[riff]

Dear friends across Canada,

Thousands of voters may have been tricked into not voting in the last election, and investigators are currently failing to conduct a national investigation. Click below to tell Elections Canada and the RCMP that Canadians demand a real investigation, including an account of all election day robocalls -- then forward this email and ask friends and family to join the movement to save our democracy from fraud and corruption:

News reports have just revealed that callers supporting Harper likely misled thousands of voters in the last election. But we can undo this fraud, if investigators now work to find the truth of what really happened.

Last election, voters in as many as 45 ridings received misleading and fraudulent phone calls telling us to go to fake polling stations. New media reports show that this orchestrated attack on our democracy might have worked -- flipping seats to benefit the Conservative party and giving them a majority in Parliament. Elections Canada and the RCMP are, thus far, limiting their investigation to one riding and the members of one political party -- if we raise a massive public outcry they will be forced to expand their investigation to third parties and to dig into fraud across the country.

At minimum, our public officials should review all robocall contracts for election day, and we can make them dig deep in every implicated riding. Click below to demand Elections Canada and the RCMP act now to protect our democracy, then forward to everyone:

Avaaz - Election Fraud

[...]

[redrockcoulee]

The Liberals did it first, that is the standard line from the Harper government. Not sure if it was Alexander Mackenzie when he defeated Sir John A.

In all seriousness, this is terrible and I surely hope the scandal does to Harper that the Sponsorship scandal did to the Grits. It is a much greater one actually in that it may have prevented people from voting in a federal election, one that the Conservatives most likely were on the way to winning anyways. Earlier today I read an article in the Globe and Mail that one of the people involved in Nixon's dirty tricks stated that this was worse than any of the tricks they did on Nixon's behalf.

[normhead]

Its a sad day for Canadian democracy... and hopefully the end of the conservative party, the same way the sponsorship scandal was for the Liberals... of course that would mean the people would vote for the Liberals again... you just can't win in politics, The big question now would be, if eventually the election is overturned, what happens to the legislation and Senate appointments? DO we roll back the clock, or run the bi-elections and carry on from there? I beleive I read there could be as many as 26 bi-elections, way more than enough to overturn the Tory majority. Especially now that they've alienated voters with these shenanigans, they have less chance of winning the bi-elections than they did of winning the last one. I guess that's only fair given the circumstances. They only have to lose what 6 seats of the 26 to trigger a new minority just working from memory.

[Wheatfield]

Its a sad day for Canadian democracy... and hopefully the end of the conservative party, the same way the sponsorship scandal was for the Liberals... of course that would mean the people would vote for the Liberals again... you just can't win in politics, The big question now would be, if eventually the election is overturned, what happens to the legislation and Senate appointments? DO we roll back the clock, or run the bi-elections and carry on from there? I beleive I read there could be as many as 26 bi-elections, way more than enough to overturn the Tory majority. Especially now that they've alienated voters with these shenanigans, they have less chance of winning the bi-elections than they did of winning the last one. I guess that's only fair given the circumstances. They only have to lose what 6 seats of the 26 to trigger a new minority just working from memory.

This should throw out the entire election, with a new general election being called. For myself, it wouldn't change my vote, but knowing what the Conserfartives appear ready to do to sway an election, I suspect many people who voted Conserfartive would appreciate the opportunity to revisit their decision.
It's like these guys took what they learned from overseeing third world elections and applied it to Canada.
By the time this makes it through investigation, it should be time for the next general election.

Stop Harper.

[Philoslothical]

This should throw out the entire election, with a new general election being called.

+1, but it won't happen. As far as I'm concerned the CPC should be disenfranchised due to repeated incidents of corruption and criminal practices. The problem is that no matter what they get caught doing, no matter how bad it is, we don't do anything about it. We just let them run again, and again, and they take this as a cue that their illegal activities are OK.

We need to start putting these people in prison before we turn into the U.S.

[Wheatfield]

+1, but it won't happen. As far as I'm concerned the CPC should be disenfranchised due to repeated incidents of corruption and criminal practices. The problem is that no matter what they get caught doing, no matter how bad it is, we don't do anything about it. We just let them run again, and again, and they take this as a cue that their illegal activities are OK.

We need to start putting these people in prison before we turn into the U.S.

We need a Governor General with the balls to actually do the job. We would have an election call tomorrow if the GG was doing what he is supposed to do.

[riff]

For those who didn't click it, there is a petition to sign at the link I posted.

