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Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes an announcement in front of students at the Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit, Nunavut on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS) Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes an announcement in front of students at the Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit, Nunavut on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS) Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport Pierre Poilievre, NDP MP Pat Martin and Liberal MP John McCallum appear on CTV's Power Play on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. Liberal MP John McCallum gestures during a news conference in Ottawa, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. (Arian Wyld  / THE CANADIAN PRESS) NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel speaks during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS) Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport Pierre Poilievre, NDP MP Pat Martin and Liberal MP John McCallum appear on CTV's Power Play on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport Pierre Poilievre, NDP MP Pat Martin and Liberal MP John McCallum appear on CTV's Power Play on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012.

PM says he has no knowledge of misleading 'robocalls'

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CTV News Video

CTV National News: Dirty tricks and bogus calls
Before the election many Liberal supporters received misleading 'robocalls' about where their polling station was located. Roger Smith reports on what the opposition is calling an underhanded campaign to alter the outcome of the last election.
Power Play: Robocalls discourages voters
Steve Maher of the National discusses the underlying problem of voters being confused by robocalls of where they should cast their vote during an election.
Power Play: Robocalls linked to Tories?
Conservative MP Pierre Polyev, the NDP's Pat Martin, and the Liberal's John McCallum discuss how the robocalls from the last election impacted their riding and hope Election Canada gets to the bottom of this issue.
National Affairs: Political play of the day
Mercedes Stephenson discusses the robocalls voters received on Election Day and NDP Pat Martin's reaction to the incident.
CTV News Channel: NDP reacts to allegations
Pat Martin an NDP MP says did the Conservatives win the last election by cheating because the public needs to know.

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes an announcement in front of students at the Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit, Nunavut on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS) Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes an announcement in front of students at the Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit, Nunavut on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS) Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport Pierre Poilievre, NDP MP Pat Martin and Liberal MP John McCallum appear on CTV's Power Play on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. Liberal MP John McCallum gestures during a news conference in Ottawa, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. (Arian Wyld  / THE CANADIAN PRESS) NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel speaks during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS) Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport Pierre Poilievre, NDP MP Pat Martin and Liberal MP John McCallum appear on CTV's Power Play on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport Pierre Poilievre, NDP MP Pat Martin and Liberal MP John McCallum appear on CTV's Power Play on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012.

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes an announcement in front of students at the Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit, Nunavut on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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Date: Thu. Feb. 23 2012 10:53 PM ET

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday he has "absolutely no knowledge" of any automated calls that were allegedly aimed at suppressing the vote for Liberal and NDP candidates in the last federal election.

"I have absolutely no knowledge on anything about these calls, but obviously if there is anyone who's done anything wrong, we will expect that they will face the full consequences of the law," Harper told reporters in Iqaluit.

Opposition members are calling for a police probe into claims that a string of so-called "robocalls" placed last spring were aimed at helping the Conservatives in tight ridings.

The calls appear to have been designed to mislead voters by telling them to vote at incorrect polling stations. It's unknown who employed the company who made the automated calls.

Two NDP MPs have sent letters of complaint to both the commissioner of elections and the RCMP, urging a full investigation. And Liberal MP John McCallum says the ploy may have cost his party at least three seats.

McCallum said the calls appear to be widespread, suggesting they were the organized work of several people.

"It's not a single isolated riding, it's at least 18 that I'm aware of across the country, and I can't imagine how one single operative woke up one morning to target all those 18," he told CTV's Power Play.

"I don't have a (smoking) gun for the prime minister, but I think it must have been arranged at some central level to some degree, and hopefully this investigation will give us some answers."

New Democrat MP Pat Martin said he was aware of about eight ridings where the calls took place, and his party ended up losing two of them.

"It's hard to overstate how serious this is," he said. "You are denying somebody their fundamental right to cast their ballot in a free and fair election by deliberately mischievous means."

Newspaper reports said that Elections Canada had traced the phone calls to Racknine Inc., a small Edmonton voice-broadcast company that worked for the Conservative party's national campaign and at least nine other Conservative candidates, including the prime minister.

Company officials said they had no idea who made the calls and have handed their records to authorities. They also said that outgoing messages are not monitored.

In an email to CTV News, Racknine president and CEO Matt Meier said he was "shocked and distressed to learn that some party had used our services to try and disrupt voting."

There is no evidence that Harper's campaign or any of the other candidates were involved in the calls, the reports said.

A spokesperson for the Conservative party strongly denied any involvement in the calls.

"The Conservative Party of Canada ran a clean and ethical campaign and would never tolerate such activity," Jenni Byrne, the party's national campaign manager, said in a statement. "The party was not involved with these calls and if anyone on a local campaign was involved they will not play a role in a future campaign.

"Allegations of voter suppression are extremely serious," Byrne continued. "If anything improper occurred, those responsible should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Elections Canada said it does not comment on, nor confirm, ongoing investigations.

It launched the probe after it was besieged with complaints about a series of bizarre election-day phone calls made to residents in Guelph, Ont.

Voters there received recorded calls from people pretending to be from Elections Canada, informing them that their polling stations had been moved. The calls resulted in chaos at some polling stations. Other voters stayed home.

Comments are now closed for this story

John
said

Let's see how many more people the conservatives can throw under that bus...


