WATERLOO REGION — When Carolyn Siopiolosz answered the phone days before the May 2 federal election, she knew something was wrong. The anonymous caller informed the St. Clements resident that her polling station had been changed to a park in Kitchener.
“I said ‘what do you mean I have to vote in there,’ ” said Siopiolosz.
“In a small town, you know if something has happened and I knew you didn’t have to go all the way down there.”
After using the “star-69” command on her phone to track the telephone number, Siopiolosz decided to contact Kitchener-Conestoga riding’s returning officer and Elections Canada.
Siopiolosz said she has no party affiliation. She has often voted Liberal in the past, but says when it’s time for a change, she can vote the other way. But in this case, she contacted her riding’s federal Liberal association, which filed its own complaint with Elections Canada.
The complaint filed by Joe Nowak, president of the Kitchener-Conestoga federal Liberal association, was obtained by The Record and includes the phone number Siopiolosz traced.
When called, the number goes to a voice mail for the “Conservative Party.” The message asks callers to leave their name, number and a detailed message and says the party will get back to them within three business days.
Frank DeLorey, director of communications and deputy director of political operations for the Conservative Party of Canada, confirmed in an email “that the number was ours.”
Kitchener-Conestoga Conservative MP Harold Albrecht, reached on Monday, was so surprised by the situation that he called the number himself. He said he found the ownership of the number troubling and the message unprofessional.
“I will be asking some questions, absolutely,” said Albrecht, adding he will investigate. “It’s not the kind of actions I would support.”
Research suggests the number, which has a 519 area code but is a long-distance call, originates in Lambton County.
Albrecht’s constituents weren’t the only regional residents to receive such calls in the run-up to the last federal election.
Elections Canada says it has a policy of not commenting on investigations and could not confirm or deny whether Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand is investigating any complaints from the region.
But, in Mayrand’s report on the last election, he states he is looking into “crank calls designed to discourage voting, discourage voting for a particular party, or incorrectly advise electors of changed polling locations.”
On May 2, Elections Canada reported it received more than 100 complaints of phone calls offering fake polling station information from the Waterloo Region and Guelph areas, telling residents to go to the poll on their voter registration card.
Dorothy Venkiteswaran was called so often by political operatives seeking her support it started to feel like harassment.
Venkiteswaran used to volunteer for the Liberals before moving to Waterloo seven years ago. She said she hasn’t worked for the party since.
None of the pesky calls stuck in her mind as clearly as one that said her polling station had changed.
“I thought, why would they change it? It’s always been at a school,” she said. “I think they said it was at a church.”
She lives in conservative MP Peter Braid’s Kitchener-Waterloo riding.
Braid denied any involvement.
“There’s absolutely no connection whatsoever between those calls and my campaign,” said Braid. “In fact, many of my own supporters received similar calls.”
These stories come as parliamentarians are decrying a rise in “dirty tricks” by the Conservative party. The party recently employed the market research firm Campaign Research to call constituents in Liberal MP Irwin Cotler’s Mount Royal riding. The calls asked residents who they would support in a byelection should Cotler step down, which the MP says he has no plans of doing.
Cotler raised the issue in the House of Commons, and the Speaker last week called the tactics “reprehensible.”
Yet Campaign Research was contracted by many Conservative MPs during the election, including Speaker Andrew Scheer, Albrecht, Braid and Kitchener Centre Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth, according to their statements of electoral campaign expenses.
Albrecht paid the firm $367.25; Woodworth paid $630.26; while Braid doled out $19,210.
Albrecht said he used the firm for a one-time phone call to recruit volunteers. Woodworth could not be reached for comment.
Cambridge-North Dumfries Conservative MP Gary Goodyear’s electoral files have not yet been filed.
Nick Kouvalis, the head of Campaign Research and the mastermind behind Rob Ford’s mayoral campaign victory in Toronto, was brought in to manage Braid’s election-day get-out-the-vote efforts.
“I don’t discuss the work that I do for my clients,” he said Monday when asked about his firm’s role in Braid’s campaign and its use of telephone research.
“I used them for a very specific and limited purpose and that was phone calling to constituents and voter identification,” said Braid. “Nick has a particular expertise in this and that’s why it was helpful to have him involved.”
Braid said he’d consider using Campaign Research again, citing its excellent record with live phone calls. He added “It doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with everything they do.”
Origin
Source: the Record
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