[redrockcoulee]

Bill

I do not think the GG has the authority to dissolve Parliament based on some allegations. I do not know if he can do so even after an inquiry but certainly not prior to one. That would be grossly overstepping their role no matter how much you (and most people I know including myself) would like it to be. In my riding paint a fence post blue and it would get elected.

[Wheatfield]

True enough, the allegations do need to be substantiated. I'm not holding my breath about either Harper or the GG doing the right thing if this turns out to be election fraud.
My next door neighbor's orange Honda did very well in the last election, and now has official opposition status.

[fisheye freak]

Politics unfortunately is a dirty business. Unfortunately it is a symptom of a larger society. In the old days of villages, a typical group of people would comprise 200-250 people. Everyone knew everyone else and as such was able to push the best leader to the fore as the village chieftan, mayor or elder. Given that people typically only know well 200 or so people, those that seek election do not need the votes of the 200 or so who know they are unworthy. The traits that people vote on are truly bizarre - unrelated to performance. Things like a smile, unsustainable promises, rhetoric, smooth talking, catchy election tune, slogans, spin, hype tend to trump policy. Obviously some people are more rational in their choices, but there are enough voters who make their decision on non-policy issues to make a difference. I dare say if discovery of dodgy practices routinely resulted in new elections being called, we would be at the polls constantly. By the same token, broken election promises should also precipitate fresh elections. Mind you, this may not be a bad thing as they would soon learn their lesson, but then you would have to discriminate between minor and major lies.
A favorite joke:- what do you call a lawyer gone bad? a politician.

[Ratmagiclady]

Did Harper just slime an election, or is this just figuring out how he got there in the first place?


Yeah, his sort manage to cheat while blaming others, but you don't want him by any margin, you know.

Not if you don't want to become like the once-proud US of A.

I've often wanted to run North. While trying to help matters here.


Don't disappoint me.

[Wheatfield]

Did Harper just slime an election, or is this just figuring out how he got there in the first place?


Yeah, his sort manage to cheat while blaming others, but you don't want him by any margin, you know.

Not if you don't want to become like the once-proud US of A.

I've often wanted to run North. While trying to help matters here.


Don't disappoint me.

If the allegations prove true, then there was election fraud on a pretty large scale. What is being accused is that people working for the Conservative party set up telephone robots that targeted card carrying Liberal party members with phone calls, ostensibly from Elections Canada, that the polling station location that they were supposed to vote at had been changed. These calls appear to have been targeted at constituencies that were more or less Liberal strongholds that were viewed as winnable by the Conservatives. One of the constituencies was won by the Conservatives by some 18 votes, most were won by the Conservatives by very slim margins. At the moment, it is being accused that close to 4 dozen Constituencies were targeted by this scheme (out of a total of 308), so it is no small deal.
There were also, apparently, harassing calls to people very late at night (like 3:00 AM), again targeting Liberal supporters.
The whole thing pretty much stinks, and the Conservatives appear to be stonewalling efforts to get to the bottom of it while at the same time trying to appear to be cooperating with the investigation.

[lesmore49]

Dear friends across Canada,

Thousands of voters may have been tricked into not voting in the last election, and investigators are currently failing to conduct a national investigation. Click below to tell Elections Canada and the RCMP that Canadians demand a real investigation, including an account of all election day robocalls -- then forward this email and ask friends and family to join the movement to save our democracy from fraud and corruption:

News reports have just revealed that callers supporting Harper likely misled thousands of voters in the last election. But we can undo this fraud, if investigators now work to find the truth of what really happened.

Last election, voters in as many as 45 ridings received misleading and fraudulent phone calls telling us to go to fake polling stations. New media reports show that this orchestrated attack on our democracy might have worked -- flipping seats to benefit the Conservative party and giving them a majority in Parliament. Elections Canada and the RCMP are, thus far, limiting their investigation to one riding and the members of one political party -- if we raise a massive public outcry they will be forced to expand their investigation to third parties and to dig into fraud across the country.

At minimum, our public officials should review all robocall contracts for election day, and we can make them dig deep in every implicated riding. Click below to demand Elections Canada and the RCMP act now to protect our democracy, then forward to everyone:

Avaaz - Election Fraud

[...]

Maybe we should wait till the substantiated facts are in....

Allegations are just that.

[Wheatfield]

Substantiated facts have no place in Politics. Wasn't it Kim Campbell that said election campaigns were no place to discuss serious issues?

[riff]

Maybe we should wait till the substantiated facts are in....

Thousands of voters may have been tricked into not voting in the last election, and investigators are currently failing to conduct a national investigation. Click below to tell Elections Canada and the RCMP that Canadians demand a real investigation,

Hey Les, did you even read what I posted???