02.28.2012 01:00 AM

In today’s Sun: they don’t call them Cons for nothing


Truly shocking – and unnecessary.

If senior people within the Conservative Party of Canada conspired to rig the May 2011 election – and, increasingly, it looks like they did – what are the consequences?

For Stephen Harper’s party, the penalties could be very, very significant. They range from fines and jail time, to deregistration of Harper’s party and liquidation of its assets.

A recap: as has been well-documented in the media, Conservatives used automated pre-recorded “robocalls” to contact voters in ridings across the country to provide them with false and misleading information about polling stations. Other voters were called late at night and, they say, harassed and intimidated.

11 Comments

  1. Conservative Socialist says:

    If the accusations are true, then of course there has to be consequences.

    Should the election be overturned? As you said in your article, the Conservatives would have won the damn thing anyway. You can’t punish a whole swath of the electorate by denying them political representation even if the bastards they voted for acted like bastards. I suppose that where the robocalls had the most effect would be in close ridings where Conservatives eked out a narrow victory. Should those MPs be forced to resign and the runner-ups be sworn in? Or a re-do in those ridings for by-elections?

    Call me cynical, but there has always been corruption and dirty underhanded tactics in politics. The history of electoral politics is rife with vote rigging, ballot stuffing and tossing out votes.

    Eventually the public will tire of the Conservatives and it’s scandals and the bums will be voted out in the next election. De-registering the Conservative party would just cause a new registered conservative party (by another name) and the centre-right vote will coalesce with them.

    Let there be tamper-proof electronic voting whose counting mechanisms are fair and transparent (while also preserving the anonymous ballot).

  2. Big Daddy says:

    I see the Conservatives are drawing some kind of equivalency between Vikileak (a nasty but not illegal act) and trying to rig an election (a crime punishable by 5 years in jail) I think they are grasping at straws

  3. catherine says:

    Kingsley says they could also be facing charges under Canada’s Criminal Code:

    “The people who were making those calls, if they knew what they were doing, in my view, this could also constitute an infraction to the statute,” says Kingsley. “If you’re hired by somebody to say you’re somebody else and you know that, then you’re really asking for trouble.”

    This violation, however, is not found in the Canada Elections Act. Instead, Section 403 of the Criminal Code finds individuals who fraudulently personate others “(a) with intent to gain advantage for themselves or another person” or “(c) with intent to cause disadvantage to the person being personated or another person” guilty of identity fraud. On an indictment, the convicted faces up to 10 years in prison.

    http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Allegations+unprecedented+elections+chief+says/6218981/story.html#ixzz1nfkhg9vv

  4. MississaugaLibPeter says:

    In the heart of HarperLand …

    http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/This%2BZimbabwe/6219844/story.html

    … The Calgary Herald makes me proud to have worked there for many years!

  5. patrick deberg says:

    I find it astounding that the troops that have spent 10 years in Afghanistan fighting for democracy have to come home to a government that purports to love these ideals above anything else then launches a full out war on democracy itself. And to see the CPC in the house hide and deflect from the truth. At least where they stand on true democracy is now in plain sight. Any true conservative in good conscience can not stand behind this Miscarriage of Justice that seems to spread wider and wider each day. This action is anti Canadian. If you love this country do not support this treason.

  6. Cath says:

    Good column WK! All this does is add another reason and another party for the public to lose trust in our electoral system…..like we needed another reason.
    I think Hebert’s column a good piece today too.

  7. Norma says:

    We need a full Public Inquiry!
    And in the meantime no legislation should be passed.

  8. best. week. of. my. life.

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    .

  9. Steven says:

    Uber lick-spittle and Harper Bum Boy Dean Del Mastro announces that Papa Doc Harper’s Con-Con Macoutes are going to go after the misguided Adam Carroll in Committee for the Viki-leaks.

    Del Mastro is quoted as saying: “This is just the latest in a long history of shady Liberal practices that harm our democracy. These nasty, dirty Internet tricks were deeply personal and fall short of the standard of behaviour that Canadians have come to expect,”

    As stupid as Carroll was to engage in this low-brow stuff, he didn’t publish anything that was not a matter of public record.

    We have become a banana republic if this nonsense prevails!

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