RealityBites
said

Remember when the right wing used to (pretend to) stand for democratic reform ? That's over!


kat
said

As a canadian taxpayer stewie - we are NOT having another election because the liberals and the ndp think the reason they lost is because someone told thousands to go vote elsewhere. As usually those with too much time on their hands and the press have tar and feathered everyone.


Chris, Alberta
said

I don't believe anything Harper says. Nothing!


kat
said

Oh how comical that all you people think that after a year this isn't suspicious - the two ndp and liberal look a little like the three stoogies. Reminds me of something but what????


Monkey Business
said

Harper speak with forked tongue. If the Conservative party is above board, they should have no issue with calling for a re- election in those ridings that experienced this fraudulent act.


Doug
said

The Liberals may have been guilty of misappropriating funds but the Conservatives are constantly shown to be crooks in every area of public life. It seems so entrenched into their world view that I can't support any of their politics.


Ed2 from BC
said

Guess that's why Harper visited George W Bush so much. They were BFF's so this is not surprising. Harper has brought American-style electioneering to Canada from the first day he was in government. What a crying shame for Canada. I hope there is a thorough investigation by an impartial party.


Thomas Nater
said

Do bad that we have to earn our dollar every day, otherwise we could take on the political system with it's incompetence . For sure nothing is going to happen with the personnel who engaged this criminal act.


Stig Nasty
said

Laughable Left, Does the name Doug Finley ring a bell? He's the former Conservative party campaign director who broke election rules resulting in a $50,000 fine. So yeah, I guess that would make Conservatives guilty.


Robocall 21919
said

Recall, please!


Bruno
said

so will he ask the RCMP to investigate?


Bumcrack USA
said

Joe... the twitter accusations last week had to do with rebroadcasting via twitter information that was already PUBLICLY AVAILABLE. That you don't seem to grasp the difference between that and breaking election laws by intentionally misdirecting voters on election day probably explains why you still defend these bozos.


Stewie
said

Give these guys the boot lets have an election now. Step down now Steve, one of those new prison cells is waiting for you.


Jarge From Krinklecove
said

Hey everybody don't be so hard on poor Minster Stephen Harper, it's not his fault;
He got Caught.


saskall
said

Every one is sent a document that shows where and when to vote. If you are stupid enough to listen to an outomated message on where to vote instead I hope you didn't vote.


Duke
said

"I have absolutely no knowledge on anything about these calls....."

Kind of reminiscent of one other politician's infamous denial "I did not have sex with that woman"

Please cut us some slack already!


Jarge From Krinklecove
said

It looks like Our Honorable Jack Layton May have been closer to winning then anyone will ever know, now.
It seems Across the boarder claims of foul play on voting scandals are apparent with poor Ron Paul, as well.


Senior taxpayer
said

Oh oh, I see this developing into a Harpergate...


James
said

So even when they cheated the Cons could still only manage ~38% of the popular vote. You'd think that would shut some of the Con shills commenting on this story up, but apparently not. That's cool though, keep blaming the Liberal bogeyman and sticking your heads in the sand. Remember what happened after Mulroney? Brace yourselves, there's a reckoning coming.


Tanner from Northern ON
said

I dont understand why all of you people are saying "i dont trust the cons anymore" blah blah this is a good news story....We're lucky we are in the position we are, we dont have to have drastic cuts (federally) like most other western countries. Be proud of that.


kat
said

I'm sorry but almost a year later and this starts to come out. How surprising!!!!!!! And for those of you who think the government should resign - goy!!!!


elYzabeth
said

The Leader of the Official Opposition NYcole Turmel is getting her message across to Canadians that ROBOCALLS were used by Harper to win the last election, therefore she should become Prime Minister unless Elections Canada can prove the cons didn't do it whci they cant prove I bet. Bye bye Harper you lose NDP wins haha now Canada gets what it fianally wants


Dave in Qc.
said

Whether it changed the election outcome or not is irrelevant.They tampered with the most valued of all democratic rights "Your right to Vote"If you can support this action and attempt to fluff it off and make it sound trivial then you should be living in North Korea,Cuba,China or some other dictator run country.Canada's democracy is taking a beating from these controling angry little men called harpers Conservatives or should we say Stephen Harpers Government.


Steve In Manotick
said

Its time to cancel this government and lets have another election


Taxpayer
said

What an outrage first the election funding scandal now this. his party is not fit to be government


Greg Orbman
said

This past November, the Conservative In and Out scheme violated Elected Canada rules. Also, this past November, the Conservative were caught in a phone call campaign perpetrating a rumour that Liberal MP Irwin Cotler has resigned. The Conservatives are spending millions of taxpayer dollars on advertisement for the Conservative Economic Action Plan (so called.) These advertisements are Conservative propaganda at taxpayer expense. No reasonable person believes that the Conservatives were not aware of this RoboCall campaign to blame harassing phone calls on the Liberals.


Stan Verscay Peterborough Ontario
said

Whatever the explanation this treacherous government will not be around after the next election.


Norn in Toronto
said

I am actually really saddened by the people commenting here that this is not important. I love our country, and I love our Democracy. The simple fact that there is election fraud going on in our country makes me very upset. I don't think that it would have had any real effect on the outcome of the election, but that is not the point.The simple fact that someone here in this country would resort to these tactics to try and undermind our free and fair election process is crazy. I really hope that the investigation can actually find out who is responsible and they are prosecuted accordingly.


