Firm with Tory links traced to election day ‘robocalls’...

haffajappa

Firm with Tory links traced to election day ‘robocalls’ that tried to discourage voters

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/22 ... ls-traced/

By Stephen Maher and Glen McGregor

Elections Canada has traced fraudulent phone calls made during the federal election to an Edmonton voice-broadcast company that worked for the Conservative Party across the country.

While the agency investigates, aided by the RCMP, the Conservatives are conducting an internal probe. A party lawyer is interviewing campaign workers to find who was behind the deceptive “robocalls.”

Elections Canada launched its investigation after it was inundated with complaints about election day calls in Guelph, Ont., one of 18 ridings across the country where voters were targeted by harassing or deceptive phone messages in an apparent effort to discourage Liberal supporters from voting.

In Guelph, a riding the Conservatives hoped to take from the Liberals, voters received recorded calls pretending to be from Elections Canada, telling them their polling stations had been moved. The calls led to a chaotic scene at one polling station, and likely led some voters to give up on voting.

Postmedia News and the Ottawa Citizen have found that Elections Canada traced the calls to Racknine Inc., a small Edmonton call centre that worked for the party’s national campaign and those of at least nine Conservative candidates, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s own campaign in Calgary Southwest. There is no evidence that Harper’s campaign or any of the other candidates were involved in the calls.

Racknine says it was unaware its servers were being used for the fake calls.

HOW RACKNINE WORKS

Fred DeLorey, a spokesman for the Conservative Party, declined to say how much business the party did with Racknine during the campaign. He said the party does not know who was behind the calls, and he did not respond to a question about its internal investigation.

Drowned Out

There is a chance this could force by-elections in contested ridings....a glimmer of hope in challenging the Con majority...
http://leadnow.ca/robocall-fraud

The crime bill, the piracy (spying) bill, this major election fraud.....the fact that only 39% of Canadians managed to elect a majority government...nothing in Canadian politics is democratic at the moment. the Cons are presenting these bills as if they were mandated by their election platform, because they won a majority of seats. Yet the Canadian people do not want mandatory minimums for non-violent drug offenders, and a massive expansion of our prison system. We dont want the government spying on us electronically.... Most Canadians didn't even want a Conservative government! These fuckers need to go. now.

polaris_x

shit ... sorry i missed this thread ...

the primary problem tho is conservative supporters don't really care about this stuff and will turn a blind eye ...

Drowned Out

Ya....Not sure if conservative ignorance trumps general public apathy as the primary problem or not. Or if 'liberals' are more ethically inclined .....
But the Cons used Adscam as one of their focal points in obliterating the liberal party...That was a $4 million scandal, which basically brought the already fractured libs to their knees. You would hope that people will make at least as big a deal of this. Not about to hold my breath tho, esp when the last snap election caused by their last bout of election fraud - the In and Out scandal - resulted in more Con seats :?

Also...this couldnt happen at a worse time for the opposition. Still no support for libs, the NDP in the middle of a leadership race..

polaris_x

Drowned Out wrote:

Ya....Not sure if conservative ignorance trumps general public apathy as the primary problem or not. Or if 'liberals' are more ethically inclined .....
But the Cons used Adscam as one of their focal points in obliterating the liberal party...That was a $4 million scandal, which basically brought the already fractured libs to their knees. You would hope that people will make at least as big a deal of this. Not about to hold my breath tho, esp when the last snap election caused by their last bout of election fraud - the In and Out scandal - resulted in more Con seats :?

Also...this couldnt happen at a worse time for the opposition. Still no support for libs, the NDP in the middle of a leadership race..

that's the thing ... despite all the scandals - the cons increased their vote in the last election ... which is what made me post the above ...

most of the people i know who vote conservative never hold that party responsible for anything ... it's always liberal this ... and liberal that ...

lukin2006

Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and whoever else has a political party...bottom line their all crooks, the game is rigged and we can't win. How we gonna stop this kind of behavior? Revolt? Probably the only way. The only way any of these parties will listen is if the electorate showed up in Ottawa by the millions and demanded those ridings effected by-elections were held. I don't see that happening though!

