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.
19 comments:
Kewl catch
Have a feeling the real issue is robocomplaint a la leadnow.ca which leads the infidels to complain about an election they lost.
This is a smear compaign whether it is Liberals or NDP this is to be determined.
Pissed off in Toronto
If I were to find something like this that important that I decided to report it to the authorities, I'd make damn sure that I recalled every detail exactly.
Because after all, it was a big event in my life 8 months ago, right? I am going to report it and I want to be sure that I have clarity with my honesty, I suspect.
So I'd know the date, time of day, how it changed my day and my outcome. Because I'm sure it's going to eat me up and keep me awake for 8 months.
Yup, that's what I would do except one thing. I'd report it immediately or feel like a fool 8 months later for it being important now but not then.
And she signed an affadavit?
This could turn out very badly for Peggy Walsh Craig.
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Let's say her complaint was bogus. Which would not shock me at all. Anyone know what kind of trouble you could get in for doing this?
An affidavit is a sworn statement under oath,it has to be made to a Notary or Commissioner of Oaths. Making a false statement can result in a perjury charge.
I believe perjury can mean jail time up to two years.
Interesting that she deleted it AFTER your complaint to EC. Did EC call her and alert her?
Good thing you have the comment saved. We need to do that more often if we are going to cover our bases.
The part you have highlighted in red is even more telling. She got the call about the "poll change" the week before the election. She didn't think anything of it because she planned to vote in the advance poll. Well, perhaps her timing is off, but there was no advance poll the week before the election. The last advance poll was on April 25. More telling to me though is that if there were all of these calls going out directing people to the wrong place, Elections Canada would have heard about them on election day, not 10 months later. If people showed up at the wrong polling place or somewhere where there was no poll at all, I think a few more people than were reported by EC previously would have bitched. It's either that or it says an awful lot about Liberal voters.
Someone needs to remind the leftbots there are real consequences for lying in an affidavit and to EC. Nice catch.
TangoJuliette sez:
Great catch Joanne.
Duane:
A few days after the writ, EC opens a polling station in every riding across the country. A vote may be ast in these polling stations, EVERY DAY up to and including Election Day. Many people I deal with still call this an advance poll. The woman could have been similarly confused.
That being said, her travels and postings are the true lies, her chances of being trapped and punished (ie: because of her sworn affidavit) for these contraventions, should, ideally cause her much grief.
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Commonly known as; Caught in the act, and she should be punished for misleading information and causing the investigators to look into false accusations.
EC is incompetent enough without having ambulance chasers exacerbate the situation.
Carry on and lay charges where they are required.
Perhaps you can clue in Terry M. as to how to do investigative reporting.
Not likely.
Great catch Joanne.
TJ - Don't give me any credit please. This was all figured out by Paulsstuff.
I only supplied a relevant link.
This one will be interesting to watch. Please keep us posted Paulsstuff!
Civic league hopes to engage electorate
By GORD YOUNG The Nugget
Updated 1 year ago
A grassroots movement led by a group calling itself the North Bay Civic League is attempting to engage the public and boost voter turnout leading up to the next municipal election.
Group representatives Peggy Walsh-Craig, John Patterson and Harriet Madigan appeared before council Monday to share the concept with municipal politicians and to encourage the public to participate in an online survey that will be used as the basis for discussion leading up to the vote in October and afterward.
Madigan told council the group is modelling itself after a civic league founded in Guelph in 2004, which managed to increase voter turnout in that community during the 2006 municipal election, from 36% in 2003 to more than 50%.
Founded by members of various community groups, including Nipissing Environmental Watch, the civic league has launched a website at www.northbaycivicleague.org.
"It's really a long-term project," said Walsh-Craig, noting the group expects to have a much greater impact leading up to the 2014 election.
She said the online survey, which aims to set out a series of community values, will be ongoing with the findings to be matched in the future with the voting records of municipal council members on various civic issues. Walsh-Craig said the intent is to better inform the public about who council members are and what they stand for.
As a member of Nipissing Environmental Watch, Walsh Craig said that group has in the past surveyed the public and found many people don't bother to vote because they don't know the candidates. She also noted an overall lack of public involvement regarding municipal issues.
Public apathy regarding municipal politics is apparent in North Bay, at least at the polls and during budget deliberations.
There have been almost no public presentations to council in recent years during budget deliberations.
Only about 45% of the electorate turned out at the polls during the 2006 election, a slight improvement over the 43% turnout during the 2003 vote.
The deadline to file nomination papers for the Oct. 25 election is Sept. 10. So far, only a few hopefuls have officially filed including incumbents Tanya Vrebosch-Merry, Mac Bain and Mike Anthony along with newcomers Gilbert Gagnon and David Briggs.
gyoung@nugget.ca
Ontario Girl
How about this from the March 6 Record:
They said there is a chance they may be back in touch with me,” Walsh Craig said. “He said he thought that my account sounded credible, for whatever that’s worth.”
Well we'll let EC decide what it's worth.
"Madigan told council the group is modelling itself after a civic league founded in Guelph in 2004, which managed to increase voter turnout in that community during the 2006 municipal election, from 36% in 2003 to more than 50%."
What an interesting conincidence, an observed link between Guelph and Nippissing and all to do with "voter turnout".
Peggy Walsh Craig has been on CTV North bay news two days in a row. It shows her sitting at a desk writing a letter to elections Canada...WTF....then she says she was called and asked who she would vote for and she said NOT the Conservatives. Thats what she said. Doesn't sound like a robo call. BUT then she said she got a robo call later directing her to the wrong poll with the caller saying they were from Elections Canada. No mention of her being with the "North bay Civic group", who by the way are enviromentalist and "ARTS" supporters.
The defeated liberal Anthony Rona said in an article they had 30 people who got calls, but only 2 who would sign complaints and he's asking people to come forward(Begging?)Talk about conflict of interest groups. I wonder if this woman will be at the RALLY in North Bay this Sunday against voter fraud?
Ontario Girl
Good Morning! Great Post and great catch! What a tanlgled web we weave.......
I think the longer this goes on the more we will know.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/09/tory-campaign-worker-in-guelph-tweeted-robocall-warning-two-days-before-election/
Of course CBC is right on any and all complaints.
I also posted this at BLY.
Bubba
And Joe Volpe on an article by CBC April 15th was reporting robo calls duh.
You need to get this to Ezra or Brian..if you haven't already. Follow-up with a phone call to them to give a heads-up.
Tyler
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