Marty in P.A.
said

I guess people are that naive. If you went to a location and there was nobody there, wouldn't you at least check out the original location for voting??? How far are we talking between the two locations. And how did it differenciate between everybodies political choices? That would be a better question to ask.


tooliberaltostayinalberta
said

Perhaps we should use the powers under the new internet privacy bill to peruse the internet history of PM Harper and his fellow CONS. If that turns up nothing, then I will accept his answer....


James
said

@Spare Me: Since you and a number of the other Con shills seem to be irony impaired I'll spell it out: blaming the NDP for posting details about Vic Toews divorce to twitter with zero proof? Great! Blaming voter suppression tactics conducted through a call centre with ties to their party on the Cons? Horrible slander! Stay classy.


glenn toering-boyes
said

are those government employees in the background??


Dave in Edm
said

Harper knows nothing about Robocalls... The NDP know nothing about Vikileaks... All I know I look forward to being governed by the Liberals once again...


Tom in Calgary
said

What would we expect Mr Harper to say? Vic Toews said he didn't know what was in his snooping bill. Whether the Tories were behind it or not, they did set the example with dirty tricks during the last few elections.


Alberta Chris
said

I read it on the internet so it must be true. Not me. Was it 1 call or 10,000? Did it actually involve a member of a Canadian political party, or was it Joe Public committing public mischief? Who benefited in those particular ridings? Pretty basic questions I think. This is a little too easy. I'm waiting to see how this actually plays out - but then again i'm a little too busy with the real world to be much of a conspiracy theorist.


wolfeden
said

That's because he's a freakin' robot!


Ken from Alberta
said

I would be more surprised if the conservatives DID NOT engage in this horrible activity. It's right up thei alley.


Trey
said

The moment I start believing Harper is the moment I'll be flying over Ottawa on a pig.The guy is a serial liar, and Canadians should be ashamed of themselves for electing someone like this - as a majority no less.


Joan in real World
said

Of course Harper know nothing about it.... and the CONS don't lie... lol


Norman
said

@ JC. Whether it would or would not have changed the outcome is not the point, obviously. The Conservatives party, run by Steven Harper, cant trust themselves to win on merit, alone. They had to stack the deck. If you or anyone thinks this ok, call you mother; she'll tell you it isn't.


Victoria Guy
said

Gary Lunn, a former Harper Conservative Cabinet Minister in a previous election had his election people call NDP voters to tell them to vote NDP despite the fact the NDP candidate had dropped out the race in Saanich Gulf Islands (Vancouver Island). Although the NDP candidate dropped out it was after the date to withdraw his name from the ballot. Lunn and the Conservatives wanted to ensure the NDP votes split the Liberal vote. Lunn was subsequently defeated by Elizabeth May is a later election; karma caught up to Lunn.


wolfeden
said

"You don't spit in the wind" ---Jim Croce "Bad Bad Leror Brown"You got that, Harper??


Laughable Left
said

Well, now that you on the left have convinced yourselves that the Conservatives are criminals, you must want to give them a big hug.


K from NS
said

How'd it take so long for this to come out?


D. Vancouver
said

I'm just shocked and saddened that it's come to this in Canada. Call in International Observer's to oversee our next "Federal Election."


Perhaps - Ottawa
said

Hope the RCMP get to the bottom of this and fast. Hopefully whoever registered the phone in Joliette, Quebec that there is video surveillance of the person when this phone was purchased, where and with the time and date even if it is disposable, this would certainly help. This area cannot be that big so should be easy to find where it was purchased and by whom one would hope.


ASheikh
said

Ha Ha Ha; Canadians another Harper family drama surfacing. Don't be excited much more to come. Just wait!!


Right as Always
said

Is anyone surprised? I don't think the Conservative party has even tried being honest and upfront, and playing by the rules. Know why? Because they would obviously not have been elected if they told the truth, spent within the limits, or simply played fair. Every election, they get caught cheating and lying.The Conservative party, along with many of their supporters, are quite simply ethically challenged.


Steph
said

@Gord in Airdrie: Brilliant idea! I am with you 100% on that one! Maybe the bashing would stop in Parliament and the politicians would concentrate on their work instead of being sour grapes about their defeat! Lets make the parties accountable for their actions and accusations, lets hit their coffers and not our wallets!Brilliant my friend, just brilliant!


KC BC
said

There are sure a lot of judges who have declared guilt by innuendo! There must be some information given to them that is not available to the rest of us. I was told to vote anti conservative before the election or else. I took it as a joke. Hmm...maybe I should make a complaint! I think I will restrain my "wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth' for now.


JD
said

MARG MM said "Who is to say these calls even existed???" Their phone records say they got a call from this call centre. Are you really that dense?


Rev in VC
said

Sigh. And now our tax dollars get wasted on robocalls and investigation of said robocalls? Does anything productive ever get done by these spoiled children?


Jim-Surrey
said

I doubt that would make a difference as no one liked Iggy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


SF
said

Stolen election.If this government had any sense of honour - they would admit they have no mandate for any policy changes during this term, RESIGN and let the people decide on the penalty for this malfeasance.


Jenna J.
said

Most people didn't vote anyway. So for them, it made no difference. And for the rest of us, no one outside of Quebec voted NDP anyway.


