The robocall rules (III)

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:46 PM - 0 Comments

In regards to the matter of the Valeriote campaign’s call, it is the Liberal side’s contention that robocalls do not qualify as advertising (and thus are not covered by Section 320 of the Elections Act). Here is how the Liberals explained the matter in an email bulletin this evening.

It is clear that so-called “robocalls” do not constitute “advertising”.

Elections Canada agreed with this assessment during the last election and posted this interpretation on its website:

“Elections Canada has taken the position that the prohibition (against Election Day advertising) does not extend to messages, whether live or automated, which are sent to a specific telephone or e-mail address.”

So while “advertising” is something that is broadcast, “robocalls” are targeted and are not subject to the same rules. While we don’t dispute that the Liberal automated call in Guelph should have more clearly identified its origin, it should not be used by the Conservatives or anyone else to muddy the waters and further confuse Canadians.

The Commons: Two wrongs make a farce

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, March 12, 2012 at 5:20 PM - 0 Comments

Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press

The Scene. Nycole Turmel wanted to talk about the apparently impending confession of Pierre Poutine. Pierre Poilievre wanted to talk about what the Liberals had done wrong in Guelph. Ms. Turmel wanted to propose a public inquiry. Mr. Poilievre wanted to talk about what the Liberals had done wrong in Guelph.

Switching to English, Ms. Turmel presented an itemized list of grievances.

“Mr. Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board said he wants to change the culture of Ottawa,” he noted. “Changing the culture, like replacing Liberal scandals with Conservative scandals? A culture where people can rig elections? A culture where the Prime Minister does not answer questions? A culture with no accountability, no transparency? A culture of denial and partisan attacks? If the Prime Minister wanted to change the culture, he must take responsibility. Will he?”

Continue…

The robocall rules (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, March 12, 2012 at 1:17 PM - 0 Comments

Elections Canada has no comment on reports of an automated call sent out by the Valeriote campaign in Guelph during the last election. Elections Canada says it does not pre-authorize election messages and if approached to vet an election message, Elections Canada would advise a campaign to review sections 319 and 320 of the Elections Act.

Section 320 states as follows:

A candidate or registered party, or a person acting on their behalf, who causes election advertising to be conducted shall mention in or on the message that its transmission was authorized by the official agent of the candidate or by the registered agent of the party, as the case may be.

Pierre Poutine steps forward?

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, March 12, 2012 at 8:00 AM - 0 Comments

Stephen Maher and Glen McGregor tease the big reveal.

The news that Elections Canada investigators are aware of the IP address that “Pierre Poutine” used to set up the Guelph, Ont., robocall account has convinced a suspect to step forward and accept responsibility for the deceptive calls, sources say … the CEO of RackNine, Matt Meier, was able to trace Poutine’s electronic trail back to a specific Internet protocol address, which is apparently assigned to a single home. Sources say that revelation has now convinced someone to step forward and own up to the scheme.

‘Nylons and rum’

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 12:04 PM - 0 Comments

Bob Rae’s speech during this week’s debate on expanding the investigative powers of Elections Canada.

What we’re talking about when we talk about document disclosure

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, March 9, 2012 at 4:51 PM - 0 Comments

The government side has made a point this week of explaining that it has shared information with Elections Canada. The Conservatives have thus challenged the opposition parties to do likewise.

During a panel discussion on the CBC yesterday, Dean Del Mastro was asked to clarify which documents the Conservative party had turned over. He indicated that the party has provided Elections Canada with those documents that Elections Canada has requested.

Rosemary Barton. Dean Del Mastro, I just wanted to ask you about a speech that you gave inside the House earlier today. You said that the opposition parties should turn over their phone records to Elections Canada and then you said that the Conservative party already has. So I just want to be clear, what documents you have turned over.

Mr. Del Mastro. Well, we’ve made it clear that we’re fully assisting Elections Canada in the investigation they’ve undertaken in Guelph. So we’ve provided them any information they’ve requested in that regard, but the opposition parties have not, Rosie. In this case, we believe that they should.

Rosemary Barton. So you’ve just turned over documents in relation to Guelph, nothing else?

Mr. Del Mastro. Well, that’s what’s been requested, so, you know, we’re fully transparent…

…

Rosemary Barton. … So you would not proactively disclose all documents to Elections Canada. Anything to do with automated or live calls, to say you want to be transparent, here you go. You’re not going to do that?

