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Once again I say taking it up with Elections Canada is an inadequate response to a serious problem. In 2011 we know there were dozens of ridings in which election fraud took place. I find it absolutely shocking that representatives of any party in the House would be so little concerned, so little troubled that they would leave it to Elections Canada, particularly when budget 2012 cuts Elections Canada’s budget by $7.5 million, further compromising any ability of that agency to get to the bottom of criminal activity.

Kellie Leitch: Mr. Speaker, this government has expressed its significant concern with these types of issues. As we have said, we encourage and we want Elections Canada to go ahead with investigations on the most recent issues.

Regarding something quite significant that happened in the past, as I mentioned to the member already this evening in the House, I would encourage her to speak with Elections Canada.

(Part One: http://elizabethmaymp.ca/parliament/questions/2012/05/31/adjournment-proceedings-41st-general-election)

The post Adjournment Proceedings – 41st General Election appeared first on Elizabeth May.

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This is not a partisan issue, and I want to set that out as a foundation. I include in my statement of non-partisan interest in this issue that I do not believe for a moment that in ridings where there were alleged dirty tricks there is a chance that Conservative candidates, many of whom I have great affection for, would have known about the voter suppression techniques that were used in the election that took place on May 2, 2011.

With the context out of the way, I want to pursue the question I asked on March 1, which was this: in the context of the voter suppression phone calls, which some people call robocalls, we need to understand them as multiple acts of illegal activity. Each single phone call purporting to be Elections Canada when it was not Elections Canada represents a crime. It is a crime on two levels. It is a crime against our fair and democratic free elections under the Canada Elections Act. Purporting to be someone you are not for purposes of fraud is also a crime under the Criminal Code.

It is criminal activity that occurred multiple times in multiple ridings. That is the context. You can call them robocalls, but it is election fraud we are discussing.

My question for the Prime Minister on March 1 dealt with the fact that I am personally aware of extensive evidence of electoral fraud that occurred in Saanich—Gulf Islands, the riding I represent, in the election in which I was not a candidate, the one in 2008, about which the New Democratic Party filed complaints. The Liberal Party filed complaints. Public interest groups like Democracy Watch filed complaints. Third party groups that were concerned about election fraud also filed complaints. Yet, despite a lot of evidence, the RCMP and Elections Canada were unable to get to the bottom of it, which is why I do not think we are yet on the right track to get to the bottom of what happened on May 2, 2011.

This is not to suggest malfeasance on anyone’s part, it is just the reality that I examined. Let me tell you what happened. The failure to get to the bottom of that leads me to the inevitable conclusion that the Prime Minister must call a public inquiry that is properly funded and has subpoena powers and a proper staff to find out how election fraud took place in 2008 in Saanich—Gulf Islands and across Canada on May 2, 2011.

The reality is this. Calls were made in Saanich—Gulf Islands at the last minute on the night before the election only to those voters who supported the New Democratic Party. What would be strange about how this unknown, mysterious calling program got the phone numbers of people only supporting the NDP, as far as I know, to call purportedly from the NDP and urge people to go out and vote NDP?

There was no NDP candidate on the ballot. The name remained but the candidate had withdrawn. These were spoof calls, as we now know the term, in that the phone number that appeared on the call display was actually a home fax number for an executive within the NDP, who filed complaints. With the information they had, they pursued it. He was initially told to go to the Saanich police and complain there. Then he went to the RCMP.

Nothing was discovered because it was not properly investigated. With issues this important, must we not have a full public inquiry? I asked for a full public inquiry from Elections Canada in May of last year and have still not had a response.

I ask the Conservative Party representatives here tonight to explain how we are going to get to the bottom of this if we do not have an inquiry.

Kellie Leith: Mr. Speaker, I will remind the member that we are here in Parliament. This is not about parties. This is about speaking to each other as parliamentarians. We are the government here.

As the government stated numerous times in this House regarding issues like this and the most recent issues, we want Elections Canada’s investigations to go ahead regarding the most recent events. However, regarding concerns the member may have for previous elections which she has raised tonight, I would encourage her to follow up with Elections Canada.

