Categories: Capital Read, Inside the Queensway

Avaaz.ca vs. Baird: The Shadowy Foreign Organization strikes back!

by kadyomalley on Monday, October 6, 2008 5:26pm - 22 Comments

Hey, remember that weird press release John Baird’s campaign put out earlier today in response? The one that claimed a “Wall Street Billionaire” was bankrolling an anti-Harper campaign, possibly in violation of the Canada Elections Act?

Berryposted from the road (so excuse any formatting glitches):

Avaaz Denounces John Baird’s Deception and Intimidation Tactics to Silence Canada’s Environmental Voice

At a press conference in Ottawa today, Avaaz.ca, the 300,000 strong online activist community, launched its campaign stop a Harper majority government and the devastating consequences it would have for climate change. The campaign encourages Canadians in close races to work across party lines to save the planet and vote smart for the candidate most likely to defeat the Conservative candidate.

After the conference, staff members of Minister of the Environment John Baird distributed a press release accusing the Avaaz effort of being a shadowy foreign initiative, funded by foreign billionaire George Soros, which is violating Canadian election law. All of these allegations are false.

In fact, the Avaaz campaign is exclusively run and funded by Canadians, and has been fully reviewed and registered as a legitimate third party by Elections Canada and is listed on its website. Avaaz proactively initiated full consultations with Elections Canada lawyers, who approved the application.

“Our campaign is of, by, and for Canadians, and strictly Canadian money is being used, that’s verified by an auditor registered with Elections Canada”, said Avaaz Executive Director Ricken Patel.

“We have been very careful about this, to even go beyond normal procedure to discuss our campaign with Elections Canada lawyers, and we are 100% in compliance with Canadian law.”

“We have over 300,000 subscribers across Canada — almost 1% of the Canadian population — people who have mobilized for this campaign to donate over $100,000 in small online donations, tell friends, and get active like never before. I don’t think they’ll be happy to hear Mr. Baird call them “shadowy foreigners”".

“I approached the staff in Minister Baird’s office directly and encouraged them to check with Elections Canada before distributing these falsehoods, but they weren’t interested in checking their facts” added Patel.

“This is exactly the kind of deceptive and intimidating tactics that the Harper government in general and John Baird in particular have tried to use to silence environmental advocates who tell the Canadian public the truth about the Harper record. They’re also hoping to distract people from our urgent message to Canadians to stop a Harper government from devastating the climate.”

“Baird’s press release cleverly used the words ‘apparently’ and ‘supposedly’ when leveling accusations against us, which might be chosen to avoid the possibility of libel suit on this” added Patel.

Avaaz.org is the largest online activist community in the world, with 3.4 million members from every nation of the world. Avaaz.ca is the Canadian arm of the organization, with a Canadian team and office in Ottawa. Avaaz founder and Executive Director Ricken Patel is a Canadian citizen, born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta.

So – your move, John Baird?

Tags: avaaz, george soros controls the world, shadowy organizations have feelings too, vote smart

More by kadyomalley

madeyoulook

Uh… 300,000 Canadian “members” have raised about a hundred grand? Not exactly a high barrier to entry, those membership dues, eh? All them members felt SOOOOOOO worked up about how a conservative member of Parliament in Canada was a guarantee of the destruction of life on Earth as we know it that, in order to prevent that catastrophic calamity, they each coughed up an average of…
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Thirty-three cents.

Guess they’re waiting for the government grant.
TobyornotToby

I suspect that, when it comes to partisanship, Baird is so unencumbered by scruples he’s probably not the least bit embarassed by this.
http://carnewsandviews.com jwl

Avaaz.ca is arm of Avaaz.org, which was founded by moveon.com, which is funded by Soros. Tenuous links for sure but I like it when pols throw some muck around, particularly against left wing advocacy groups.
http://grumpyvoter.blogspot.com Grumpy Voter

Oh… so Avaaz.org is really just a branch of Big Suzuki… gotcha.
Oh Boy

Way to get to the heart of the matter MYL. You completely ignore Avaaz.ca’s “allegation” that Baird’s office:

- distributed a press release they knew to be false;
- were corrected by the organization beforehand and chose to distribute false allegations anyway;
- lied to stoke fear and suspicion of “foreign” interests (the organization was apparently duly registered with Elections Canada, in Canada by Canadians); and,
- calculated the language of their press release to prevent them from being held liable for their libel.

If true, this takes Baird’s antics to a new low, even by his subterranean standards. If Avaaz.ca can prove they reached out to Baird’s office in advance of the press release’s distribution, it is Baird who may be in trouble with Elections Canada … and possibly the civil courts.

As I said, way to go MYL.
seaandthemountains

oh SNAP:

“I approached the staff in Minister Baird’s office directly and encouraged them to check with Elections Canada before distributing these falsehoods, but they weren’t interested in checking their facts” added Patel.

“This is exactly the kind of deceptive and intimidating tactics that the Harper government in general and John Baird in particular have tried to use to silence environmental advocates who tell the Canadian public the truth about the Harper record.

—-

To be fair to the CPC, Patel may have lost them with all that talk abut respecting and consulting with Elections Canada re consistency with Canadian election law.

“We have been very careful about this, to even go beyond normal procedure to discuss our campaign with Elections Canada lawyers, and we are 100% in compliance with Canadian law.”
Mike T.

“‘When I use a law,’ Harper Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,’ it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.’
Sean S.

