The Conservatives last week filed a motion that accuses Graves of “clear bias” against them and asks the Federal Court of Canada to toss out an affidavit he filed in a series of court challenges of the 2011 election results.
Graves had been asked by the Council of Canadians, which is backing the court applications, to study the effect of pre-recorded “robocalls” and live calls on the voter turnout in seven ridings at issue in the case. His affidavit is a key piece of evidence in the cases.
In the written motion, lawyer Arthur Hamilton claimed Graves has “repeatedly and publicly aligned himself with political interests, parties and actors that oppose” the Conservatives.
The motion also charged that Graves “is clearly personally invested in the narrative that voter suppression did take place and had an effect on the Election.”
Graves, head of Ottawa-based Ekos Research, said the motion is full of falsehoods and he considers it defamatory.
While he cannot sue for libel because the statements are protected by the privilege that attaches to court proceedings, Graves said Monday he is considering a complaint to self-governing body for Ontario lawyers, the Law Society of Upper Canada.
“It’s not very gratifying but it’s all I’ve got available to me,” he said. “They’ve really lost their judgment here. The stuff they say is just false.”
Neither Hamilton nor his co-counsel could not be reached by phone or email Monday.
The motion also noted that Graves’ company had lost revenue since th eConservatives came to power in 2006 and suggests this might affect his “duties to the court.”
“Mr. Graves fails to disclose that his firm, Ekos, received more than $61,000,000 through 1,600 contracts with the federal government while the Liberal Party was in power, and has much less revenue from that source since the Conservatives were elected.”
In fact, Ekos continues to win government work and last fiscal year received $897,517 in federal contracts, more than any other firm, save for Ipsos-Reid Canada, according to a Public Works and Government Services Canada report.
Ekos has won contracts with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Department of National Defence, Public Safety Canada and Health Canada, among others over the past three years.
“If I was this horrible, biased hack, you’ve got to wonder why the bureaucrats would hire me,” Graves said.
Like most other major polling firms, Ekos’s federal businesss was cut dramatically after it was revealed that in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s first full year in office, 2006-07, his government spent $31 million on public-opinion research — more than any government in history.
Last fiscal year, the government spent a mere $7 million on polls and focus groups.
Graves has become something of a bête noire for Tories, ever since he said during a 2010 CBC panel appearance that Liberals should consider creating a “culture war” to rally their voters against the Conservatives.
The party filed a complaint with the CBC over the remark but ombudsman Vince Carlin found there was no violation of the public broadcaster’s journalistic practices.
Hamilton’s motion said Graves failed to disclose this complaint to the court.
The robocalls dispute is expected in court Tuesday for oral arguments over a motion that would require the applicants to pay security costs before the cases can proceed.
Graves is scheduled for a closed-door cross-examination on his affidavit on Wednesday.
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: GLEN MCGREGOR
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