NDP Convention by the numbers:

NDP Convention by the numbers:

Over 300 riser decks
Almost 3000 square feet of truss
120 moving lights
Over 450 interlocking LED Panels
9 HD video projectors
6 line array stacks for sound

Number of Canadian Flags on Display 1, and you can get a print of it for only $250, with half going to the NDP

I've looked at hundreds of pictures online, as well as watched coverage of the convention. Only time I saw our Canadian flag was when it was flashed on a screen for the singing of the anthem, or the one in the photo called Jack's Flag, with print copies being sold for $250. Matter of fact the CBC media setup proudly boasted the CBC logo around it's circumference, with nary a Canadian flag in sight. Pathetic.

I won't hold my breath that some member of the CBC will ask Mulclair if he loves Canada.

Rob Ford Can Turn The Subway Loss Into A Huge Win...

It's pretty much a done deal. Rob Ford's vision for subways (one I agree with), is dead. I think years down the road Torontonians will see the error in their ways, when the maintenance costs of LRT far outstrip any savings accrued from aborting the subway plan. Now if I were Rob Ford, rather than continue to deny the subway vision as being dead, I would embrace it.

Now I realize that will be a hard pill for the mayor to swallow, but this loss could lead the way to many wins in the future on his plans and visions for the city. My thinking is this. The usual anti-Ford, David Miller apostles, including The Toronto Star, Adam Vaughan, Karen Stintz, have spent a great deal of political capital in steamrolling the mayors plans for subways. Matter of fact, all of the lefty anti-Fordites have all chosen to toe the same partisan line, that it was a democratic vote by council that led the way for the now future of Toronto transportation, LRT's.

One of those who has repeated that line about how we have to respect democracy and the vote by council is a guy by the name of Dalton McGuinty. Perhaps you've heard of him. In their zest to beatdown the mayor, they in fact have handed him a bag of hammers, in which he is now free to play whack-a-mole with their heads.

You see, whenever Ford puts something to council, something like fiscal or social cuts for example, and he gets enough support on council to pass, he only has to quote the usual suspects about how democracy works, and throw in a few factual quotes regarding the subway.

After all, if the subway proposal defeated by council must be respected due to democracy, neither McGuinty nor anybody else using that mantra had better make a peep about anything voted in favor of by council as being unacceptable.

Suzuki's Email Campaign As Phony As Leadnow's Robocall Petition.

Via KATE at Small Dead Animals, seems Suzuki wants to prevent the Senate from questioning both the funding and motives of groups outside of Canada in regards to the oilsands. Best part is, much like the Leadnow robocall petition, it allows editing. Here's my email including the revisions I've made. Wonder if Suzuki agrees.

Subject: Canadians want to be heard, not insulted by David Suzuki Dear Senator Eaton, Members of the Senate, and Members of Parliament,

As a Canadian who cares deeply about the future of our country, I am extremely disappointed by the recent attempts by David Suzuki to silence and demonize those who don’t share his positions.

Suzuki has labelled those who support the oilsands, and the economic benefits they bring to Canadians, including health care and education “radical” and have questioned the integrity of legitimate Canadian businesses and the Canadians it employs.

I am proud to support Canada’s oilsands, which have a long history of providing all levels of government with tax revenues to support the social programs Canadians need and depend on, and providing information to help Canada steward the natural environment on which we all depend for our health and future prosperity.

The Suzuki Foundation is supposed to be a registered charity removed from partisan politics. As such, we expect more from CRA, including an investigation into the Suzuki Foundation and it's removal as a registered charity.

Like many Canadians, I believe that the issue of large amounts of international funding is a distraction and effort to silence and discredit honest Canadian businesses, and the people they employ. Canadian businesses that provide and that are looking out for the needs and interests of Canada and Canadians.

A democracy functions best when all points of view are considered rationally and carefully, and when our leaders, both elected and appointed, examine the facts before speaking. Sadly, Suzuki himself refuses to listen to anyone unless they hold a mirror image of his opinions
As a Canadian who looks to Foundations that believe in leadership, I ask you to get back to the business of thoughtful debate rather than trying to stifle the voices of millions of Canadians with whom you may not agree.

Sincerely,Paulstuff

Cash Reward Offered!

I honestly don't know what this world is coming to. Do people have no moral conscience anymore? Last night I parked my car in my driveway and went in for the night. Left sitting on the dash were a pair of tickets for a Toronto Maple Leaf hockey game. I live in a good neighborhood and never really gave it a second thought. Well, this morning I went to get in my car to drive to work only to discover my window smashed. I remembered leaving my Leaf tickets on the dash and looked to see if they were still there. Of course you can all guess what happened.

Sitting on my dash were my two Leaf tickets, and another pair the hooligan left, who's identity I'm offering the reward for. I've tried giving away my Leaf tickets for two months, asking thousands of people with no luck. Now I'm stuck with another pair I can't get rid of. Perfect:0)

Globe & Mail Omits Significant Part Of Ian Brodie Comments...

and it's obvious why. I actually have to give Maher and McGregor credit. They ran a similar story as the Globe but had enough integrity to state all Brodie's thoughts in regards to the robocalls, something Lawrence Martin did not (que surprise?). This is the part the Globe omitted and M&M(tm?) included:

"Brodie said in an email to Martin that the culprit may not have needed to have access to CIMS, because so much information about voters is available from public sources, including Elections Canada, which lists donations.


"If you gave me an hour, I could cull a list of known Liberal and NDP supporters that added up to more than ten thousand names — using nothing but the Elections Canada website! And if I had a reasonably competent amateur programmer, I could match my list of known supporters to home telephone numbers in a single afternoon. Five cents per name and a few quotes from a few demon dial companies and there you go — a very large calling campaign."

