03.23.2017 10:09 AM

Calling all cyber-detectives: your Ontario political mission, if you choose to accept it

It could be disgruntled Liberals, sure. It could be a certain ambitious cabinet minister, aided and abetted by a lobby firm and trade association he is connected to. It could be Tories or Dippers trying to cause dissent and trouble. It could be some shadowy lobby group trying to exert pressure to achieve some policy goal. It could be average folks, too – but those people wouldn’t likely be hiding their identities, I don’t think. They’d say who they are.

One thing is certain: this effort is pretty slick and there is money behind it. They’re using Nationbuilder, for example, and Nationbuilder ain’t cheap. It isn’t nothing.

I’ve got some of the smartest, web-savvy readers around. Who wants to dive into this, and try and find out who the sneaks are who are behind it?  Let’s out them, for fun!

19 Comments

  1. Yuri says:

    Ontario Proud is run by Jeff Ballingall, a former federal Conservative staffer:

    https://www.navltd.com/jeff-ballingall/

    He boasts on his personal Twitter about how big his readership is. The page mascarades as some kind of non-partisan Ontarians’ pride gathering place and stokes the outrage of average people who hate the Harris/Harper governments this dude supported equally.

    https://mobile.twitter.com/JeffBallingall

  2. Matt says:

    Ontario Proud facebook say Jeff Ballingall is the founder

    https://www.facebook.com/OntarioProud/posts/1843241225953979?_fb_noscript=1

    “Ontario Proud founder Jeff Ballingall said people are tired of the provincial Liberals political scandals, tax hikes and hydro bills. Although the demonstration attracted a relatively small number of protesters, Ballingall said the group has more than 107,000 followers on Facebook and is very active online. ‘We’re growing every day,’ he added.”

  3. P. Brenn says:

    Is Navigaotr not a lobbyist?

  4. MetisRebel says:

    “ONTARIO PROUD IS A REGISTERED NOT FOR PROFIT “–where’s their registered charity number? Because that WOULD have all the info you are looking for.

    To say that is fraudulent if they don’t give you the number to check their non-profit status.

    If they are registered, they have to have annual general meetings and a volunteer board of directors. Yet on the website? Nothing.

  5. MetisRebel says:

    “No results for ontario proud in Ontario”

    https://greatnonprofits.org/city/ontario/CA/search:ontario%20proud

    Also non profits cannot be registered if their primary goal is political activism.

    • David says:

      Unfortunately you’re wrong here. That’s a US-only site — you searched in Ontario, California.

      The real fun part is that Ontario has no search tool for non-profits, to the best of my knowledge.

  6. guppy says:

    It’s Trump and the Russians. Duh

  7. Jeff Ballingall says:

    Metis Rebel…

    1) We’re an incorporated not for profit. We are not a charity, however.

    2) You’re searching a database for Ontario, California.

  8. Mark says:

    Corporate Name: ONTARIO PROUD
    Status: Active
    Governing Legislation: Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act – 2017-02-13
    https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/cc/CorporationsCanada/fdrlCrpDtls.html?corpId=10102601&V_TOKEN=1490384798957&crpNm=ontario%20proud&crpNmbr=&bsNmbr=

  9. jane says:

    I have also been searching, so thanks for this! Found stuff on duckduck

  10. Will says:

    my question to all who oppose Liberal corruption is “why has no one followed the money trail “and proved these LIb. politicians corrupt? We want them out, they money launder and the tax payer winds up making these crooks rich in the $ Billions.
    In the last federal election no opponents brought up the truth, the real dirt of corruption, green energy payoffs etc. Why do Canadians accept this corruption?

  11. Judy Sieffert says:

    The polarization of politics and the attacks on people rather than policy alarms me. Not only should political parties watch the other groups carefully but each political party should be watching their own members and dealing with bad behaviour within the group too. Bad behaviour and/or crime tends to be covered within groups.

  12. Cindi says:

    The vicious attacks and lies popping up all over from WOW, also a non-profit but also a registered third party is much more of a concern ethically, morally and financially. This group is funded by big unions and whoever else but try to find out who their donors are, information which is required (third parties)

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