I, for one, am massively bummed that Avaaz seems to be neither foreign, nor shadowy. I might be reduced to reviewing party platforms, or something equally distasteful, if nothing nefarious is forthcoming soon…
Ti-Guy

There should be a WordPress plug-in that automatically highlights Conbot grotesque defamation, bordering on outright libel. The utterances are so formulaic and consistent that it should be a doddle for any tech wiz out there.
Wascally Wabbit

Yup – but hint that one of their ministers might have sexual preferences that he doesn’t want to talk about because it would put off many of his bigoted voters and you probably would be accused of all sorts of sleazy stuff…
Dot
http://ADMS.ca cms

I Avaaz $100 for the Pratt/May/Bocking advertising.
Savant

Ricken Patel might have some ‘splaining to do. The founder, and the person who registered the group on the Elections Canada website as a ‘third party’ (http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=pol&document=40ge&dir=thi/tie&lang=e&textonly=false) is a Canadian in name only. He hasn’t lived in Canada for some time, and he lives and works in New York city.

Here are a couple quotes:

“Site administrator Ricken Patel is the lone Canadian listed on the site, but he lives in New York and has been enrolled at Harvard University since at least the 1990s.”
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=165214

Based on this, if he has not resided in Canada since that time, he is not even eligible to vote in the election. On a blog he confirmed his American residency:

“In answer to your specific questions Adam, our corporate name is Avaaz Foundation, In the US we’re a registered non-profit in the state of Delaware, our New York office is at 260 5th Avenue, 9th floor, NY NY 10001, where you’ll find my office. We’re co-founded by very respectable global charity organizations like Oxfam.”
http://verbo.se/dont-sign-avaazorg-petitions/

Look on the Elections Canada website for the Third Party list here and note the phone number given for Avaaz. 646-229-5416 – I did a search, and it’s a cell-phone number from New York city. The fax number is also a US phone number, 212 is a New York area code.

The address listed in the third party listing is registered to an organization called Mines Action Canada, it’s not even their office.

http://minesactioncanada.org/home/index.cfm?fuse=Home.Contact
http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/cpb/zonejeun.nsf/En/STE-10685713-332

It looks like he is just using their address for sake of the application since he doesn’t have a Canadian address – and he’s using his American cell phone for the contact number. This is an American, working out of his New York address, working for his American foundation, trying to influence our election.
gdg

I gave $50 to support Pratt/May/Bocking advertising. The Cons brag about how successful grassroots funding raising is for their party…well, it works for others as well.
http://InsidetheQueensway Allen R. Wells

$50,000 was raised in one night. Averages are deceptive – some, like me, gave $20. I also phoned Canadian negotiators in Bali. They wouldn’t take the call, nor would Mr. Harper’s Calgary office. I was really pleased to embarass them, as they had embarassed me.
Savant

(apologies if this is a double post, my last post disappeared.)

Ricken Patel might have some ’splaining to do. The founder, and the person who registered the group on the Elections Canada website as a ‘third party’ (www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=pol&document=40ge&dir=thi/tie&lang=e&textonly=false) is a Canadian in name only. He hasn’t lived in Canada for some time, and he lives and works in New York city.

Here are a couple quotes:

“Site administrator Ricken Patel is the lone Canadian listed on the site, but he lives in New York and has been enrolled at Harvard University since at least the 1990s.” (www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=165214)

Based on this, if he has not resided in Canada since that time, he is not even eligible to vote in the election. On a blog he confirmed his American residency:

“In answer to your specific questions Adam, our corporate name is Avaaz Foundation, In the US we’re a registered non-profit in the state of Delaware, our New York office is at 260 5th Avenue, 9th floor, NY NY 10001, where you’ll find my office. We’re co-founded by very respectable global charity organizations like Oxfam.” (verbo.se/dont-sign-avaazorg-petitions)

Look on the Elections Canada website for the Third Party list here and note the phone number given for Avaaz. 646-229-5416 – I did a search, and it’s a cell-phone number from New York city. The fax number is also a US phone number, 212 is a New York area code.

The address listed in the third party listing is registered to an organization called Mines Action Canada, it’s not even their office.
(minesactioncanada.org/home/index.cfm?fuse=Home.Contact)
(www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/cpb/zonejeun.nsf/En/STE-10685713-332)

It looks like he is just using their address for sake of the application since he doesn’t have a Canadian address – and he’s using his American cell phone for the contact number. This is an American, working out of his New York address, working for his American foundation, trying to influence our election.
Liz

The American/Canadian thing, Savant. What are you saying? Does it affect the Harper party and its use of American business and political people in policy-making and campaigning? Someone vetted Americans to work in Canada for Stephen Harper in the current election. In fact, Harper’s failed speech writer who just resigned after admitting to writing a plagiarized speech that Stephen Harper spoke without knowing, was an American. Can you clarify your point?

Is this sub-prime speechwriter on the same ground as Patel? Explain please.
Savant

…and tell me, if he was coming to Canada to support Harper, would you still feel the same way? Outside interference shouldn’t be tolerated.
Ti-Guy

Ricken Patel might have some ’splaining to do. The founder, and the person who registered the group

Yeah, you already posted you criminal libel several times, Savant. Now please be quiet.
Robin

Perhaps the portly Baird is busy choosing Laureen Harper’s next gown that she’ll don while attending a cultural event at her local sports bar? Fact checking CONS? Now, that’s the best joke that I’ve heard since the writ dropped.
Pingback: “Avaaz Denounces John Baird’s Deception and Intimidation Tactics to Silence Canada’s Environmental Voice”. « Ottawa West Nepean Federal Liberal Association
yeahsure

Found this article interesting. Perhaps somebody at McLeans could contact the writer to straighten him out about Avaaz.ca(switch com)/Minesactioncanada.org/. . ., or not.

http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=165214