In fact, the Globe included something that was completely opposite to what M&M included in their story. This s what the Globe wrote:

"Conservative partisans tried on Friday to tamp down the notion that the problem was bigger than Guelph, releasing records of calls made by an unknown operative who hid behind the alias Pierre Poutine. These records, provided to select journalists Friday, showed that thousands of calls were made to residents of Guelph, and that more than 140 stray calls were dialled to ridings outside the Southern Ontario city – likely in error.


Still, the records don’t explain why many voters outside of Guelph contend they received misleading calls directing them to wrong polling locations within their own communities.

That's also a complete 180 of what was also reported by M&M:

"Conservatives suggest that the pattern shows Poutine may have downloaded a list of Guelph opposition supporters that was clogged by bad data, which would explain why voters beyond the riding have complained of receiving the robodial directing them to the wrong polling station.

An industry expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity, agreed that may be what happened.
"It just means they didn't take the time to scroll through the list of phone numbers and delete them," he said."

It's called guilt by omisssion, something the G&M is guilty of here. It's also called crappy, unethical, partisan bullshit by people like me. And if you need any further proof:

"Something seems to have gone on, on a scale I've never seen before," Brodie wrote to Globe and Mail columnist Lawrence Martin, then joked: "As you may be aware, I am a strong proponent of the death penalty for this sort of thing."
Martin, who didn't realize the comments were not for publication, posted them in a story on iPolitics.ca, which the political website later took down."

Someone Tell Mark Holland His Pants Are On Fire..

because it sure looks like todays news doesn't coincide with allegations made by Holland less than 24 hours ago. What say you Mark?

Yesterday's news: "Mr. Holland, who lost to former ambassador and Conservative star candidate Chris Alexander by just more than 3,000 votes, told The Hill Times there were so many calls inundating the riding he does not believe the cost could have been covered by the local Conservative campaign, and that many or most of them must have come from outside the riding."

Today's news: "The call that claimed to come from Elections Canada was sent out to 5,053 recipients in the 519 area code that covers Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Windsor and Sarnia.

But it was also received by 35 people in downtown Toronto, 74 in the 905 suburban belt surrounding the GTA, 14 in the 613 area code that includes Kingston and Ottawa, 22 in the 705 code area that includes Barrie, Sudbury and North Bay and one person in Thunder Bay.


I should point out this interesting fact as well: "Area code 905 (with overlay area codes 289 and 365) is a telephone dialling area in southern Ontario. It includes the Niagara Peninsula, Hamilton, Oshawa, and the suburban Greater Toronto Area.

I'm willing to give Holland the benefit of the doubt, and say that all the calls made to the 905 area code went to voters in the riding of Ajax-Pickering. So subtract one call from the 74, as I received one, and say the other 73 went to Holland supporters. So Mark, no by-election. In fact, your ridiculous statements yesterday have me thinking of contacting Elections Canada once again, to see if you signed an affidavit with your allegations, and question the facts as you claimed them.

Because today's news just sent that pathetic attempt by you to blame your electoral loss, no making that ass-kicking loss, on robocalls as hollow as a Liberal promise to scrap the GST.

WORTHLESS!

An Open Invitation To Terry Milewski

I see your most recent piece of journalism indicates that the victims of robocalls were voters who had previously indicated to the Conservative Party they would not be supporting them in the election. A few points Terry. I myself received a phone call telling me my polling location had changed. The CPC knew I was supporting them. I had confirmed that previously when contacted by the party. I had a Chris Alexander lawn sign. Close relatives worked on Alexander's campaign, being at the campaign office every day. I myself did some volunteer work.

I also attended the two appearances by the PM. The first one was at the Deer Creek convention center. Matter of fact, I sat about 10 feet to your right, sitting beside the media table. I also attended the invitation only event at Chris Alexanders campaign office near the end of the campaign. I also received multiple calls a few days before the elction supposedly from the conservative campaign office. These calls were annoying. Right at dinner time or later in the evening. People who worked at the campaign office received similar complaints from other party supporters. That's right. Voters who the party had identified as supporters received harassing or misleading phone calls. The thing is those calls were not made by the party.

Here's the thing Terry. Can I call you Terry? Whenever I received a legitimate call from the national campaign, the name on the call display would read Conservative Party of Canada. If it was a robocall it would be a recording by the PM. When I received a legitimate call from the local campaign the call display read Chris Alexander. The voice would be Chris Alexander's. Those annoying calls? They had area codes I'm not familiar with. No 905, 416, 519, etc., and no name displayed.

Here's the thing Terry. I'm willing to sign any release necessary to allow Elections Canada to access my phone records. Need an affidavit signed? Just pass me the pen. I know other Conservative supporters who also received similar phone calls. While I can't speak for them, I'm sure if I contact them they would be likely to follow my lead.

By the way Terry, I just wonder if you actually believe every one of those 31,000, oops, sorry, I mean 700 alleged complaints are legitimate. I just want to be on the record here Terry, be upfront and honest, and let you know I was actually in the PROVINCE at the time.

If you would like to discuss any of the information posted here, feel free to contact me at paulsblues45@hotmail.com

Or Maybe I Am

From Chantel Hebert's EDITORIAL Dated February 28th, 2011.(surprisingly no longer available from The Star?)

"If there is a tactical scheme behind the so-called voter suppression scandal, it is not readily apparent in the list of allegedly abused ridings put forward by the opposition parties.
Only a small fraction of the 50 federal seats where the margin of victory was less than 5 per cent last May — and where presumably every vote counted — are alleged to have been targeted by fraudulent calls.

Liberal ridings such as Brampton-Springdale and Ajax-Pickering that were known to be high on the Conservatives’ to-win list (and that they did win) were apparently not plagued by such calls."

Seems either Hebert or Holland has their facts wrong. I know who my money is on.