Mark J.
said

Look, the NDP are asleep in their chairs.


Jazz
said

Some of those commenting are just ranting yet again that they lost big time. I just find this interesting that the Conservatives have gone on record now to pull far away from this and demand full prosecution to whomever was involved. As the probe continues, we'll see who the rat is. I also find the timing interesting just after the twitter nonsense coming back on the NDP. Is this just to keep the eyes off of them?


Joan in Real World
said

It takes about a minute to email Elections Canada to demand that the election results in these 18 ridings be rendered invalid.


styx6983
said

I'm sorry, but the logical thing to do is NOT ANSWER THE PHONE! Not that hard to figure out!


kat
said

Yeah! That's why they lost. And why would the NDP be interested in this? What are their motives? Save our money - election Canada is always looking for something! Hmm makes me wonder!


Johnny LaGlue
said

Utterly disgusted. These are the same politicians that send our sons and daughters off to war to fight for freedom and democratic ideals...


waseeq
said

Harper is learning dirty tricks from USA. Full investigation by the RCMP.


Jason Daniel Baker, Toronto
said

If people quickly come to the conclusion that the Harper Tories are guilty in this issue it may have more to do with the fact that in the In-And-Out-Scheme during the 2006 election they eventually WERE found guilty. The scandals are starting to add up not merely because of wrongdoing but because wrongdoing so inept that they keep getting caught.


Cambob in Toronto
said

I'm so glad the opposition is focused on everything except the economy.


waseeq
said

Very honest with you i dont trust Harper,better be a full investgstion by RCMP.


Check It Out - Ottawa
said

Just like the article in the paper says..they traced the phone back to where it was Registered and that was in Joliette, Quebec at least the disposable one. The RCMP should start there.


Spare Me
said

As per usual, we find the anti-Conservatives operating under the hypocritical premise that Harper & Company are guilty until proven innocent. (Part of their post-election therapy, I guess.) Speaking of hyperbolic nonsense, a special thumbs-up to NDP MP Angus for being the biggest drama queen by calling on the international community to send observers to the next election. Hilarious.


George V.
said

Give the Canadian people a little more credit, we have more grey matter upstairs that we can be swayed who we vote for during an election by unsolicitated phone calls. The real and only reason the Conservatives got a majority was the people trusted the Conservatives and liked their platform, they took one look at the other two oppostion parties who had nothing to offer but criticizm, void of any ideas other than wanting to be in power. The next election will have the same or better results. In the mean time cry me a river.


Joe
said

This is the NDP deflecting the focus off of the twitter accusations last week...


peter in BC
said

"The Conservative Party of Canada ran a clean and ethical campaign and would never tolerate such activity,"What? Did I miss something? They ran a clean and ethical campaign did they? Wow, I must have been in another dimension then because there was nothing clean or ethical about their attack ads. This party has some issues and I'm sorry I voted Conservative. Nothing but lies and deceit.


Trevor H.
said

I don't trust Harper and the conseratives one minute. Harper is up too no good!


Clem
said

I'm a bit confused. No party knows for sure how most of us are going to vote. If the Conservatives were trying to win a seat that would mean they would have in line around as many votes as another party. So, if someone is "preventing" people from voting by blanket robocalls wouldn't they be actually inhibiting many Conservative voters from voting by this robocall strategy? Especially since a higher percentage of Conservatives than the Libs and NDPs are actual working people who might have only a short time to get to the polls after work? __ Oh, yeah - socialist intellectual NDP MP Pat Martin just referred to conservative Albertans as "hillbillies". According to him, no conservative has a phone.


Missing - Ottawa
said

According to today's Ottawa Citizen on page A4 they say the phone was registered in the 405 area in Joliette Quebec..who is the MP who represents this area..do they know anything about this in the area.


k
said

It has not been proven the Gov't even participated in these calls. This is a 'guilt by association' story. I agree that an investigation into all Conservative volunteers should be forthcoming. It was a few days ago that I read an article about strategic voting by two companies sanctioned by NDP MP Nathan Cullen. One suggestion to topple the Gov't was to have opposition supporters pretend to be Conservative supporters in order to infiltrate the Conservative Party and wreak havoc in the party from the inside. So do not go drawing conclusions until the investigation is complete. Was it not, the NDP who launched this type of calling strategy in the riding of the MP who left the NDP and crossed the floor to the Liberals?


paula
said

What a transparent bunch of morons. Can they just not get to WORK. That is what we pay them to do.Stop with the kindergarten game. I for one am fed up with it.Stop the"do you know what they did" pout, poutEnough already.WE DON'T CARE.


Shar
said

I find it hard to believe that any political party would be this stupid. Hopefully Elections Canada and the RCMP will get to the bottom of it quickly. In the meantime, please shut Pat Martin and Charlie Angus up. Both are a disgrace to parliament.


Jeremy
said

Atta boy, Dave in Thunder Bay. I totally agree, and I willingly will allow my tax dollars to get to the bottom of this CRIME!!! Once we have found out after an inquiry how many ridings these misleading robocalls were focused on, then let the BY-ELECTIONS BEGIN!!!!!


Don
said

Who gives a hoot? Pour your time and energy and stop the harassing calls that come from the Do Not Call List that we all got scammed and tricked into....
If anyone in this Gov't would do what they are supposed to be doing and stop wasting taxpayers money & time, we would be one of the elite countries in the World. But no, we are known in Canada as complete idiots!!!