Drowned Out

ya, with an apathetic electorate, there isn't much hope for any democracy...but that's exactly why we have to maintain some kind of vigilance, and try to get people involved. It is pretty depressing tho....when this story broke, i posted a link on my fb page to the petition i posted earlier in the thread....first comment was 'nobody cares'...followed by one comment wondering about the election's legitimacy...that's it.

lukin2006

I know people who voted Conservative just because they were promising to get rid of the gun registry...no other reason . That's a big part of the reason voting is a waste of time in my opinion...too many people have no clue what their voting for.

The sad part is that the liberals and NDP are dragging their feet getting a leader in place and until they get leaders in place no one is really holding Harper accountable.

The thing I dislike the most about Harper though is his lack of respect for the courts...Just look at the crime bill (mandatory minimum sentences), taking control away from judges is just wrong, they need to pass sentences on what they hear in court...the online spying bill...avoiding the courts to spy on us is total bs.

Those robocalls make sense because most polls before the election had him getting another minority.

polaris_x

lukin2006 wrote:

I know people who voted Conservative just because they were promising to get rid of the gun registry...no other reason . That's a big part of the reason voting is a waste of time in my opinion...too many people have no clue what their voting for.

The sad part is that the liberals and NDP are dragging their feet getting a leader in place and until they get leaders in place no one is really holding Harper accountable.

The thing I dislike the most about Harper though is his lack of respect for the courts...Just look at the crime bill (mandatory minimum sentences), taking control away from judges is just wrong, they need to pass sentences on what they hear in court...the online spying bill...avoiding the courts to spy on us is total bs.

Those robocalls make sense because most polls before the election had him getting another minority.

yeah ... this crime bill is brutal ... it's almost patriot actish ...

lukin2006

polaris_x wrote:

lukin2006 wrote:

I know people who voted Conservative just because they were promising to get rid of the gun registry...no other reason . That's a big part of the reason voting is a waste of time in my opinion...too many people have no clue what their voting for.

The sad part is that the liberals and NDP are dragging their feet getting a leader in place and until they get leaders in place no one is really holding Harper accountable.

The thing I dislike the most about Harper though is his lack of respect for the courts...Just look at the crime bill (mandatory minimum sentences), taking control away from judges is just wrong, they need to pass sentences on what they hear in court...the online spying bill...avoiding the courts to spy on us is total bs.

Those robocalls make sense because most polls before the election had him getting another minority.

yeah ... this crime bill is brutal ... it's almost patriot actish ...

...and going to cause cashed strapped provinces billions...in a time when crime is going down...which leads me to believe that our current system of focusing on rehabilitation instead of just punishment is working. The worst part of that bill is the language governing marijuana...that is just brutal...that language alone is going to ruin so many young people's life and strip many of them of opportunities for doing what so many have done before them, doing now and will do in the future...if i got it correct 6 plants will now make someone a trafficker and passing a joint to someone in a school zone whether the school is closed or not will net you a 2 year minimum sentence. I only hope the police and the crown attorneys decide not to prosecute or even better yet the province issues an order not to prosecute...just ridiculous.

Drowned Out

lukin2006 wrote:

I know people who voted Conservative just because they were promising to get rid of the gun registry...no other reason . That's a big part of the reason voting is a waste of time in my opinion...too many people have no clue what their voting for.

The sad part is that the liberals and NDP are dragging their feet getting a leader in place and until they get leaders in place no one is really holding Harper accountable.

The thing I dislike the most about Harper though is his lack of respect for the courts...Just look at the crime bill (mandatory minimum sentences), taking control away from judges is just wrong, they need to pass sentences on what they hear in court...the online spying bill...avoiding the courts to spy on us is total bs.

Those robocalls make sense because most polls before the election had him getting another minority.

ugh, try living in Alberta, man :(
There are people here who have NO CLUE WHY they vote Con....but they do because they think it's the only way things will be 'fair for Alberta' or whatever...the NEP backlash is still alive and well here…. we’re a generation removed from it and most people here don’t even realize how much the disdain our parents felt for the Libs has influenced AB’s outlook on federal politics….it’s classic herd behavior.