Also of worthy mention. Nothing about Ajax-Pickering anywhere?

http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/68386-all-parties-have-been-party-questionable-tactics

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/york-centre-joins-list-of-ridings-reporting-misleading-robo-calls/article2363895/

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/28/robocall-ridings/

Now I'm Not Calling Mark Holland A Liar.....

because some of the voting irregularities he alleges occurred in the riding of Ajax-Pickering did in fact happen. It's just that Holland has the victim wrong, that would be Conservative MP Chris Alexander.

"Mark Holland, who lost to former ambassador and Tory star candidate Chris Alexander by just more than 3,000 votes, says there were so many calls inundating the Ajax-Pickering, Ont., riding he does not believe the cost could have been covered by the local Conservative campaign, and that many or most of them must have come from outside the riding."

In fact there were misleading and harrassing phone calls, with the caller identifying themselves as calling from the Conservatives. In fact, Alexander's office received angry complaints from Conservative supporters who were threatening to not vote if they continued to receive several calls a day from the party. The problem is it wasn't the party making the calls. Next:

"Mr. Holland cited other voting irregularities, which his campaign noted to local Elections Canada polling officials along with the inexplicable phone barrage, that included members of the riding’s growing Afghan community turning up to vote, but finding their names had already been counted as having cast ballots.

“The riding was bombarded with calls, and in every conceivable language. It certainly struck us that the cost of being able to have that many calls and do it in that many languages was well in excess of whatever a campaign limit would allow,” Mr. Holland said."

Actually, in regards to this allegation, my opinion, and it's just that, my opinion, Holland is full of shit. I can't think of any other way to put nicely. Holland's electoral success before the 2011 election rested on his campaign targeting the ethnic vote. Anyone who knows the riding is well aware of the time Holland spent targeting the Westney/Rossland/Salem corridor in Ajax, and the Major Oaks/Brock corridor in Pickering. The Conservative campaign focused on the vote south of Kingston Road, in the older part of Ajax. Come to think of it, Holland appears to be the first to allege robocalls in languages other than english or french. For that reason alone this ridculous allegation should be thrown on the trash heap.

I don't have enough time nor space here to list all the things the Conservative candidates have been the victims of in the riding of Ajax-Pickering, suffice to say that complaints have been made to EC, and some alleged wrondoing or contravention of rules by the Liberal campaigns.

In regards to the robocall allegations, Holland's biggest problem is he's late to the table. To further prove my point, this is an email exchange between journalist Stephen Maher and myself.

"Sir, I read your post with interest. Can you tell me: When you got the call? Did it identify as Elections Canada? What the number or area code was? Stephen MaherNational political columnist, Postmedia News. (contact info not included from email)

My reply: "Hi Stephen. I received the call on my home phone. It was quite awhile ago but I think it was on the day before the vote. No idea what the caller id number was as it was such a long time ago. If I remember correctly it stated it was Elections Canada, and was a male voice in english followed by I assume the same info in french by a female voice. Both voices sounded to be prerecorded. I do remember it wasn't a local area code though, which here is 905. And no name included with the call display. It said my polling location was at a school in the Westney, Rossland area. There were legitimate polling locations in that area, but it's the farthest one can go in Ajax from my house. I just assumed it was an error on someones part. If you have any more questions drop me an email. I'll be happy to do whatever I can. Thanks. Paul

It's important to note my reply was sent to Maher March 3. And now, March 15th Holland comes out with this tripe? In fact reports in the media weeks ago made note of the fact there were no allegations of robocalls in the riding. At the time, Holland remained silent, and now weeks later, states it's the reason he lost the election. There are a number of reasons Holland was defeated. Arrogance, gun registry, poor leadership by Ignatieff, a party polling in the low 20% range. One needs only look at the trend in voting in the riding, starting in the 2004 election forward. What you see is a consistent trendline with Liberal support slipping and Conservative support rising. In fact in the 2008 election Holland's margin of victory decreased, despite the Conservative candidate being named late, having no campaign office for the first two weeks of the campaign, etc.

So if the failed former MP wants to go down this road, I really have to ask. Are you really that pathetic Mr. Holland?

p.s. Holland lost by 3,000 votes. Today Elections Canada stated the actual number of complaints filed is 700. A number of them were legitimate complaints for the riding of Guelph. Regardless, even if one were to assume all 700 complaints arose from the riding of Ajax-Pickering, you still would have been kicked to the curb. Do the math dumb-ass.

Bob Rae And Susan Delacourt's Idea Of Transparency?

So we have Bob Rae now boasting about how transparent the Liberals are being over the robocall controversy, and pointing out that the Liberals have turned over their records to EC regarding the calls they made and the scripts. And he's been backed up in print and on twitter by the usual suspects, including Susan Delacourt, who somehow always seems to infer, I doubt accidentally, that the CPC are not being forthright in releasing information to EC.

So how transparent are the Liberals really being? We already know they contravened EC laws with their own robocall in Guelph, ground zero you can call it. So I would think they themselves would be forthright in aiding the investigation, right? Think again!

"Speaking to reporters later, Mr. Rae acknowledged the bounty of materials provided to Elections Canada did not include information on a Liberal robo-call in Guelph that attacked Conservative candidate Marty Burke for his stand on abortion.

“That was a local call that doesn’t have much to do with the national campaign,” Mr. Rae said.

So a robocall that violated election laws need not be included in the investigation. Kind of reminds me of the transparency afforded justice Gomery in the Adscam inquiry. Most Canadians have no idea that the terms of reference did not allow Gomery to look at any sponsorship contracts already under investigation by the RCMP.

Now I know the lefty apologists will be along shortly to say the CPC are hiding something. To that end I give you this regarding the robocall investigation:

"Elections Canada is combing through internal Conservative Party e-mails and database records as it tries to close in on Guelph robo-call scammer “Pierre Poutine,” sources said.
The election watchdog has gained access to the electronic logs that track who drew down information from the party’s database of voters in the riding of Guelph during the 2011 campaign. "

"Conservative Party spokesman Fred DeLorey said the party has willingly turned over confidential records to Elections Canada to help its probe in Guelph. The party has not been served with a court order requiring it to do so.
“We have proactively reached out to Elections Canada and offered to assist them in any way we can,” Mr. DeLorey said. “That includes handing over any documents or records that may assist them.”

