A few hundred protestors converged on Dundas Square Sunday afternoon — one of a dozen such protests across the country — calling for an independent public inquiry into the robocall election fraud scandal.
Bearing placards and megaphones, the crowd walked to Old City Hall chanting, singing the national anthem and yelling out facts to inform the thousands of bystanders on Yonge St. about their cause.
“People think that democracy will always be here,” said Jeanne Vlasics, who said this was one of the few protests she has ever attended. “But it can erode away very slowly, and I am afraid that is what is happening here.”
Vlasics said the robocall scandal, in which thousands of voters received phone calls directing them away from proper polling stations during the federal election last May, was the final straw for her.
“I have been sitting and watching all these creeping policies and the overall attitude of the government without doing anything, but then the news came out that election could have been completely fraudulent. I had to do something.”
Michael Singer, a member of the Green Party, said Canadians need to be more engaged. “There are many countries in the world waiting for democracy. Why do we just want to throw it away?” he said. “If Canadians don’t do anything, the offensive actions of the Conservative government will just continue,” he said.
Liz Couture of Richmond Hill said she had faith in Elections Canada to investigate, but was concerned it could many years for the truth to come out.
An Elections Canada investigation has reportedly narrowed down the search for the person — dubbed ‘Pierre Poutine’ — who set up the robocall account. Sources told the National Post a suspect in the scandal will come forward Monday.
James Ho, an onlooker who watched the rally make its way up Yonge St., said he was wary of some of the government’s latest tactics, like the recently proposed online surveillance legislation, but he hadn’t really followed the robocall scandal.
“I just don’t want to see our tax money wasted on another election,” he said.
NDP MP for Trinity-Spadina Olivia Chow, who was also at the rally, said the NDP would be pushing the Tories this week to release more information to Election Canada.
“A public inquiry would be good too, but it has to start with the Conservatives releasing more information to Elections Canada, because right now they haven’t agreed to even doing that,” she said.
The Liberals and New Democrats accuse the Conservatives of being behind the calls — a charge Prime Minister Stephen Harper denies.
Elections Canada is reviewing more than 31,000 reports of Canadians receiving robocalls.
About 42,000 people have signed an online petition for a public inquiry into the matter.
Protests also took place in Montreal, Calgary and Halifax.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Noor Javed
Bearing placards and megaphones, the crowd walked to Old City Hall chanting, singing the national anthem and yelling out facts to inform the thousands of bystanders on Yonge St. about their cause.
“People think that democracy will always be here,” said Jeanne Vlasics, who said this was one of the few protests she has ever attended. “But it can erode away very slowly, and I am afraid that is what is happening here.”
Vlasics said the robocall scandal, in which thousands of voters received phone calls directing them away from proper polling stations during the federal election last May, was the final straw for her.
“I have been sitting and watching all these creeping policies and the overall attitude of the government without doing anything, but then the news came out that election could have been completely fraudulent. I had to do something.”
Michael Singer, a member of the Green Party, said Canadians need to be more engaged. “There are many countries in the world waiting for democracy. Why do we just want to throw it away?” he said. “If Canadians don’t do anything, the offensive actions of the Conservative government will just continue,” he said.
Liz Couture of Richmond Hill said she had faith in Elections Canada to investigate, but was concerned it could many years for the truth to come out.
An Elections Canada investigation has reportedly narrowed down the search for the person — dubbed ‘Pierre Poutine’ — who set up the robocall account. Sources told the National Post a suspect in the scandal will come forward Monday.
James Ho, an onlooker who watched the rally make its way up Yonge St., said he was wary of some of the government’s latest tactics, like the recently proposed online surveillance legislation, but he hadn’t really followed the robocall scandal.
“I just don’t want to see our tax money wasted on another election,” he said.
NDP MP for Trinity-Spadina Olivia Chow, who was also at the rally, said the NDP would be pushing the Tories this week to release more information to Election Canada.
“A public inquiry would be good too, but it has to start with the Conservatives releasing more information to Elections Canada, because right now they haven’t agreed to even doing that,” she said.
The Liberals and New Democrats accuse the Conservatives of being behind the calls — a charge Prime Minister Stephen Harper denies.
Elections Canada is reviewing more than 31,000 reports of Canadians receiving robocalls.
About 42,000 people have signed an online petition for a public inquiry into the matter.
Protests also took place in Montreal, Calgary and Halifax.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Noor Javed
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