Mr. Del Mastro. Well, in fact, we’ve provided transparency that the other parties have not…

According to a spokeswoman for the NDP, Elections Canada has not requested any documents from the NDP. Similarly, a spokeswoman for the Liberals says Elections Canada has made no such request of the Liberals.

The same kind of call

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, March 9, 2012 at 1:43 PM - 0 Comments

The aforementioned Peggy Walsh-Craig of North Bay describes her experience.

A long-time environmentalist and political advocate, she thought it was “a bit odd” when she received an automated phone call a few weeks prior to the spring 2011 federal election asking if she was planning to vote for the Conservative Party. “I was asked to press a number based on my answer,” Walsh-Craig said. “Generally you get survey calls during election campaigns, but they ask you a couple of questions and they are not generally as direct as this was requesting just a yes, no, how are you going to vote answer.”

The week before the election her phone rang again. “This call was the one we’ve heard repeated over and over on the news,” she said, “telling me that due to higher than expected voter turnout my polling place had been changed.”

The list

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, March 9, 2012 at 9:45 AM - 0 Comments

York Centre is the 40th riding with reports of suspicious calls about polling station locations.

Those ridings have been tallied here, here, here, here, here and here. And the full list is as follows. Continue…

Add one more to the list

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, March 9, 2012 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

The Globe looks at York Centre.

In York Centre, where incumbent Liberal MP Ken Dryden lost to a Conservative challenger by more than 6,300 votes, the Liberals say they’ve now verified at least 12 complaints of misleading calls. They say many more complaints were forwarded to Elections Canada following the May 2 ballot last year.

Eduardo Harari, a Liberal supporter in the riding, said he received a call from Conservatives during the election campaign asking him if they could count on his support. He indicated he was going to vote Liberal. Mr. Harari said his home subsequently received eight robo-calls, starting on April 21, 2011, falsely claiming his polling station had been moved. The last one came on May 2. He has a record of all the calls – which came from an unidentified number – on his phone bill … He said the calls, which were a recording of a woman speaking in both English and then French, said the polling station had been relocated to a suite at 3100 Wilson Ave.

A straight answer

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, March 8, 2012 at 4:30 PM - 0 Comments

Momentarily setting aside questions about what amount of investigation was conducted by Dean Del Mastro or the Conservative party to arrive at this finding, it is worth noting that Mr. Del Mastro did deviate from his prepared text this afternoon to offer the following.

Joyce Murray. Mr. Speaker, Eduardo Harari lives in the riding of York Centre. Last election he got a phone call asking if he would be voting Conservative. He said no. Later he got a call, claiming to be from Elections Canada, saying his voting station had been moved to a location on Wilson Avenue, which turned out to be a vacant lot. Can the government categorically deny that anyone associated with the Conservative campaign had any role in fraudulently misdirecting Mr. Harari?

Dean Del Mastro. Once again, Mr. Speaker, I can categorically deny that.

The curious case of Nipissing-Timiskaming

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, March 8, 2012 at 1:13 PM - 0 Comments

The Globe considers the possibility of a court challenge in Nipissing-Timiskaming.

Mr. Hagborg said local Liberal campaign staffers in Nipissing-Timiskaming initially didn’t think much of the bizarre flood of calls they got on election day from confused voters. In hindsight, he says, they probably should have acted more quickly. “We didn’t really think about it at the time. … We thought it was probably someone playing a practical joke or whatever.”

Now, however, they’re collecting all the reports they can of voting-day interference. Mr. Hagborg said at least 25 complaints refer specifically to prerecorded messages, purportedly from Elections Canada, telling the recipients their polling station was changed. In some cases, residents in rural areas of the riding were sent 20 kilometres out of their way, only to find they were in the wrong place.

The curious case of Eglinton-Lawrence

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, March 8, 2012 at 8:30 AM - 0 Comments

The CBC finds curious paperwork in one riding.

Now the Conservatives support expanding the chief electoral officer’s powers?

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at 3:45 PM - 0 Comments

The NDP has tabled the following motion for debate tomorrow.