That's called real transparency folks. Not some convoluted BULLSHIT that Rae and the media try to brainwash. The actual Canadians who are looking for democracy deserve better, something Delacourt and her brethren don't appear to care about.

Michael Sona Is Pierre Poutine..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dudyuzEdTRI

At least he is if this video is genuine. Anybody know if this is actually Sona?

UPDATE: Appears someone impersonated Sona in the Youtube video. The person responsible for this video should also be tracked and charged with impersonation. Would be interested if someone in the opposition had a role?

"CTV reported Monday night that senior Conservative sources said Sona had taken responsibility for the calls, but Sona is proclaiming his innocence.
"He is going to be contacting his lawyer in regards to what legal response he can make to these lies," said the person.
And a YouTube video posted by someone claiming to be Sona is clearly a fake.
The video, entitled "Michael Sona Speaks Out," shows a young man resembling Sona taking responsibility for the robocalls and promising to get revenge on the Conservatives for firing him by revealing more about robocalls.
The prank video is not definitely not Sona, said the person close to Sona."

Why Clayton Ruby Won't De-Throne Rob Ford

Another partisan attack on Toronto mayor Rob Ford, so what else is new, right? A court case has been filed by activist lawyer Clayton Ruby, on behalf of Ford-foe Paul Magder:

"Ruby alleges Ford violated the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act during a city council meeting on Feb. 7.

At that meeting, council voted 22-12 to rescind an earlier decision on an integrity commissioner complaint against then-Councillor Rob Ford and directed “that no further action be taken on this matter.”

Ford took part in the debate and voted on the item.

"The vote determined Ford no longer had to repay $3,150 in donations to his children’s football foundation from lobbyists and clients of lobbyists."

Now I wouldn't for a second underestimate Ruby. He is one of Canada's most highly respected lawyers, and has handled some of the highest profile legal cases in Canadian history. Ruby, who has taken the case pro bono, denied it was politically motivated. That part is a little hard to believe. But none the less, I think the mayor will win this lawsuit.

Ruby alleges Ford violated the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act during a city council meeting on Feb. 7. And therein lays the problem for the plaintiff. I won't bother reciting the part of the act Ruby will argue Ford violated, but suffice it to say I think the argument will be Ford voted on a motion in which he had a monetary interest, and as such would receive financial gain from a favorable vote.

However, Ford would not have been impacted financially regardless of the vote. If the decision by the integrity commissioner had been upheld, the $3150 in donations to a children's football foundation would have been returned to the donors. Ford himself would not have been out-of-pocket one red cent. By having the commissioner's decision overturned, Ford also never received one-cent of monetary gain. The children's football foundation did.

Ford giving a speech and voting was simply something the mayor should be applauded for, helping children and teenagers at risk to gangs and drugs to have an alternative, play football and stay out of trouble. To state the case is not politically motivated, well, you decide.

I myself will take a mayor who gives his time freely helping the people of the city he represents, not one who hobnobs the globe in the name of socialism.

RoboGate: That New Car Smell Is Gone....

and it ain't coming back. The media seem to be dropping the faux-outrage purported to be coming from Canadians coast to coast. It's been an interesting week. An online petition with NDP links being counted as "complaints by the opposition and media. People who have filed complaints, yet whose Facebook page seems to contradict their own timeline of misleading calls, (info sent to EC), the opposition stating only the CPC had a list of non-supporters, and then we find out the opposite.

We've seen outraged opposition leaders make wild accusations, then having to backtrack and issue apologies. We've seen former campaign managers do the same. We've had opposition leaders and MP's decry robocalls, only to learn they themselves used them as well. Bob Rae has seen religion and now thinks robocalls are a great campaign tool. We even learned that Guelph, ground zero for robogate, did in fact have robocalls that contravened EC laws. Problem was it was the Liberals. Today we witnessed protests, most which included numbers you can count using your fingers.

And it appears within days Elections Canada will have "Pierre Poutine" in a set of handcuffs, solving this whodunnit non-drama for the supposed teaming masses screaming about "the greatest electoral fraud in Canadian history". The opposition may have accidentally opened up a new can of worms, focusing on possible electoral fraud not related to robocalls, but somewhat questionable voters, voting lists, etc. And not related to the CPC.

Through all of this, Conservative polling numbers remain solid, showing that despite being in power since January 2006, PM Harper still has that new car smell and shiny paint. The opposition parties and media on the other hand, look like an '86 K-car. Too many miles, the paints faded, unreliable, and nobody can figure out how to get rid of that odor.

Warren Kinsella ReWriting History Again?

Warren has his latest Sun News editorial out today, and seems to want to rewrite history, albeit to take some of the tarnish off his pal John Chretien:

"Thus, when my former boss Jean Chretien called in the RCMP in May 2002 to probe the then-nascent sponsorship file, the Liberal party was sitting at more than 50% in national public opinion polls."

Actually Warren, it was AG Sheila Fraser who called in the RCMP, as a result of a tip from a civil servant a few years earlier. It was Fraser who wrote that every rule in the book had been broken in regards to the $350 million in contracts doled out for little or no work, with some of that money kicked back to the Liberal Party. In fact Chretien dismissed Adscam in Question Period one day, saying if a few million of taxpayer dollars were stolen it was no biggy.

And if memory serves me correctly, it was Chretien who prorogued Parliament to avoid having the the AG ADSCAM report presented to the house while he was still PM. He instead dropped that steaming pile of dung onto Paul Martin. The problem is Chretien can never get all the smell of that dung off him.

