Thursday, March 1, 2012

Robogate: Do You Believe?

Today's poll question; do you believe that the Conservative Party engaged in widespread systematic voter suppression in the 2011 Canadian federal election? The poll question at the CBC politics page is; do you believe laws were broken in the last federal election? 95% of their audience has voted yes, though the question doesn't specifically ask if people believe the Tories broke the law. Frankly there is no evidence to suggest that the party is responsible for these phone calls, but the presumption of guilt has been running rampant through the media and opposition benches. One panel guest on CBC radio this week said "if anyone would do this, it's these guys", as though one journalist's presumption of guilt is adequate justification for criminal allegations.

We also have fringe parties in this country who are strong advocates of proportional representation, who often cite low voter turnout statistics as proof we need to overhaul our democratic system. These parties also get copies of the voters list, and have more incentive to engage in "voter suppression" than the Tories. They've got nothing to lose, whereas the Conservatives would have a lot to lose for doing this (with a high probability of being caught). Many Conservative supporters also received these misleading phone calls, which is not a very intelligent strategy for the Tories. Do I have any evidence that the Green Party or the Marxist Leninists engaged in voter suppression? No, but that shouldn't prevent me from alleging criminal behaviour. If I believe there's a chance it's true (and they have incentive to do so), I should be allowed to make unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud, right? (that was sarcasm by the way)

Pat Martin's latest theory is that the Tories were trying to suppress votes in safe Liberal and NDP ridings to deprive them of the $2 per vote subsidy money. Meanwhile the Tories campaigned on scrapping subsidy and have made good on that promise.

This is getting crazy. Elections Canada has been investigating this for months, and we should let them finish. Why is the investigation taking so long? My guess is that they are trying everything they can to find evidence of criminal activity by the Conservatives. If no evidence exists, this could take a while.

10 comments:

  1. EC should stay clear of any investigation as they've proven repeatedly that they are a biased organization. The RCMP should investigate.

    I doubt this is a Tory action,they were pretty sure of winning a majority. This smacks of the young and desperate, who infest the Left.

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  2. EC also just happened to leak their investigation to the opposition and media, like they leaked the raid on the Conservative offices. They are disgusting Liberal puppets, they are doing more to damage Canada's democracy than any robocall could ever do.

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  3. "Robo gate who do you believe"
    I want to see evidence of wrongdoing.
    So far all we have heard is accusations and third and forth hand gossip.
    It could as some have suggested even been an effort from enviros who want to eliminate first past the post.
    Then again maybe the unemployed
    licenced shaitsu masseuse has branched out into robo call.
    Massaging the results bloss, happy ending! Yes?
    This just keeps getting weirder folks.
    Cheers Bubba

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  4. IMO, there is no doubt that "Robogate" is a preconceived smear campaign orchestrated by the radical opposition party's and the Media Party. All three Opposition Party's came out with they're hair on fire, and in breathless, hysterical tones screaming "fraud, fraud, we want a do over"... Along with the "Harper is illegitimate", "Stop Harper" narrative. What is EC role in all this? Why did EC change so many polling stations, the timing of which being a little strange. Why is the EC investigation taking so long? The whole thing stinks of another Palace coup. I just don't see the Conservatives doing something so desperately amateurish and reckless, but I do see the "Liberals"/ NDPQ and the Media Party plotting abuses, they've plotted Palace coup's before and then we had the vikileaks attack, while ignored by the media, it is another example of how out of control and reckless the Opposition have become, especially the Libranos, they've come unglued, and their media are a disgrace. The whole thing stinks and it doesn't add up.

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  5. I have received 3 calls in the past couple of weeks, one from a New Jersey number, asking questions re the upcoming AB election. First time it was press one for pc, 2 for WRA, and I never got to 3. Last time it was press 1 for ndp.
    Then I got a call from an AB number saying he was from some reputable polling firm in Canada and I hung up. Over the years I have received calls from EKOS, and it shows up on call display.
    When Rob Nicholson called re a town hall meeting via phone, he listed his name, party, and gave an explanation of what he could and could not do re CRTC rules. He also gave his e-mail address and office phone number. He said all party callers had to give that info re the CRTC.
    Funny how tonight on the cbc they had a guy answering the phone, with a US call number, and saying he was told to go to the wrong place to vote. Didn't do it. How many people video themselves answering the phone and showing call display. I watched it twice but could not make out the date. As he talked to the camera about it, I think it was the cbc that videoed him answering the phone. It rang, he showed the call display before answering it. Who set that up. Never gave his name.

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  6. I still think Mr. Rae is behind this. Remember how Iggy stole the leadership and Rae wasn't allowed to run against him. Knowing the subsidy was going to be eliminated, he knew it made no difference how many votes the Liberals got. He then went about making sure Iggy was a great big FAIL. to do this, he needed to keep his own name clear, hence this little scheme of Robo-calls. So far, it looks like it is working to perfection. Iggy is long gone with the worst showing in history. Conservatives are being blamed for the voter suppression. Now step three is to start talking about how Harper doesn't have a mandate and step four will be Elections Canada announcing that "while we can't convict because the evidence is insufficient, it does look like the Conservatives did suppress the vote by making illegal calls during the last election."

    This will then become the Liberals main talking point for the next campaign.

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  7. Of course we should wait until all of the evidence is in before reaching a final conclusion but anybody who isn't concerned about what has been reported thus far is either a dedicated partisan or a fool. It is clear that at the very least some elements within the CPC have imported the tactics that their Republican cousins have used south of the border.

    Either that or it's the public sector unions. ;)

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  8. The only smoking gun is Pierre Poutine and I'm not even sure at this point what calls were alledged to have been made from that phone or through what call center. Everything else is smoke and mirrors; a smear campaign aimed at bi-elections and overturning a majority government. You just have to listen to Bob Rae spin the 31,000 complaints as evidence of the grand voter fraud strategy instead of what it really is: people from any party reporting calls for any number of specified reasons. The opposition will spin this number into their narrative but it also bogs down the investigation and covers Pierre Poutine's tracks. So they didn't do themselves any favours there. The liberals benefit by having Bob Rae out in front of the media in the role of hero and victim. Damage has been done to conservative standing in the public mind. You don't need evidence to accomplish that, you just need the power of suggestion and the media at your disposal. Rumor does the work of truth. You don't need American style politics to accomplish that tactic.

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  9. Remember folks, there are two documented cases of illegal activities which we know occurred. They occurred in Guelph and were both committed by ...Liberals.

    1- A non-approved polling station was set up at the University. When EC was notified of it, they "determined" that it was not going to affect the result of the election and that the ballots would count even though most of these students do not have their residence in the riding.

    2- Liberals were observed handing out party literature just outside a polling station. Did anyone get their wrist slapped for breaking the rules? Not that I know.

    Doesn't it look like it was the Liberals who were breaking the rules and trying to skew the election results?

    Shouldn't those cases be exposed and talked about rather than the other stuff for which there has not been one shred of evidence?

    Just asking.

    Small c

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  10. From the number of complaints it would appear that it was primarily Liberal and NDP voters who were sucked in by this robocall scam. I guess that says it all about the level of intelligence of the supporters of these parties.

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