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should, within six months, table amendments to the Elections Canada Act and other legislation as required that would ensure that in all future election campaigns: (a) Elections Canada investigation capabilities be strengthened, to include giving the Chief Electoral Officer the power to request all necessary documents from political parties to ensure compliance with the Elections Act; (b) all telecommunication companies that provide voter contact services during a general election must register with Elections Canada; and (c) all clients of telecommunication companies during a general election have their identity registered and verified.

Asked by Nycole Turmel about it this afternoon, the Prime Minister seemed to indicate the government side supported this motion (Mr. Harper’s spokesman seems to concur). Conservatives on the Procedure and House Affairs Committee previously voted to reject a proposal from the Chief Electoral Officer.

Add one more to the list

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at 1:21 PM - 0 Comments

A voter reports a suspicious call in Egmont.

The woman said she usually hangs up on automated calls of any kind, but only stayed on the line to listen to the entire message when it identified it was coming from Elections Canada. ”That was what grabbed my attention enough to say, ‘I need to hold onto this call,” she said. ”Then as they were talking, I remember thinking, ‘Geez. It’s pretty close to the election for something like this.’ Then by the time the message was over and I realized they were telling me I had to go somewhere else to vote, it wasn’t a real person so I couldn’t ask (why).”

The caller said their polling station had been moved from Mont Carmel to Miscouche. The couple checked their voter information card, which said nothing of a poll change, so they went to their proper polling station believing they could find out there if a switch had indeed been made. No change had been made and they voted as usual.

Brand management

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at 10:25 AM - 0 Comments

Angus Reid surveys a thousand Canadians and finds that “almost two thirds … think the Guelph occurrence is ‘probably’ or ‘definitely’ one of many that took place in the last federal campaign,” including 47% of Conservative supporters. Respondents were then asked how likely each of the federal parties was to “provide false and misleading information to voters through telephone calls with pre-recorded messages during a political campaign.”

Only a third of respondents in Canada think the Green Party (32%) and the New Democratic Party (NDP) (33%) are “very likely” or “moderately likely” to rely on this tactic. In Quebec, 32 per cent of respondents think the Bloc Québécois is likely to use robocalls with misleading information.

A majority of Canadians believe the Liberal Party (55%) and the Conservative Party (63%) are likely to provide false and misleading information to voters through telephone calls with pre-recorded messages during a political campaign. In fact, two-in-five Canadians (39%) think the Tories are “very likely” to rely on this tactic.

‘The scope of the issue’

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at 8:30 AM - 0 Comments

The text of a new letter from NDP MPs Charlie Angus and Alexandre Boulerice to the elections commissioner.

Dear Commissioner:

I am writing to again follow up on our previous letters regarding allegations of voter suppression during Canada’s 41st General Election.

We have received anonymous correspondence from people telling us they worked for Elections Canada on Elections Day and witnessed suspicious activity. We heard a number of accounts about voters turning up at wrong polling stations, or people showing up at the correct polling station complaining they had been sent to a wrong location some miles away. We believe that your temporary elections staff with firsthand experience could provide invaluable assistance to your investigation and urge you to follow up with as many as possible, particularly in ridings where complaints have been received.

Furthermore, as this issue has unfolded, our offices have been flooded with accounts of events that occurred on or near Election Day. We have received personal accounts about misconduct on Election Day from ordinary Canadians looking to speak out. These many unsolicited letters, emails and phone calls are a testament to the scope of this issue.

Continue…

Another “big victory”

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 7:53 PM - 0 Comments

The Conservatives have dropped their appeal of a federal court ruling in the in-and-out affair.

The Conservative Party of Canada has repaid taxpayers $230,198 for the “in-and-out” election financing dispute and dropped its appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada … Elections Canada refused to issue the more than $800,000 in total rebates to the Conservative Party and the party then sued to get the money.

They won the case in a lower court ruling, but in early 2011, the federal Court of Appeal unanimously overturned that ruling, saying Elections Canada had every right to deny the expenses.

Four months ago, in a separate proceeding, the Conservative party pleaded guilty to violating the Elections Act.

The Commons: Robocalls in human form

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 5:56 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. Nycole Turmel wondered if the Prime Minister might wish to take a moment to correct the official record.

Last week, she recounted, Mr. Harper had said that only the Liberal party had been involved with American firms to facilitate its telephone campaigning. Alas, she explained, it turned out the Conservative party—or at least some of its candidates—had done likewise. Would the Prime Minister admit that he was wrong? she wondered. And, furthermore, would he admit that the Conservative party had made fraudulent calls?

