Oppositions MPs are seeking an independent probe and police investigation into what they call a systemic effort to suppress votes in the 2011 elections.
“(Voters) want the government to protect them against electoral fraud . . . Is the Prime Minister prepared to force by-elections to restore voter trust?” said Interim NDP Leader Nycole Turmel.
But as Liberals and New Democrats denounced what they branded as the worst election fraud in Canada’s history, Harper taunted the opposition to back up their claims with proof.
“We don’t have any such information. If the NDP has — and I’m not sure that is the case — then the NDP must turn that information over to Elections Canada,” Harper said in question period.
Yet Harper’s answers did little to defuse opposition anger over telephone calls made during the 2011 campaign that NDP and Liberals say succeeded in suppressing the vote and skewing the results in a way that helped give the Conservatives a long-sought majority.
And the Toronto Star revealed Monday that callers on behalf of the federal Conservative Party were instructed in the days before last year’s election to read scripts telling voters that Elections Canada had changed their voting locations.
Elections Canada said 127 polling locations were changed right up to election day, out of a total of 15,262 polling sites across the country.
Harper has denied that the Conservative Party of Canada had any role in making misleading or harassing phone calls even though a Tory political aide who had worked in Guelph during the campaign — one riding where questionable calls where made — quit for unexplained reasons Friday.
But opposition MPs are seeking a broader inquiry, noting that complaints are coming out of more than 30 ridings nationwide.
“Are they going to continue to pretend it was some 20-year old ideologue down in Guelph, or are they going to take responsibility and hold a public inquiry so Canadians can find out who is guilty and who should be going to jail?” NDP MP Charlie Angus said.
Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae said there were too many examples from the across the country of “election fraud” for it to be a series of “coincidences.”
“When is the Prime Minister of Canada going to take some degree of personal responsibility for what is taking place in this country?” Rae asked.
The Commons unanimously passed a motion Monday calling on all MPs to turn over to the RCMP and Elections Canada any information they might have on dirty tricks telephone campaigns.
Elections Canada officials suggest they were already probing reports of dirty tricks. In his report on last May’s vote, Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand said he would be investigating “crank calls designed to discourage voting, discourage voting for a particular party, or incorrectly advise electors of changed polling locations.”
Under the Elections Canada Act, “obstruction . . . of electoral process” can result in a $5,000 fine and five years in prison.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Bruce Campion-Smith and Les Whittington
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