Vote suppression: Tea Party North was doing it too

The cancer spreads: 

Liberal and NDP politicians in Ontario say some of the alleged dirty tricks used in the federal election also surfaced in last fall’s provincial campaign.

Just like the federal contest, Ontario’s election featured automated calling machines with messages directed at voters.

Several Ontario candidates say there were messages designed to mislead voters — although none that said their polling station had been changed at the last minute, as is alleged in the federal vote.

Ontario Liberals, who were reduced to a minority government, say they were targeted in several ridings with so-called robocalls to voters suggesting they were going to set up a provincial gun registry as the federal registry was wound down.


The dog ate my election

The Harper Government™ “categorically” played no role in defrauding voters says, er, Harper.

Forget about the Conservative staffer they fired. Forget about the Conservative firm that was hit with an RCMP search warrant a few days ago. Forget about the Conservative firm facing Elections Canada questions next week. Forget about the 41 ridings now linked to Conservative electoral fraud. Forget about all that.

We didn’t do it, says the leader of the Conservative Party.

Well, I’d say that clears up the matter, wouldn’t you? Nothing to see here, move along.

Gotcha.


Why hasn’t Santorum performed better among Catholics?

Because – and I say this as a Church-going one, now in the first week of Lenten observance (no hooch!) – modern Catholics are way more liberal than far-right lunatics like Santorum.  We left his ilk behind back in the Middle Ages.

Saying JFK made him want to “throw up” wasn’t such a good idea, either.  In Irish Catholic households, we still regard that man as our King (much like our Uncrowned King, Parnell, which is a story for another day).

That said, the longer Santorum’s in the race, the happier I am.  He’s practically guaranteeing an Obama victory in the Fall.


Do we have a winner?

My highly-scientific poll didn’t include “RoboCon” as a choice.  Andrew Coyne told me that was the name, whether I liked it or not.

So, I used that for my Sunday Sun column…but my editors aren’t so sure.  Jury’s still out on the Name the Scandal contest.

In the meantime, here’s a magazine sure to become a big hit:


Listen to actual election fraud, plus: how Robocon will play out

Here.

What you have just heard is a criminal offence. More details here.

I don’t give a sweet damn what Con-friendly commentators think about this scandal, or their claims that it is going to die.

It isn’t, because it can’t. There are three phases to this thing.

  • Phase One:  For the next few months, there will be more and more stories like the one above leaking out.  Because there are a myriad number of stories, in multiple jurisdictions, Elections Canada and the RCMP will be investigating well into 2013.  There will be search warrants executed and witnesses interviewed.  Demands for judicial inquiries and the like will be relentless, but Harper (remembering sponsorship) will refuse.  That just keeps it alive in the House.
  • Phase Two:  As in the sponsorship affair, this is the phase where arrests will commence.  All of the targets will lawyer up, and none will want to take a bullet for the Conservative Party, particularly since they are facing jail time.  This phase will cover late 2013 and into 2014.
  • Phase Three:  Prosecutions will take place in 2014, and into 2015.  Because of the complexity of the evidence, they will not be over quickly.  Because some of the defendants will be facing jail time, as noted, they will be doing deals to turn in bigger fish – just like in sponsorship.  They’ll start pointing fingers at their friends; it’s started already, in fact.

What does it all mean?  It means that, because the wheels of justice grind slowly, and because there will be multiple prosecutions, we are going to be reading and hearing about this thing well into 2015.

Which, last time I checked, is an election year.