The Prime Minister was unmoved. “Mr. Speaker, I gave clear answers regarding the activities of the Conservative party of Canada,” he professed. “All this information has been available to Elections Canada since the beginning. Now is the time for the opposition, which has spent millions of dollars to make hundreds of thousands of phone calls, to give all its information to Elections Canada.”

Ms. Turmel tried again. Mr. Harper, switching to English, repeated himself.

“Of course,” he assured, “I answered questions very clearly about the activities of the Conservative party of Canada. Those calls are all very well documented. All that documentation is available to Elections Canada, and has been available since the beginning. What is not available is all of the information that is coming from the opposition, the NDP in particular. There is a complete lack of transparency on the hundreds of thousands of calls that they made. They should give that information to Elections Canada.”

If the government’s implication was not obvious as yet, the Prime Minister’s dutiful parliamentary secretary made matters clear a moment later. Continue…

Your democracy complaint box

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 4:06 PM - 0 Comments

Elections Canada has now launched an online form where complaints can be directed.

Following media reports in recent days, the issue referred to as “robocalls” has generated much concern and interest among Canadians. Many have contacted Elections Canada, as well as the media, various political parties and/or their representatives and other organizations, to provide information. In addition, the House of Commons recently adopted a unanimous motion calling on all members of Parliament and political parties to assist in the investigation.

In order to facilitate the complaint process and ensure that information is provided directly to the Commissioner of Canada Elections, Elections Canada has developed an online complaint form that complements the traditional channels by which complaints about the electoral process are lodged with Elections Canada and/or the Commissioner of Canada Elections.

To report a fraudulent call go here.

Add three more to the list

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 1:24 PM - 0 Comments

New reports of suspicious polling-station calls in Haldimand-Norfolk, Dufferin-Caledon and Northumberland-Quinte West.

Added to those previously tallied, that brings my count to 38 ridings.

Somebody to blame

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 10:00 AM - 0 Comments

Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott says Elections Canada is “significantly responsible” for the confusion, but the Canadian Press notes that Elections Canada asked parties to refrain from calling voters with polling station information.

In its statutory report following the 2011 campaign, released last August, Elections Canada highlighted the incident in a separate box. ”Because a polling site can be replaced by another at the last minute, and to ensure that electors always have access to the most accurate information regarding their location, Elections Canada indicated to political parties that the list supplied should only be used for internal purposes and that parties should not direct electors to polling sites,” said the report.

All parties were instructed to tell voters to check Elections Canada’s website or their voter information card for poll locations “to prevent electors from being directed to incorrect polling sites.” ”Some political parties did not comply with this request,” said the report.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives are demanding that the Liberals release their phone records. But while the Liberals are happy to do so, the Conservatives aren’t willing to do likewise.

A wider and wider investigation

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, March 5, 2012 at 8:54 PM - 0 Comments

Glen McGregor and Stephen Maher report that Elections Canada is investigating the expenses of the Conservative campaign in Guelph.

Elections Canada investigators probing the robocalls scandal are interviewing workers on the Conservative campaign in Guelph, Ont., and trying to determine why payments made to an Edmonton voice-broadcasting company were not declared in financial reports filed with the agency…

Elections Canada wants to know why the costs of automated calls the campaign has admitted sending out never appeared in the campaign’s expense report, as required by law.

The Star reports that Elections Canada is now investigating calls in Nipissing—Timiskaming

The Russian spring

By Michael Petrou - Monday, March 5, 2012 at 3:25 PM - 0 Comments

It’s after midnight in Moscow. The anti-Putin rally at Pushkin Square has been broken up with — according to some reports — some 250 arrests, including opposition leader Alexey Navalny, whose accomplishments include popularizing the epithet “crooks and thieves” to describe Putin’s United Russia party. Another 300 were arrested in St. Petersburg.

I’ve got two notebooks and a digital recorder full of material which I’ll spend tomorrow trying to gather into some sort of coherent narrative for this week’s magazine. In the meantime, two thoughts:  Continue…

Add five more to the list

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, March 5, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

New reports of suspicious polling-station calls in West Nova, Saint Boniface, Saint John, Fredericton and Calgary Centre.

Added to these and these and these, that makes 35 ridings with such reports.