It’s not just the courts this government lacks respect for…the political/electoral systems, and the will of the people are all afterthoughts to them.
Look at the track record…they plead guilty to election fraud once already. They were found in contempt of parliament for not providing realistic budgets for the crime bill…the same crime bill they are pushing thru with their majority. They pass a fixed election date law, then break the law themselves…The online spying bill, the jet scandal…supporting US-style bank deregulation, shilling for pipelines while calling environmentalists foreign interests…the list goes on and on…and their support doesn’t waver.
I think politicians are as corrupt as we let them be…if we keep throwing their asses out when we find out about corruption, these scandals will happen less frequently. But allowing this shit to go without severe consequence enables them. The last election fraud cost them a $50k fine. $50k! By the time that ‘punishment’ was delivered, they had already had FIVE YEARS of varying control over a 250+ BILLION dollar budget! And had appointed how many Con senators? I’d say that’s the best $50k a government ever spent.

The conservative reaction in to all of this in parliament is so maddening. Harper called it a ‘smear campaign’! wtf!?! They swear up and down that no one knew this was happening, when their fall guy was an experienced Tory staffer….we all know that Con staffers are not allowed to fart without Harper sniffing their ass first. Man I hope the opposition can get their act together enough to use this to its full potential.

Drowned Out

lukin2006 wrote:

...and going to cause cashed strapped provinces billions...in a time when crime is going down...which leads me to believe that our current system of focusing on rehabilitation instead of just punishment is working. The worst part of that bill is the language governing marijuana...that is just brutal...that language alone is going to ruin so many young people's life and strip many of them of opportunities for doing what so many have done before them, doing now and will do in the future...if i got it correct 6 plants will now make someone a trafficker and passing a joint to someone in a school zone whether the school is closed or not will net you a 2 year minimum sentence. I only hope the police and the crown attorneys decide not to prosecute or even better yet the province issues an order not to prosecute...just ridiculous.

I'm not sure exactly how it works...I know the bill takes discretion from the judges...but can't a judge still rule mandatory minimums unconstitutional? Like the one in quebec just did with that firearm posession mandatory sentence? If so...I think we'll see a lot of judges following suit with drug sentencing.

polaris_x

lukin2006 wrote:

...and going to cause cashed strapped provinces billions...in a time when crime is going down...which leads me to believe that our current system of focusing on rehabilitation instead of just punishment is working. The worst part of that bill is the language governing marijuana...that is just brutal...that language alone is going to ruin so many young people's life and strip many of them of opportunities for doing what so many have done before them, doing now and will do in the future...if i got it correct 6 plants will now make someone a trafficker and passing a joint to someone in a school zone whether the school is closed or not will net you a 2 year minimum sentence. I only hope the police and the crown attorneys decide not to prosecute or even better yet the province issues an order not to prosecute...just ridiculous.

it's following the same model in the states ... build prisons so your friends can profit off the taxpayer and then create laws to ensure incarceration rates are up ...

Drowned Out

polaris_x wrote:

lukin2006 wrote:

...and going to cause cashed strapped provinces billions...in a time when crime is going down...which leads me to believe that our current system of focusing on rehabilitation instead of just punishment is working. The worst part of that bill is the language governing marijuana...that is just brutal...that language alone is going to ruin so many young people's life and strip many of them of opportunities for doing what so many have done before them, doing now and will do in the future...if i got it correct 6 plants will now make someone a trafficker and passing a joint to someone in a school zone whether the school is closed or not will net you a 2 year minimum sentence. I only hope the police and the crown attorneys decide not to prosecute or even better yet the province issues an order not to prosecute...just ridiculous.

it's following the same model in the states ... build prisons so your friends can profit off the taxpayer and then create laws to ensure incarceration rates are up ...

yup....whats the over/under on how long it takes for the Tories to cry that government spending on prisons is out of control, and the system needs to be privatized?

polaris_x

Drowned Out wrote:

yup....whats the over/under on how long it takes for the Tories to cry that government spending on prisons is out of control, and the system needs to be privatized?

ya ... no kidding ... you ever listen to cross-country checkup sunday nights with rex murphy on cbc? ... you get a good gauge of the populace at large ...

the blind faith harper supporters have is ridiculous ... so many people choosing to turn a blind eye ...

lukin2006

Drowned Out wrote:

lukin2006 wrote:

...and going to cause cashed strapped provinces billions...in a time when crime is going down...which leads me to believe that our current system of focusing on rehabilitation instead of just punishment is working. The worst part of that bill is the language governing marijuana...that is just brutal...that language alone is going to ruin so many young people's life and strip many of them of opportunities for doing what so many have done before them, doing now and will do in the future...if i got it correct 6 plants will now make someone a trafficker and passing a joint to someone in a school zone whether the school is closed or not will net you a 2 year minimum sentence. I only hope the police and the crown attorneys decide not to prosecute or even better yet the province issues an order not to prosecute...just ridiculous.