(Part Two: http://elizabethmaymp.ca/parliament/questions/2012/05/31/adjournment-proceedings-41st-general-election-2/)

The post Adjournment Proceedings – 41st General Election appeared first on Elizabeth May.

The scandal has grown since then. We now have allegations of electoral crimes that go beyond phoning. In Eglinton-Lawrence, the Toronto riding in which Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver unseated Liberal incumbent Joe Volpe, it is alleged that close to 3,000 late-voter registrants were accepted without any proof of address, and in many cases, with no address at all. CBC-TVnews broke this story, leaving people wondering how such a thing could happen, with Elections Canada completely ignoring its statutory duties in this case.

In Vaughn, Ontario, a riding now held by Conservative Cabinet member Julian Fantino, three former members of the Conservative riding association have asked Elections Canada to investigate the existence of a second, non-reported, bank account. The three officials allege the fundraising chair said he had a secret account with $300,000 in it. It is alleged the secret account was used to help Conservative candidates in nine neighbouring ridings. This would be, obviously, completely illegal.

The allegations of attempts to harass or mislead by phone also continue to grow. Elections Canada now says over 30,000 people have contacted it with concerns. The trivial nature of some media coverage is very frustrating. Crimes were committed, and yet some in the media use words like ‘shenanigans.’ Kids sneaking into the neighbour’s yard to do some mischief might qualify as ‘shenanigans.’ Faking automated phone calls, or live calls, to thousands of people in a riding in an attempt to send voters who will not vote for your candidate to the wrong polling station is a crime for which the word ‘shenanigan’ does not apply.

I was taken aback by the defence offered by the Conservative Party in Saanich-Gulf Islands. In the March 7 edition of the Peninsula News, Bruce Hallsor, representing the Conservative Party in Saanich-Gulf Islands, was quoted saying such calls ‘would be the most ineffective method of voter suppression.’

His argument that his party was not responsible for the calls rests not on the fact that ‘voter suppression’ is unethical and anti-democratic, not that impersonating Elections Canada is illegal. He is quoted as saying ‘it is a ridiculous suggestion,’ because it would be the ‘most ineffective method of voter suppression.’

Do we then conclude the Conservative Party endorses only very effective methods of keeping citizens from exerting their right to vote?

The sad reality is that many political operatives in this country are impressed by the sophisticated ‘voter suppression’ techniques of the US Republican Party. The essence of the concept is that you can improve the vote for your party by getting supporters of other parties to stay home on Election Day. I realized that the Harper Conservatives had been doing this before I knew there was a name for it. In my last book, I described the various ways in which the Conservative Party had been driving down voter turnout. Only after it was published did a friend from the US who worked in the Obama campaign tell me that there was a name for the tactics I had seen deployed. And the name is ‘voter suppression.’

There are a large number of voter suppression techniques and most of them are not illegal. Stephen Harper has, for example, always chosen the shortest possible writ period. The shorter the writ period the less time there is for voters to become engaged. He has also, in 2008 and 2011, chosen voting days that drove down the student vote. In 2008, he did this by having the election early in the school fall term before any first years could have qualified for residency to vote on campus; and in 2011 by choosing a date in the midst of year-end exams.

In 2011, unlike 2008 when Stephen Harper was not responsible for which day his government fell, he did have the option of choosing an election date that allowed more than the legal minimum number of days. A longer writ period would have allowed for students to get home, as well as for some non-campaign time around the holy days of Easter and Passover.

But Stephen Harper does not want to encourage high voter turnout. He pushed through revisions to the Elections Act before 2008 that made it that much harder for people to vote, especially if low-income, First Nations, students or seniors. The requirement for a government-issued photo ID, including a current address, was a new rule and resulted in many Canadians losing their chance to vote.

The most offensive of the legal tactics is the use of attack ads. Negative advertising ‘works’ by discouraging supporters from voting for their traditional party. Running attack ads does nothing to increase the vote of the party paying for the ads. It is all about driving down the vote for the competition.

I have been putting forward a package of ‘Green Cleaning Solutions to Dirty Politics.’ The first step is a full inquiry into the crimes reported in the 2011 election. I am also pressing for the opening of the ‘cold case’ of electoral fraud in Saanich-Gulf Islands in 2008.