Big Bob in Ottawa
said

Is anyone really surprised.?The people that voted Conservative don't care because they won. If they had lost and this came to light hey would have screamed bloddy murder. Investigate and people don't forget this next election. If the Conservatives are to be elected on the basis of transparency they can start by not committing al the sins they accused the Liberals of in the past. I personally find it abhorrent thatthis could go on on election day and will base my vote on my perception of fair play next time around. If the Cons get burned on this they can expect more people like me to give money to the opposition and I don't give money to political parties as a rule but I aint giving it to fraudulent illegal electoral criminals.


K.D.
said

Time for a new election. The last one is not to be trusted - no matter what party is involved.The last election is now tainted.Time for a new election - where ballots are counted while being watched by the public.


CMQ
said

Sadly, this issue has more life to it (and that isn't saying much) than both the NDP and Liberal party combined!!!!


J.C.
said

Wouldn't it be funny if it turned out to be someone from one of the other parties? This is possible as apparently the calls were tracked back to Quebec. Maybe things didn't turn out the way they wanted. It would be nice to know in the end exactly whether it was a politician or just someone wanting to skew results in favour of whoever they wanted elected. Just because that company has worked for the Conservative party in the past does not necessarily mean that the Conservatives are responsible for those calls. Obviously whoever it was identified themselves as Elections Canada falsely. I think NDP Martin may be jumping the gun a bit and assuming it is the Conservatives. Let's see proof before we scream guilty!! Apparently it is a subscriber service where your message is recorded and the company was unaware of this fraud. Still I do not think it would have changed any election results. The polling station is marked on your voting card, and when you go to vote, the people overseeing the election check your name etc. to ensure you are in the right place and legally able to vote.


Ben1
said

And the bullying continues into adulthood. What a great example for our kids...Our Future Leaders. And they are watching...like it or not.


Sober
said

Politician against politician. This is all politics. And we are tired of it.


Dave in Thunder Bay
said

Very simple. THe elections in these 18 ridings must be declared invalid. That's the fair thing to do, whoever is behind this. I say we all write Elections Canada to request that it renders the 18 ridings' election result invalid.


Alexandria
said

How come this information is just coming to light now? Kinda suspicious I think.OK lets have these People who received these calls swear to affidavits that are legally binding. Then we can spend more money on the accusations of the Liberals and NDP.The article does not tell us how many calls were supposedly made.I really wish the NDP and the Liberals would get on with the business of helping run the Country and leave the gossip mongering to some one else.


Alan in Calgary
said

I can't believe the comments on here. First questioning if it happened, well the telecom's traced the calls and there is a written transcript of what was said. Secondly - well the other guys do it too so if your kid hits my kid then its o.k. to hit back? People are so ideologically based that they don't even see their own hypocrisy. If this had been done by the NDP or Liberals the Conservatives here would be screaming about it. For those that say get onto more important things... you seem to continue to bring up Adscam, etc. Maybe take your on advice and move on to more important things like the economy. We need it to be humming along now that I have to work an extra two years for OAS.


A Koster
said

I'm just wondering how people felt when they were sent on wild goose chases on election day.. basically, they were blocked from the right to vote.. supposedly a sacred right of a democracy and one which, whoever did this (let's be realistic.. the only ones who had anything to gain here were the conservatives), decided that it was ok to take away from them.


Tony
said

I wonder how many of these targeted households had signs in there yards saying who they support... thats why they were targets. The conservatives needed a majority of seats to push their agenda. This doesnt surprise me. I hope they investigate this fraud.


Anne Smith
said

The liberal party was way destroyed before the last election....and I predict they will not do any better at the next election. Are there not any other issues worth talking about in the big house? This is what we are paying them for?


Harper has to go
said

RECALL the Harper government!


mike
said

The cons took from teh book of liberal - they've just become marketing machines. You don't have to be gifted or smart to run the country (look at the last 20 years), you just have to be good at convincing people to vote for you.Sadly most of my fellow citizens are not really able to discern promises from fact, or else both Chretien and Harper wouldn't have been in power. We ideally need either smaller government (thereby less intervention in our lives) or honnest MPs who are competant at what they do. Sadly I see neither on the horizon.


canadian citizen
said

to all of you whiners live with it. If you don't like it MOVE to another country and see how wonderfull it will be.Common sense (if you have any) should tell you that every country has its problems,just be glad that you are free to state yout opinion here with no repercussion.We are lucky if WE so choose we will have the opportunity to vote in the next election and change the results.


MARG MM
said

Sounds like a lot of "he said, she said". Anyone can say they received calls from whoever during an election campaign depending on their own agenda. A Liberal/NDP can say they received calls from Conservatives and vice versa. Who is to say these calls even existed??? The NDP /Liberals have to keep their names in the news, so anything goes. If there are any irregularities by any party, they should be investigated, but if it is just a case of "making headlines" then it will be a complete waste of time and money.


Donald James
said

Like I believe the media? As a German who recently immigrated to Canada said to me yesterday, the media in your country isn't truthful compared to our country... I agree. This is more made for media spin.