I'm not sure exactly how it works...I know the bill takes discretion from the judges...but can't a judge still rule mandatory minimums unconstitutional? Like the one in quebec just did with that firearm posession mandatory sentence? If so...I think we'll see a lot of judges following suit with drug sentencing.

I'm not sure how that works in that sense...but It sound like judges will have to follow the guidelines set out by the government.

Judges and victims advocate say Tory crime bill will make Canada less safe

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/201202 ... z1nsuLSFt1


http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/201202 ... on-120223/

lukin2006

Drowned Out wrote:

lukin2006 wrote:

I know people who voted Conservative just because they were promising to get rid of the gun registry...no other reason . That's a big part of the reason voting is a waste of time in my opinion...too many people have no clue what their voting for.

The sad part is that the liberals and NDP are dragging their feet getting a leader in place and until they get leaders in place no one is really holding Harper accountable.

The thing I dislike the most about Harper though is his lack of respect for the courts...Just look at the crime bill (mandatory minimum sentences), taking control away from judges is just wrong, they need to pass sentences on what they hear in court...the online spying bill...avoiding the courts to spy on us is total bs.

Those robocalls make sense because most polls before the election had him getting another minority.

ugh, try living in Alberta, man :(
There are people here who have NO CLUE WHY they vote Con....but they do because they think it's the only way things will be 'fair for Alberta' or whatever...the NEP backlash is still alive and well here…. we’re a generation removed from it and most people here don’t even realize how much the disdain our parents felt for the Libs has influenced AB’s outlook on federal politics….it’s classic herd behavior.

It’s not just the courts this government lacks respect for…the political/electoral systems, and the will of the people are all afterthoughts to them.
Look at the track record…they plead guilty to election fraud once already. They were found in contempt of parliament for not providing realistic budgets for the crime bill…the same crime bill they are pushing thru with their majority. They pass a fixed election date law, then break the law themselves…The online spying bill, the jet scandal…supporting US-style bank deregulation, shilling for pipelines while calling environmentalists foreign interests…the list goes on and on…and their support doesn’t waver.
I think politicians are as corrupt as we let them be…if we keep throwing their asses out when we find out about corruption, these scandals will happen less frequently. But allowing this shit to go without severe consequence enables them. The last election fraud cost them a $50k fine. $50k! By the time that ‘punishment’ was delivered, they had already had FIVE YEARS of varying control over a 250+ BILLION dollar budget! And had appointed how many Con senators? I’d say that’s the best $50k a government ever spent.

The conservative reaction in to all of this in parliament is so maddening. Harper called it a ‘smear campaign’! wtf!?! They swear up and down that no one knew this was happening, when their fall guy was an experienced Tory staffer….we all know that Con staffers are not allowed to fart without Harper sniffing their ass first. Man I hope the opposition can get their act together enough to use this to its full potential.

yeah...i never understood how 1 party can dominate a province for so long both provincially and federally...seems like if you want a job for life just run as a tory candidate in Alberta.

I think with all those scandal you mentioned its almost like the electorate tunes out scandals because we hear it so often.

lukin2006

Looks like same trick was deployed here in Ontario...

Dirty tricks calls alleged in Ontario election

http://www.ckom.com/content/dirty-trick ... o-election

So much for fair and free elections...not surprised.

polaris_x

lukin2006 wrote:

I'm not sure how that works in that sense...but It sound like judges will have to follow the guidelines set out by the government.

Judges and victims advocate say Tory crime bill will make Canada less safe

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/201202 ... z1nsuLSFt1


http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/201202 ... on-120223/

it's similar to how the "accountability act" actually made it less accountable allowing the cons to fraud even more than before ...

lukin2006

well i am tired of the same 2 parties running the show...that's all we do, either vote liberals in or conservative...we really do need to find a better system.

lukin2006

Tory robocalls counterattack backfires as Elections Canada confirms 31,000 complaints

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/02 ... omplaints/