Warren does make one point that I wholeheartedly agree with, " As a result, Harper will win again in 2015. Though my reasoning doesn't follow Warren's logic that it will be a result of vote splitting on the left, but rather the fact the faux-robocall scandal won't stick, nothing there, other than a few complaints in the riding of Guelph, and contacts from Leadnow that will prove false and unsubstantiated.

I'm also somewhat surprised by Warren's column. Most strategists know that when the gun is pointed at your opponent, it's never a bright idea to hand it to them and let them take aim at you. By bringing up Chretien, the Liberal Party, and Adscam, it looks like bang bang your dead.

Absolutely brilliant:0)

Green Party Of Canada Election Tactics 101- Part 2

Adding on to my previous post, a few interesting comments here:

"I blogged some time ago on the choice of SGI as Elizabeth May’s target riding. The post is not rigourously supported with data, but it is directionally sound, and outlines the type of campaign needed and the consequences for the other 307 campaigns.

What it boils down to is that there is a significant block of senior citizens, who have reliably voted for Gary Lunn in the past. They are dominant in SGI, and have to be seperated from the CPC by fair means or foul. The only possibility for Elizabeth to eke out a win in SGI is to convert a significant chunk of these votes to GPC votes, or to get twice as many of them to stay at home on Eday. This week, the first nationally visible attemp to suppress Lunns support was executed, with the joint press conference featuring Elizabeth May, and Linda Keen, the former Nuclear watchdog clumsily fired by Lunn. Given the topicality of nuclear safety, highlighting Lunns bungling of the Chalk River shutdown is a job well done. It will have some legs locally, as it resulted in the demotion of Lunn from the Natural Resources portfolio to Minister for Sport. Granted, it doesn’t give anybody a reason to vote Green, but it does speak to an issue on which the GPC has some credibility.

There was a fair bit of local, and national press coverage, so I can guarantee you that it was discussed this weekend at many a dining table in SGI. Doubt has been planted, and a smidgin of Lunn support has been killed off. We can expect that there will be something similar every week until Eday. True to form, the press conference had nothing of value for the other 307 campaigns, but hey, our sole objective is to win in SGI, so who can complain?

Did The Illegal Liberal Robocall In Guelph Break Two Elections Canada Laws?

So yesterday we find out that the Liberal MP in Guelph, the one crying about the robocalls to anyone willing to put a camera in front of him, admitted that his own campaign contravened EC laws with it's own robocalls in the 2011 election:

"An anti-Conservative robo-call has surfaced from the 2011 federal election campaign in Guelph, Ont. – one the Liberals are now claiming responsibility for having funded.The recorded message – circulated to the media by Conservatives on Friday – attacked Guelph Tory candidate Marty Burke as anti-choice.

It says he believed “that under absolutely no circumstance should a women have the right to choose” to have an abortion. “Government should not be able to force their beliefs on to me,” the woman delivering the anti-Conservative message said.


She identifies herself as Lori, or Laurie, McDonald of Guelph. “The race in Guelph is very close. Vote strategically on Monday to protect our hard earned rights from the Conservatives and Marty’s extreme views.” Liberal MP Frank Valeriote acknowledged the anti-Burke robo-call should have identified it was funded by his campaign."

So Valeriote has already admitted his campaign did in fact violate the EC law in regards to not adding the Liberal Party name to the robocalls. That in itself speaks of dirty tactics. But there is a bigger question about these calls, one not mentioned by anyone yet. Valeriote needs to come forward and address this issue right away, and the media should be asking:

Does Lori or Laurie Macdonald of Guelph, the one purportedly speaking on the robocall really exist? If not, two laws may have been broken, as it's illegal in EC law to impersonate someone else in a robocall or live campaign call. Will the real Lori Macdonald please stand up.

Green Party Of Canada Election Tactics 101...Or Robocalls For Dummies

So despite the denials, it appears the Green Party, led by Elizabeth May, along with the other parties, have voters lists that include party supporters as well as NON-SUPPORTERS. It's interesting because the mantra of all the opposition parties has been that it's only the Conservative Party that has a list of non-supporters, when in fact we now know the Green Party does as well, and apparently the other parties. At least according to someone well connected to both the Green Party and Elizabeth May.

"At the outset of the campaign, Elections Canada will provide paper, and electronic versions of the preliminary list of electors for your’ entire riding. The lists will be sorted into separate polls, and further sorted within the poll by street address. Your’ campaign manager will need to assign priority to those polls where the largest number of Green votes are expected to come from. Your’ campaign will NOT have the resources to do the whole riding, so you must pluck the low hanging fruit. By the same token, far more homeowners vote than renters, so, unless you have a compelling reason, you will probably be focusing on homeowners.

The job of your’ volunteers is primarily to canvass door to door, or by telephone, (If you have secured telephone numbers). You are basically asking people who they are going to vote for, and if they are willing to take a lawn sign. You record their answers, make sure you’ve got your’ supporters phone number, and move on to the next household. If somebody is leaning towards supporting the Green Party, you can spend a minute or so with them explaining the policy they are most interested in, but remember that you have about 40,000 households to visit, and only 30 days or so to do it in!At the end of a long day’s canvassing, you return your canvas sheets to the campaign headquarters, where they are transcribed, (or scanned if you’re lucky), to the supporters list for the GOTV.When the advance polls are about to open, you telephone the entire list of your’ known supporters, and ask them to go out and vote at the advance polls. Going door to door of known supporters is best, but will take a whack of volunteers.

This is IMPORTANT! The Green Party voters will be under attack by the Liberals, and NDP over the whole campaign, and the other Party’s will have good computerized lists of all the Greens. "

There is also one other post on this fellows blog that is somewhat cryptic, containing this: " It is clear that in order to win in SGI a significant chunk of voters, (3,000 votes minimum) will need to be poached directly from Gary Lunn’s Conservative support. In order for this to happen, the SGI campaign will need to broadcast a Conservative friendly message, and the National air war (media coverage) will need to reinforce these specific themes. The other side of the coin is that the Conservative vote in SGI will need to be suppressed a bit, and die-hard Conservative voters will need to be persuaded to stay at home on E-Day.