Max in Vancouver
said

These highly educated Members of Parliament, you know, the retired teachers, lawyers, accountants and University professors that operate this country, are so busy acting like children in a playground (sorry kids, I know you are more mature than this) pointing fingers, calling names, whistling and hollering, bullying and stomping their feet and fists that they actually do not take the time to do what they were elected to do. They should be spending their time doing what's best for Canada and Canadians, not posturing like they are. I, too, am sick of all these highly paid hypocrites. Do some honest good MPs, earn your pay, fix our country and stop throwing knives at each other!


Gord in Airdrie
said

So what happened to innocent until proven guilty? We should believe this because the NDP and Lieberals say it's so? Frankly I wouldn't belive anything either of these two parties say. You want to have an inquiry? Fine, then let's do this, if it comes back that there was no wrong doing the the inquiry costs should be born by the NDP & Lieberals, not the taxpayer. I'm tired of them digging into my wallet.


Bob,Calgary,Alberta
said

Conservatives in this country have always and will aways face an uphill battle because the power and influence of the so-called progressives in the media, witness the heavily biased CBC, the supremely left leaning Toronto Star, and many print and voice media pundits who agressively criticize anything the Conservatives do. The NDP and the Liberals are just as guilty of dirty tricks as the Conservatives ever will be but of necessity the Conservatives are better organized and smarter than their opponents on the left. The NDP like to pose as ethical political operatives but they will do anything to grasp power from promising unsustainable new programs, to trying to discredit their recent crossover MP to setting up Vic T. via internet mischief. The LIberals are the past masters of shady practices as witness the Adscam plot. THe majority of political operatives in Canada have the ethical qualities of a gnat and we must always take into account that the sole objective they have is "POWER" and whomever stands in the way will be mowed down.


Laughable Left
said

Why bother investigating? Its clear just from the comments here that those on the left have taken this lofty ACCUSATION as FACT and have alreday convicted the Conservatives of rigging the election. I have never seen such sour grapes as I have over the past 6 months. I guess its time for a confidence vote...oh wait...that wont work this time.


Drew
said

This is absolutely ridiculous. It's been what 9 months since the Federal Election? Do you want to know why nobody votes anymore? It's because of this garbage that needs to be cleaned up. I understand no party is perfect, but this is absolutely unjust and shouldn't be taken lightly. I don't care if it's only 3 seats that were affected, the fact of the matter is, if we let this go, that only means we are going to allow this and other dirty antics to be played in future elections.


Len
said

This is not news. Since when has the Conservative Party, and Harper, ever played fair? They would, and will, do anything to win. They are changing the Canadian ethic as we have known it for years, changing it to their whims and wishes.


Denis
said

Can someone tell me how this company knew they were calling an individual who planned to vote Liberal or for a party other than Conservative?The process could actually hurt a candidate instead of helping. Not a prudent or legal way to proceed by any party candidate. I am going to wait for solid facts before passing judgement. Accusations are easy but prouf is an other matter.


iggy500
said

Germany used a divided oppostion - to declare an Emergency War Act - and suspend all elections... how far will the Harper government go to avoid a fair election?


Lunt
said

Cool story bro......now lets move onto to something that matters, lets say - the economy.....


Senior taxpayer
said

If you don't support this request for a RCMP investigation then you are supporting thieves and crooks. This is according to Vics law...


Intelligent Liberal
said

Harassing calls were made by people purporting to be from the Liberal Party? That is dreadful! There is not much worse than some Con purporting to be supporting the Liberal Party, and if there is something worse I don't know what it might be but I guess I should find out.


Zoltan from Saskatchewan
said

What.... The Liberals and NDP have never practiced shady politics. Right.....Seriously though, all politicians regardless of swing need to be held accountable. Time to quit politicing and start governing.....


Richard D
said

So we have one party who is demanding a police investigation into calls mis-representing a party while they use Parliamentary computers to publicly air a sitting Minister's private life. We have another party who stole from the Canadian taxpayers while demanding accountability. Both of these parties will leap on any headline to cry "Hidden agenda!" And while they're doing this, a third party eliminates a programme because of its intrusivness while introducing another that's even worse. And then all the members look shocked and regretful that politicians are shown contempt and held in low esteem by the public, while asking if there's any way to bring "decorum" back into politics. I'm sick of the lot of you. If you seriously want to bring decorum back into politics, the solution is simple: every last one of you step down and we have a new election. And if any of your members wanting to represent a riding even so much as ran for consideration to be a parade marshall, they're disqualified from running.


Catwoman 39X
said

People wake up before it is too late. This is Canada.Electoral Fraud happens in Egypt, Democratic Republic of Congo, and other countries.This should not be happening here.Clearly, not acceptable!Canada needs a true democratic vote.It is clear the last federal election was a fraud because of what has happened.I second agree with Jeremy, why stay in Canada, if we have a govt that keeps messing with our Charter of Rights, and Freedoms to a true vote to bring out change. .What is happening in Canada is so undemocratic, I want another election. This time just get out and vote for change. Make sure your voting at the right station, and don't be afraid to ask.


ADT
said

I'm shocked! Morally superior, self-righteous, ethically inclined, law & order conservatives caught rigging election results. No, can't be. There must be mistake.


Salt and Vinegar
said

How can any political party know - in advance - which voters are going to vote Liberal or NDP, then call them up and send them to the wrong poll. This is a Liberal and NDP smokescreen to their own failure.


