberts says:

    What does “the four big cities” mean? There are several bigger cities in the country: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_100_largest_municipalities_in_Canada_by_population

    • Warren says:

      How much did you get paid for that post?

      (Expect to hear this a billion times.)

    • bigcitylib says:

      Meant the regional centers in the ROC. Apologies to Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hamilton, others that didn’t make cut.

      • you says:

        advertise 5 times each population in money spending

        I mean if 2 million live in Toronto spend 10 million ads to wake up city to vote or care

        do you have enough time or money to do so?
        I do not think so

        when you get majority that allow majority to vote

        come to each home and ask to vote?

        or give them free pizza
        if Muslim give them free halal pizza delivery to vote?
        promise them some good news and do not lie

        care all minority right people live in each city too then you will get majority of vote
        think rich and poor

        give rich people more pension money and more taxes
        if rich share profit with government reduce their taxes

        give poor to move if they can to become middle class citizen and give them hand and push to do have happy life

        motive people to vote
        basically entertain them to care

  3. Ottawacon says:

    Wouldn’t this be covered under 3rd party advertising rules? Or are ‘social media’ in an unforeseen grey area?

    • Eric says:

      I was wondering the same thing about the Catch 22 campaign.

      • Robert Jago says:

        The Catch 22 campaign is an Elections Canada-registered 3rd party advertiser. The person putting up these Craigslist ads obviously is not. So if they are real, add that to their mountain of stupidity.

        Nothing about that Craigslist ad rings true. I’ve met some of these electronic info war types from the Conservative party and they’re freaking clueless about social media. I can’t believe they would know enough to figure out that they could astro-turf sites. Add to that you’d have to have a total pin head as a social media person to keep those ads up anywhere after they blew up on twitter and even in the MSM. Last thing, if you want to astro-turf, there are way cheaper ways to do it than to hire someone at an hourly rate, that’s just bad business. Want to astro-turf, use Mechanical Turk, or Microworkers or something like that. It’s just dumb, dumb, fake and dumb. And also I wish I thought of it first, because it’s an awesome prank.

  4. MontrealElite says:

    Hey can the campaigning candidate Harper still use the Twitter account that describes him as PM?

  5. M-J says:

    A “left-wing” version is also available.

    http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/van/wri/2293277656.html

    I presume this is some sort of honey pot operation.

  6. MattMcD says:

    It would seem that someone has a sense of humor:

    http://i56.tinypic.com/30w6xvr.jpg

  7. W.B. says:

    Good column from Andrew Cohen in Citizen today.

  8. James Bow says:

    As I said over on my blog, if you are being paid to post comments over there, I believe I’m owed 50% of your per-comment fee, with a $20 per troll per blog minimum charge.

  9. Michael says:

    Speaking of paid advertising:

    a) is the Economic Action Plan over?
    b) if so, why are there signs all over the place?
    c) can Harper legitimately refer to the EAP in the campaign as though the taxpayers are not paying for all those signs?
    d) can the signs be removed (or veiled like sacred images on Holy Thursday) under the Elections Act?

    Those signs, after all, and all EAP promotional material are the property of the then-named Govt. of Canada, not the Con Party. What the heck!?

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