Oh, and by the way, apparently Elizabeth May was against robocalls before she was for them.

"And then, to cap it off, I was actually robo-dialled with an advance poll GOTV message from Elizabeth May this morning. It may not seem like rocket science that in the total absence of a volunteer base in most of the country, the National Campaign should be taking such measures to get out the vote. You must believe me though, this is unprecedented for the National Party. I remember well the scorn I recieved when I used robo-diallers to GOTV for Elizabeth May’s by-election campaign in London North Centre. Well it appears that the disdain from on high has been overcome, and a useful little direct communications tool has been incorporated into the National Campaign arsenal. Not only that, but the fact that any resources whatsoever were dedicated to GOTV for the advance polls indicates that a realisation of the significance of the classic GPC death spiral in the last week of a campaign, and the need to counteract it has taken root somewhere at a decision making level.

Can A Person Living In Nipissing Get A Robocall In Quebec.

Well, this is kind of interesting. One of the people who has complained about misleading robocalls is Peggy Walsh Craig, who lives in the riding of Nipissing. Here is a clip of a story documenting her complaint (h/t Joanne at Blue Like You)

"NORTH BAY-Peggy Walsh-Craig is passionate about democracy and has no sympathy for anyone who tampers with it.

A long-time environmentalist and political advocate, she thought it was “a bit odd” when she received an automated phone call a few weeks prior to the spring 2011 federal election asking if she was planning to vote for the Conservative Party.“I was asked to press a number based on my answer,” Walsh-Craig said. “Generally you get survey calls during election campaigns, but they ask you a couple of questions and they are not generally as direct as this was requesting just a yes, no, how are you going to vote answer.”

The week before the election her phone rang again. “This call was the one we’ve heard repeated over and over on the news,” she said, “telling me that due to higher than expected voter turnout my polling place had been changed.

Walsh-Craig says that after she got off the phone the alarm bells started ringing.


“The first thing I wondered was how Elections Canada would have my phone number and how do they know voter turnout was high days before the election,” she told the News.


Walsh-Craig admits she might have made more of an issue over the call at the time, but she was going to be away from home on election day and had plans to vote in the early poll.”

There is however something I find odd about this complaint. I'm not disputing her claim of receiving misleading phone calls. I'm not alleging any wrongdoing on her part. If she swore an affadavit about receiving the calls Elections Canada will surely investigate and also check her phone records. But there is something I find puzzling. I searched her Facebook page, and found this comment she had left on her wall, dated April 27th, 2011 at 12:13.

"Ahhh, a LEED-certified Holiday Inn Express in St-Hyacinthe, QC, quelle suprise! Real plates & cutlery in the breakfast room. Nice!.."

So, on the morning of April 27th at 12:13 (she posted the exact same message again one minute later at 12:14) the week before the election, she was eating breakfast at a Holiday Inn in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec. So questions that should arise are when did she leave for Quebec, and when did she return home? Logic would dictate she was in Quebec at least a day earlier and slept at the holiday inn. I used the new complaint form put online by EC to raise my concerns about what is probably nothing, but does need further investigating. I'm sure credit card receipts, cell phone records (she posted the comment from her mobile phone), etc. will back up her timeline for the calls she states she received and when she arrived in Quebec.

I should add that shortly after sending the information to EC, she removed the post from her facebook page. But what I did think to do was share her comment on my own facebook page, where it cannot be deleted by anyone but myself. Why delete the comment from her facebook if it meant nothing?

I make no allegations that any person claiming to be a victim of robocalls is not telling the truth.. Instead I'll let EC, the RCMP, and whoever else gets involved do the investigative work and find the party(s) responsible, as well as weed out what may be a partisan attempt to damage the Conservative Party with false allegations.

Elizabeth May's Campaign Manager Inadvertently Reavels Federal Green Party And NDP Members Had Training In Voter Suppression...

Because you can't make this shit up. Seems Green leader Elizabeth May's campaign manager, John Fryer, sent out a letter to various news organizations, allleging people connected to the Conservative Party taught a 3-day convention the the Manning Center back in January 2010, and the subject was how to use voter suppression in an election campaign. Of course Fryer never even made passing mention that he was May's campaign manager, something most would agree should have been disclosed, if not for legal reasons but at least ethically. He also never seemed to have a problem with what he claims was the subject matter until this week.

The link also shows David Akin's somewhat disbelief at what Fryer alleged took place, as Akin attended the Manning Center during the same time period. If one were to take Fryer's claims as gospel, then I think what we have is the law of unintended consequences. If you read Akin's comments, this one really stands out: "At the campaign schools I taught at, I met those who were working on campaigns for Green Party candidates, BC New Democrats, BC Liberal, Alberta Progressive Conservatives, Wildrose Alliance members, and federal New Democrats."

So we now know members of both May's Green Party campaign, as well as NDP campaign members were both knowledgable in voter supression tactics. That is if Fryer decides to stand by his words, which as it's looking might put him in the company of one Pat Martin facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit for libel and slander.

Pat Martin, You Have A $5 Million Dollar Problem On Your Hands

And it couldn't happen to a bigger creep.

Remember these comments Mr. Martin?

1. "and now the hundreds of thousands of the phony phonecalls by the Racknine rascals..."

2. "I predict that Racknine will become the Conservative Parties GroupAction, and I predict that we will find the sheer magnitude and audacity of the Racknine rascals to make Richard Nixon blush"

3. " so who are the masterminds of the Racknine rascalsrobocalls of deceit into NDP held swing ridings?

