This week the Court ruled that a person or persons using the Conservative party CIMS database committed election fraud in six ridings in the 2011 general election. The fraud consisted of “voter suppression” by “robocalls”, automated phone messages purporting to be from Elections Canada which falsely informed voters that their polling station locations had been changed, in an attempt to dissuade or prevent them from voting.
These calls weren’t pranks; they represented organized corruption of the democratic process. At page 25 of the judgement, the court distinguished between “irregularities” and “fraud or corrupt or illegal practices that affected the result of the election.” The judgement was clear: “(T)hese are very serious matters. Where they occur, the electoral process will be corroded.”
Election fraud is something we associate with banana republics, places to which we smugly send observers to ensure that voting is properly carried out. Canada is not supposed to rank at the same level as Malaysia, or even Bulgaria, where recent elections were marred by accusations of fraud. Yet First World fraud does occur: Take the case of Ohio, which recently had its own spate of vote irregularities — but, unlike Canada, no vote suppression.
And this isn’t the first instance of election fraud to embroil the Conservatives. In the so-called In-and-Out scandal, senior party officials were charged in 2011 with transferring over $1 million into 67 riding offices that had not yet maxxed out their campaign spending in the 2006 vote. The ridings then sent the money back out to the party to buy advertising — ads which were identical to those of the national campaign.
The purpose was to exceed the $18.3 million spending limit imposed on the national party. The party struck a deal, pleaded guilty and paid a fine of $230,000.
In the robocalls case, while the court ruling didn’t directly implicate the Conservative party, its candidates or firms it employed (“I make no finding that the Conservative Party of Canada or any CPC candidates or RMG and RackNine Inc., were directly involved in any campaign to mislead voters …”) it did find Conservatives guilty of a familiar sin: stonewalling.
Perhaps just as disturbing as the fraud itself — which the court found insufficient to change the outcome of the election — was the following finding by the judge:
“Despite the obvious public interest in getting to the bottom of the allegations, the (Conservative Party of Canada) made little effort to assist with the investigation at the outset despite early requests. I note that counsel for the CPC was informed while the election was taking place that the calls about polling station changes were improper. While it was begrudgingly conceded during oral argument that what occurred was ‘absolutely outrageous’, the record indicates that the stance taken by the respondent MPs from the outset was to block these proceedings by any means.”
As with the Senate expenses scandal, it’s not just what was done that makes people mad. It’s the attempt to cover it up, to distract, to do anything but cooperate.
As with Mike Duffy withholding information from auditors after Nigel Wright picked up the tab for his housing allowance, or the PMO issuing contradictory statements to explain the $90,000, or the PM trying to change the channel to Senate reform before jetting away, Canadians feel that they’re not getting the straight goods from their government.
This disregard for the truth, and the public’s right to know, is contemptuous and arrogant. It takes voters for fools. The question is, will the Tories clean up their act in time for the next election – or will this attitude continue, and ultimately be their undoing?
Original Article
Source: ipolitics.ca
Author: Tasha Kheiriddin
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