Misleading Robocalls Went To Voters ID'd As Non-Tories 148
silentbrad writes "An investigation by CBC News has turned up voters all over Canada who say the reason they got robocalls sending them to fictitious polling stations was that they'd revealed they would not vote Conservative. Although the Conservative Party has denied any involvement in the calls, these new details suggest that the misleading calls relied on data gathered by, and carefully guarded by, the Conservative Party. Known as 'CIMS,' the database assigns a 'smiley' face to supporters, and a 'sad' face to non-Conservatives. Liberal and NDP politicians say it would make no sense to call randomly, since many of the voters misled would be Conservatives."
some U.S. scandals recently as well (Score:4, Interesting)
Listing the wrong date seems to be a favorite tactic of misleading American robocalls. There was some legislation [projectvote.org] recently introduced to specifically tackle it, but it's probably illegal under existing laws as well. The main game seems to be whether, as here, political parties can feed the data to "third party" callers without it getting traced back to them.
Re:Who is responsible? Irrelevant... (Score:5, Interesting)
Nope, they pull *far* more than any one else; others don't even come close. Just check out the number of votes of no confidence that they pulled when Martin had a minority; they didn't even try to make it work. At that point the Cons pushed for a coalition government, then when the Cons get a minority and the other parties go for a coalition Harper cries about it not be democratic, etc taking advantage of the electorates ignorance of how our system of government works. Not to mention during that minority they attached a no confidence rider to bills so they'd pass. He promised he wouldn't do it during the following election, but then that next time he gets in, what's one of the first things he does? That's right, the same bloody no confidence rider BS.
I could say the same thing about their Economic "action plan." According to the PBO it was their policies that got Canada into the situation it's in (made it worse that is) and their plan to get out of it was to do more of the same type of policies!?!?!?
And now with their majority, what do they do? They don't listen to every study done with regards to mandatory minimum sentences (they don't work), nor anything even approaching Science (hey, why use logic when yah got ideology). Thus, C-10 passes. Similarly, for C-11 with regards to digital locks and no doubt once the fire dies down with C-30 (the spying bill). As in, after C-30 passes, they'll, by regulation (add/delete by reg is already in the bill), add in information that'll be available without a warrant.
I could go on. (It's funny what a memory can do when used, eh.)
Harper is a two faced asshole that does nothing but dirty political gamesmanship. He's a disgrace. Same goes for Vic Toews and Dean Del Mastro and...
Now, I'm not saying that the other parties are squeaky clean. But, in comparison, Harper et al look as though they have been rolling in the mud while the other parties might have scuffs on their shoes (Liberals likely worse than the NDP).
Seriously, this election fraud shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. But, what would be nice is if the Cons would see at least some repercussions for their actions.
Re:Many people don't understand (Score:5, Interesting)
By the way, the reason I have absolute confidence that the robocalls happened is I received one.
Roughly two weeks after rudely informing the Conservative party pollster that I was deeply offended that they would even ask who I'm going to vote for (because it's an invasion of my right to a secret vote), and thereby would definitely NOT be voting Conservative, I received a robocall directing me to a supposed polling station west of the General Hospital here in Regina.
I did check into it, and did vote successfully. But that's because I was skeptical about my polling station changing two days before the election, not because someone didn't try to trick me into missing out on my chance to vote against these vote-frauding neanderthal jackboots.
I have many reasons for hating the Harpercrites, a list of issues built up over a decade. I'm actually glad they stuck their neck in the noose with the robocalls, regardless of whether it was a few party underlings or a "big plan" by the higher ups. Because the end result is the same: The Canadian Reform Alliance Party (the true roots of the Harpercrite Conservatives) may be dissolved as a party entirely, or subjected to fines so heavy that they can't afford to continue operations.
And in my books, that would be terrific for Canada. Because the Harpercrites have a long-standing tradition of fighting against the very Charter of Rights and Constitution which define the obligations of a sound a legally-moral Canadian government to the people of this country. And I do not like seeing any politician of any stripe violating those ethics, regardless of how "moral" their stance may be.
From my perspective, the history of violating the Charter should itself be sufficient justification for removing these "people" from power.
Canada had a silent coup (Score:5, Interesting)
Contact the Governor General [mailto] and demand he dissolves Parliament and call new elections.
These Conservatives (party of "Law & Order") have committed several counts of election fraud (In & Out and much more [sixthestate.net]).
Fascinating how they love to claim something along the lines of, "Libruls got a speeding ticket, we committed election fraud, everyone's the same". Like speeders & murderers are somehow equivalent in their law breaking.
Re:When will people learn (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't tell them who you're going to vote for. They have no right to know.
There are good reasons to tell them that you're not voting for them (and explain why): If they are able to understand the reasons why people aren't voting for them, they can change their policies to reflect what the public want. If no one ever explains that they aren't voting for them (and why) then the party is left losing the election and having to guess what people want for the next time around, by which time what people want may have changed.
Certainly, there are good reasons to _allow_ people to keep their votes secret, but there are also good reasons for people to opt to waive that right to secrecy.