Mr. Martin, here is a $5 million reason your are screwed.

"Elections Canada says in court filings that it does not believe RackNine engaged in suspicious activity."

Filed Statement of Claim - Action No. 1203 03498 (3!2!12) (E6148218)

Pierre Poutine's Real Name Is....

probably going to be revealed in the next few days. Why?

"Elections Canada’s hunt for the identity of the political operative behind robo-calls designed to misdirect voters in Guelph has led the watchdog to records at PayPal Canada, a company that handles online payments and money transfers."

This is great news. It will put to rest who is the guilty party into those misleading phonecalls in the 2011 election. Whether the individual has ties to any of the political parties or is just a third-party agitator will also most likely come out.

The reasoning is Paypal. I mentioned here and on several other blogs that the person who purchased and used the "Pierre Poutine" phone would be easy to trace, regardless of it being a burner phone. The point of sale where the phone was purchased would be easily obtainable through Virgin Mobile. By using Paypal the perpetrator has left a trail that cannot be covered.

Here is why. Paypal requires you to link your banking account to your paypal account. To confirm your bank account is indeed genuine, they issue a small deposit that includes a code that you enter to confirm your info. So EC can verify without a doubt that persons name, bank account number, branch, location, etc.

Paypal also issues users a Paypal Debit/Mastercard. This card expires yearly. Paypal verifies your home address and banking information whenever mailing your new card. Paypal can also go back far enough with this Paypal account and see all transactions that occurred around the date of the 2011 election.

To put it simply, Pierre Poutine is about to get busted, it's not if but when. And when that occurs maybe we can all return to normal.

Pat Martin Is A Fuc#!* Liar

It's still pretty early, but my choice for stupidest statement of the week goes to NDP MP Pat Martin. On today's Power & Politics, Evan Solomon pressed Martin about the 31,000 contacts that Elections Canada had received, and asked Martin if it was being led by individuals with ties to the NDP.

Martin denied any link, and when Solomon, who deserves praise for pressing the issue, brought up the fact Ian Capstick was part of the Leadnow group that started the online petition that included EC's email address as a recipient, Martin denied Capstick had ties to the NDP, even mentioning Capstick worked for Shiela Copps. At the point Martin looked ready to have a stroke, so Solomon moved on.

Now just in case Martin sees this blog posting and takes issue, I thought it might be a good idea to show the real facts about Capstick and his ties to both the NDP and Leadnow:

"Ian studied mass communications and media theory at the University of Ottawa. He worked as a journalist, editor and went on to be elected Managing Editor of the university’s English-language newspaper, the Fulcrum. He started his political career working for Liberal cabinet ministers, including former Heritage Minister Sheila Copps. Ian spent the last half of his time on Parliament hill serving as a press secretary to the New Democratic caucus and its Leader, Jack Layton. In addition to being a proud and dedicated New Democrat, Ian is a supporter of community gardening; local food and agriculture; advocate for accessible media; lesbian and gay rights; and increased corporate accountability."

Sue: Conservatives won the election by targeting and winning the stupid vote

From Susan Delacourt's Star blog comes this gem of a comment from someone named Sue. Really gives you a glimpse into the mind of what a non-conservative voter thinks:

"I believe I can simplify your point. I am not a journalist and don't have to worry about offending readers and suffering blowback for being honest. And the honest truth is, Harper's Conservatives won the election by targeting and winning the stupid vote. The less intelligent the voter, the more likely they are to be sold Harper's simplistic messaging. Harper is an economist - he knew cutting the GST was idiotic, but he did it anyway to appeal to people too stupid to understand economics. He scares people with talk of crime and sells himself as the answer. Stupid people don't know or don't believe crime rates are falling - instant support. He wins a majority after being found in contempt of parliament - stupid people didn't know or understand the issue. He prorogues parliament twice to avoid political problems with no penalty - stupid people can't spell, let alone understand prorogation. His marketing driven, focus grouped machine has relentlessly targeted the least intelligent Canadians with shocking success. Not realizing they have been cynically manipulated, these supporters are strongly loyal, and resistant to reason, science and evidence as tools of persuasion. That's why a government guilty of so many egregious assaults on honesty, decency and parliamentary tradition stays stubbornly at around 35 - 40% in the polls."I'm not sure the Star will post my reply, so I'll include it here for all to see. Perhaps Sue might stop by and leave a comment on a conservative blog, obviously written by someone targeted as stupid. ( note for Sue: if you really deep down in your heart believe yourself to superior in intelligence to a stupid conservative, I'm more than willing to debate you on any topic of your choosing)


"Sue at 7:34pm.

Thank you for the wonderful insight. As one of the "stupid vote", I'm unable to discern if your comments are a sign of you being completely ignorant or arrogant. As you so eloquently stated, it's remarkable that 35%-40% of the population can be that stupid. Sad to say you must be including my 92 year old mother in the stupid category as well.

I guess it's beyond the realm for you to see the utter idiocy and hypocricy in your comment. You champion democracy and then state anyone who votes for a party you don't support are the "stupid vote". Would that mean that anyone who voted Liberal in the 2006 election, now fully aware of the Liberal Party role in Adscam was stupid?

If you really want a debate about values, you only need look at the Liberal Greenshift platform. Canadians were told how we needed this great plan, hatched by Ignatieff or Dion, depending on who took the fall for it. Liberals were so sure of this plan, they completely avoided it in the 2011 election. Those are Liberal values. Say what you think will get votes. Stephane Dion, a smart man who wasn't PM material, learned the hard way what his loyalty to the party really meant.

But your comment wasn't a complete waste. Now realizing I was part of the stupid vote, I enroollled in huked on foniks, soz thatz maysbe byze the ectx elekhions I cans becomz a libberul votir.

By the way, you are a real inspiration. So much so that I plan on doing a post on my Blogging Tories blog to show the intelligence of non conservative supporters. Cheers

Does The Media Want A real RoboCall Conspiracy Theory?

(Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff looks at candles while touring a market with local candidate Frank Valeriote on Saturday, April 30 in Guelph, Ont. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Received an email from someone who prefers to remain anonymous, something that I have no problem doing. This person, like myself, has some doubt as to who was really behind the robocalls. Like me this person also will not vote Conservative in the next election if it's proven the party had a role.

But this individual had an angle about who might be responsible neither, nor anyone else has mentioned today. With the Liberals pointing the finger at Conservatives, with no proof I might add, perhaps Conservatives can point the finger back at Liberals, again with no proof. What can be provided however is a timeline that does seem to correlate to the purchase of the poutine cell phone and the date the calls are said to have started.

You be the judge: "Now with the new information on the throw away phone and the phone number got me thinking new questions. Where was Michael Ignatieff's campaign team on April 30 the day that the phone was activated? Surprise surprise he was in Guelph. Then came the question was he ever in Joliette where I take from the reports that the phone was purchased? Turns out on the 28th they were in Québec city and then traveled down to Montréal. Now I'm not sure if they stopped in Joliette but they passed right by."

Now as far as I can tell, Ignatieff was in Guelph the morning of May 1st for a campaign stop. He was in the area the day before, making a campaign stop in Paris Ontario on the 30th. It's plausible Ignatieff's campaign team stayed overnight in Guelph, or would have been nearby when the phone got activated. As Conservative supporters also claimed to have received misleading phone calls, so much so the the riding association took action to ensure those supporting the party had the right polling booth info, some things seem to line up here.

Could be nothing. Probably is. Then again it hasn't stopped the opposition from finding the PM guilty already without a shred of evidence. So have at it media conspiracy fanatics.

Charlie Smith Of Straight.com, Get Your Facts Err, Straight

Another poorly informed editorial, this time by Charlie Smith at straight.com

I don't know. maybe there's like a two day time difference where he is. Seems he got this terribly wrong. This from Smith:

"That's the Thunder Bay call centre where former employees have alleged that they directed voters to the wrong polling stations."

Kind of reminds me of that old tuna commercial. You remember. Sorry Charlie, only people with their facts straight should put something in the public domain. If Smith had of been paying the least bit of attention he might have come across this gem:

National Post:

An article published in the National Post on March 2, 2012, referred to Responsive Marketing Group Inc. and stated that former employees of RMG have alleged that they were asked by RMG to direct voters to the wrong polling stations. That report was incorrect. No allegation has been made that RMG asked its employees to direct voters to the wrong polling stations. The National Post apologizes to Responsive Marketing Group Inc. for the error.

Then again, I can forgive Charlie for the oversight. The original story was top news when the NP reported it, The apology, not so much. Probably hidden beside an ad for a Chevy Chevette and the Velvet Touch masseuse ad.

Elections Canada Gets Complaints From U.S. and U.K Over Robocalls?

Sit back for a few minutes and watch this link:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/election_fraud/?agCGTcb&s=1

Interesting, no? With the media reporting that online petition signers on the above link, as well as one from NDP strategists count as "robocall complaints" registered with EC, it's interesting to note avaaz is an American based group, headed by billionaire George Soros.

But the real story here, the thing to watch, is the recent signors to the online petition, more notable their country of residence. I've witnessed U.S. based people sign the petition, as well as some from the U.K.

Perhaps the media and opposition parties can explain how someone in a different country, not even eligible to vote in Canada, can sign a complaint of being misdirected to their polling location.

Update: You can also add citizens of Greece, Sweden, Nicaragua and Guinea to the list of complaints. Pay attention and you will also see the same names reappear over and over

Update Update: Apparently some of the Canadian signors include someone named squirrel, Harry Potter, and someone named Les Dick. If I'm not mistaken it appears as though some retired Toronto Maple Leafs were also robocall victims as well. You can also count someone in Belgium as a victim of robocalls. Brilliant!

Media Thinks Online Petition Is A Complaint Filed With Elections Canada

Wow. Lefties decry the fact they think Conservatives are using American style campaign tactics, oblivious to the fact they themselves are guilty of American-style journalism, that being twisting the truth. No make that outright lying about the facts.

Alberta Aardvark has a great post up showing the utter lack of ethics and integrity in Canadian journalism. That a supposedly reputable media source could run a headline claiming there are over 31,000 complaints filed with Elections Canada, when EC is simply the victim of the NDP led by Ian Capstick and Robin Sears running an online petition and including the head of EC's email as one of the recipients boggles the mind.

Will " The Greatest Electoral Fraud In Canadian History"...

become the greatest attempted fraud in Canadian history by the opposition seeking a do-over? BC Blue has a new post up about a Liberal and NDP riding both stating they never received complaints of robocalls in their ridings, despite the fact the National Post published a list of "victim" ridings in which they were included.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say I think we are about to see the opposition and media begin to back off on robopalooza. The PM was firm in Question Period, stating the Conservative Party never played any role in the robocalls. Some of the complaints will most likely turn out to be actual polling stations whose locations were moved by EC. Some will be legitimate complaints of illegal activity, mostly in the riding of Guelph. Some will be found to be figments of Liberal and NDP supporters imagination. Some will be traced to Liberal and NDP campaigns using GOTV.

The best thing to do is see what Elections Canada and the RCMP investigations turn up. I'm sure EC will be diligently looking at all those who have filed claims and affidavits saying they received misleading phone calls, including said individuals phone records.

There is one other thing I don't think anyone has mentioned to date. Elections Canada should be checking to see if any individuals who have lodged a complaint voted in the election. This is crucial as the opposition will be crying for by-elections in close ridings they lost, but I'm guessing not in ridings they won.

Any individual who files a claim of misleading phone calls being received, and who in turn voted in the election, would not have played any role in that ridings poll results being negligibly affected.