Doug ^^^ BC
said

I have no idea whether these accusations are true,or not.And I doubt any else on here does either.I'm also one who would love to see more ethics in Canadian politics.We seem to be going in the same direction as the USA.Nasty and inflamatory rhetoric and spin the just politics in the 21st century. But here's the problem.Modern technology is to tempting,and politcal parties have a problem controling their supporters.Even if a party and ther MP's are ethical,the people who support them may not be.Any whacko with a cell phone or a computer can say anything he or she wants to.It goes viral,and before anyone knows what's going on,half the world is in panic over nothing. If the NDP want to seriously speak to this,they should rein in their supporters.The ones who go to Washington to denounce our government.The ones who organize a palace coup right after an election.The ones that go to Europe to stop the seal hunt or the oil sands project.The ones who swear in Parliament,or use inflamatory rheoric rather that debate real issues.They have no valid points to make,so they throw tantrums and scream out things like "neo con,facist,dictator,or war monger". Honestly folks.That's the kind of rherotic that starts things like this.You can bet dollars to donuts that there is an on line campaign by the political left.An MP may or may not be doing the dirty work.But US based "charities" and US based "enviro groups" are working very hard on behalf of the NDP and the Liberals. Harper should fight fire with fire.But if the NDP and the Lieberals civilize their supporters,so should Harper.


peter in mb
said

Well what about all the ‘sky will fall’ comments made by the NDP and liberals in the last election if the conservative win. ‘They will outlaw abortion’ solders with guns in our streets’ What about if the conservatives only got a minority the opposition would have voted non confidents on the first thing the government did. The NDP want to talk about dirty tricks. What about all the skullduggery with the AG’s draft report that was leaked during the election that was Illegal and against the law to release during the election. And it came from one of the opposition parties. And by the way it was proven wrong in the end and the conservatives did nothing wrong. One if not all the opposition parties broke the law in the last election. So the NDP should not point the finger.


bruno
said

And here we are monitoring other countrys' elections when there is corruption going on in our own..


charlie
said

Yes, NDP, let's try to muddy the waters with some Conservative bashing. This might obscure the fact that the NDP has nothing to offer in the way of concrete suggestions, policies, vision or the like, and the good ship NDP is rapidly taking on water in Quebec.. If the Liberals were so disadvantaged, it is a bit surprising that they are not bringing the matter forward as the aggrieved party. Bob Rae can fake outrage with the best of them. Snoresville! Wake me when you have something substantive to say, Nicole.


Bruno
said

Another example of how the Conservatives are a threat to our democracy and slowly pulling us towards a totalitarian state.


Butterfly 39
said

Everybody write to the GG, lets have another election. This is Canada.We can't have electoral fraud in Canada.It is obvious the whole election was a fraud, and we deserve the right for a true democracy.


jkuz
said

I am all for an inquiry. I voted Conservative, and I watched Stephen Harpers speech live, when he said and I quote, "We must govern for all Canadians, even those who did not vote for us". Every day I see less and less of this. Sadly, I wouldn't doubt if the conservative stooped this low, to try and confuse voters. They have disgraced politics by making it less about great ideas, and more about successfull attack ads. Shame on them. Lets have an inquiry.


Pip
said

As long as the election laws are controlled by politicians, they will not be changed if it means they lose an advantage. By all means, make this a court case and get a SCC ruling: but do we really want to have ALL our laws set by appointed judges and not our elected representatives? By all means, locate those who spread misleading information and sue them to the last dollar in their bank accounts. But . . . that would mean every political party in the nation and every MP. The election last Spring brought a Conservative government. You don't like it? Vote them out next time; but don't complain when 40% can't be bothered to vote and we end up with another Conservative majority or minority. Being a true Canadian citizen means exercising your franchise: just being too lazy to vote - pathetic; opting NOT to vote because you disagree with the election law as it stands is a slap in the face of democracy and the concept of citizenship, its rights, and more importantly, its responsibilities. Too much emphasis on the former (rights) these days, and nowhere near enough on the latter.


Duke
said

The new emerging banana republic - Kanada.


KD in AB
said

This is the worst thing a Canadian party has ever alledgedly done and clearly shows that those handsome devils in the conservative party are the only ones capable of playing political tricks. Now where is Gomery when you need him?


steve
said

nothing will happen. the rcmp is on stevie's payroll. ahhh the new canada strong and free. come to think of it i beleive this conservative government will break the record of our last con government headed by the right dishonourable brian mulroney for taking the shortest time to screw a whole country. you can do it stevie boy, you can do it.


Steph
said

Wow! The Liberals are now so weak, they need the NDPs to cry on their behalf! This is grand! LMAO!!!!


Jim in Ottawa
said

I rarely agree with the NDP on anything, but this time I think their calls for an investigation is valid. If there is evidence of Vladimir Putin-style electioneering going on here, the police should be called in to investigate.


Spare Me
said

That's so cute. The NDP is upset about the Liberals, who they trounced, possibly being devilishly robbed of 3 seats by a "dirty tricks campaign" allegedly orchestrated by the dastardly Conservatives. It's sweet that interim NDP leader Turmel has chosen to fight a battle on behalf of seemingly incapable interim Liberal leader Rae, 9 months after the fact, when any supposed automative telephonic "disgrace" wouldn't change anything on Parliament Hill. (Yes; let's have the police dive deep into this maple syrup.) Folks, we all know that there's no other important business in Ottawa to be concerned with these days, especially legislatively.


Jamie
said

The PC's will just say they "aren't willing to comment on outrageous accusations" or something like that. Remember why we had the last election? Harper's PC's were found in contempt of parliament. ... They just brushed that under the rug. Their game plan of deny deny deny is working... how fast we forget.


H
said

I thought this New Reform Conservative Party was different. A party that was coming to Ottawa that was clean, straight talking , honest in how they deal with Canadians.They turn out to be the same as every other party that has come to power in Ottawa.And they are telling middle class Canadians to suck it up and do with less , work longer and your not going to get the same Gov't benfits as in the past, meanwhile they collect large salaries, huge pensions, excessive travel benefits with little accountability, expence accts. ?? etc etc etc.What a bunch of hogwash !!!!!!!


Jeremy
said

This Harper Party does not represent any of the values I feel are uniquely Canadian. I wish I could move to another country, so I would not have to hear about the antics of this Gov't anymore. I honestly never thought I would ever think about this option, but I really fear for our future under Harper. Initially, after the election I thought, "Five years and he is gone", but I really don't think we can wait that long, he will do too much damage. Stephen Harper is an affront to DEMOCRACY!


Stella in Toronto
said

Thank the lord that the Conservatives brought in that do not call list some years back.


Craig
said

The current state of election campaigns and the nonsense associated with them is quite troubling. A lot of people here will probably get partisan about the allegations, however it's naive to think this sort of stuff doesn't happen across all party lines. We need to take this sort of thing seriously and evolve the rules of election campaigns, and be sure we hold ALL that do wrong accountable. The PMO needs to address the allegations as well.


Oh Really
said

Sorry, it's hard to take anything seriously that this separtist says.


Aaron in Toronto
said

If the CON asked for these calls to be made to the Liberal stronghold riding then whoever is responsible should be held accountable to the full extend of the law. However, this is going to be hard to prove it is the CON who ordered such a thing. Voters is also to be blame to believe prank calls like this regarding the change of voting station. The voter's card clearly identify the location of the voting station and if they heard a call advising the change of location then they can also go online or call to find out if this is true. I seriously doubt if the CON would be that stupid to order such a dialer campaign. I am also wondering how they could clearly identify who is going to vote for Liberal.


Voter - Ottawa
said

The front page of the Citizen also quotes that there is "NO EVIDENCE THAT HARPER'S CAMPAIGN OR ANY OF THE OTHER CANDIDATES WERE INVOLVED IN THE CALLS. Our family receives calls from Liberal and NDP and Conservatives knocking at our door all the time during elections even with a party sign on the front lawn. The tampering of the Conservative signs with USA flags stuck over the top in Convent Glen in Orleans was quite evident..the only signs that were tampered with, while out for walks each day the Conservative signs were smashed and torn and thrown in ditches, this goes on unfortunately but these people never get caught. Strange also that it came from an area in Joliette Quebec where they traced where the calls came from..should be interesting in the end to see who is at the other end of the line....many people are careless thinking they have covered they butt but sometimes evidence proves different.


schpid
said

And how is this exactly helping in the governing of our country? Why not try and focus on important issues instead of continuously trying to do nothing but make each other look stupid?Why don't people vote? Because they know that no matter who is in power, most of the time parliment sits, there is nothing but useless poising and rhetoric being thrown around.


George Thompson
said

Wow !


J.C.
said

Rather strange.Any calls that I received were identified as being for whatever party called with the exception of one who merely wanted to know what party I was considering but did not identify who they represented. I never told them. For that matter I never spoke directly to any body that was running either, as none came around our neighbourhood. Nor did I receive any calls saying the polling station was changed. However the voting cards we received showed where we were to vote. In the provincial election one of the candidates sent out a flier and had the wrong address of where to vote but I naturally went by the voting card, as anyone can make a typing or mailing error. Even a printing company can do that. Anyone that wanted to vote could easily seek out where their polling station was located.


Canadian Bob
said

A full investigation is warranted with this. If the Conservatives have nothing to hide, then there should be nothing but encouragement from them and their supporters here urging the investigation to clear them of any wrongdoing.


Bumcrack USA
said

There better be a full investigation by the RCMP.


testy
said

If that is true, that would be on top of the election fraud that the CONs were found guilty of committing during the last election. We should ALL be worried that this kind of thing is happening in Canada.


SB
said

Wait for it: the Reform/Cons will be out in full force to forcefully defend these disgraceful robo calls, all the while spinning desperately to try and play the victim card, like they always do. Right out of the con job playbook. I recall a time-- not so long ago-- when actions like these would be considered- among other things-- to actually be shocking, if not surprising. But not anymore; this is the new normal among these Reformers. A sad state.


CanuckinTor
said

Nothing will ever really come of this. Just more dirty tactics by the Conservatives and they'll use the 1500 PR reps in Harper's office to deflect it. They were already found guilty of election overspending in 2006 and 'surprise! surprise!' they're now linked to these fraudulent calls.Canadian elections are rapidly becoming a scam.


James
said

Shockingly there's no minimum sentence for election fraud in Harpo's new crime bill. The ridings in question should hold a do-over to give voters the chance to throw this Republican scum out by their jackboots.


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