Beyond that, we need to expand the powers and resources of Elections Canada to investigate and report fully on complaints.

We should also ban the purchase of television advertising by any political party, or its third-party support groups, both during and outside of writ periods. Bans on television ads by political parties are in place in the UK, Belgium, Brazil, Israel, Switzerland and a number of other countries. Instead, the parties are allowed time in free access to the airwaves. The ban on TV ads allows for a more respectful presentation of policies, platforms and positions.

Citizens in this country need to demand a wholesale change in the current political climate. We need to condemn any party that thinks it is ethical (even if legal) to attempt, by any means, to reduce voter turnout. Any politician who embraces anti-democratic tactics should be ashamed. And, more to the point, should be removed from office.

The post How did embracing voter suppression techniques become respectable? appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to address a question to the hon. leader of the Liberal Party. He made reference to the fact that we have seen in previous election campaigns instances of election crime, essentially. Calls misdirected voters and reported to be from the Bloc when they were not.

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The most comprehensive example of a previous election fraud effort was in Saanich—Gulf Islands in 2008. Robocalls were made to NDP supporters to get out in support of a candidate who was actually no longer in the race. This allegedly and arguably changed the result of the election and denied the Liberals a seat. The NDP members were so upset in Saanich—Gulf Islands by this crime that even though it was a Liberal Party candidate who was the biggest victim, the NDP filed a complaint with Elections Canada. The Liberals filed a complaint. Elections Canada simply did not get to the bottom of it.

I would like to ask the hon. member for Toronto Centre if it is too late to go back to what is essentially a cold case to figure out who stole the election in 2008 in Saanich—Gulf Islands?

Hon. Bob Rae: Mr. Speaker, the simple, hard fact is a lot of calls are hard to trace. It is no accident that they are hard to trace. Offshore calls are particularly hard to trace. It would not be difficult to place offshore calls into Saanich—Gulf Islands.

This is something that we all have to come to grips with. To repeat the quote that I made before, “In this world today, all you needs is a computer and access to the Internet, and you can have access to all kinds of things. It is very difficult to trace them”. I think that is something we have to take a hold of. We need to make sure that all of the calls made are not only reported to Elections Canada, but that a record of those calls is kept for an extended period of time.

The post Opposition Motion – Canada Elections Act (B) appeared first on Elizabeth May.

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I wrote Elections Canada on May 19, 2011, asking for a full national inquiry into what was clearly a troubling pattern of efforts to confuse voters via phone calls allegedly from Elections Canada.

I am sorry, I am having trouble being heard.

Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

The Speaker: Order, order. The hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands has the floor.

Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, if they are looking for evidence, there was an abundance of evidence of a very disturbing event in the 2008 election in Saanich—Gulf Islands. Elections Canada and RCMP officials were unable to get to the bottom of it.

That is why I am asking if the Prime Minister…

The Speaker: The member is out of time. The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister.

Dean Del Mastro: Mr. Speaker, a B.C. Liberal candidate wrote in a letter to the editor that Liberals rely on First Contact. First Contact relies on patented technology. The patent and the server are based in the U.S.

That is very interesting because, when I review information on the Liberal Party and its efforts in British Columbia, I see that they have used this company quite a bit. It seems that they were robodialing quite a number of people on behalf of the Liberal Party. They were indicating that they were calling on behalf of the Liberal Party, because it appears that they were.

Nonetheless, the Liberal Party has conducted an unsubstantiated smear campaign. It is reprehensible.

The post Oral Questions – 40th General Election appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Anyone who cherishes democracy would be outraged by the facts that have been disclosed in media reports.  I am disturbed by the Prime Minister’s approach to the facts we now know.  He should call an inquiry.

One reason I am demanding an inquiry is that I do not think Elections Canada has the resources to undertake the investigation that is required.  And the RCMP, as well, do not have a good track record uncovering electoral fraud.

In 2008, robocalls into Saanich-Gulf Islands may well have allowed Conservative Gary Lunn to defeat a strong Liberal challenge by former Green Briony Penn.  The facts were well known.  The NDP candidate had withdrawn from the race, but at a point when it was too late for him to be replaced. His name was on the ballot, but he was not running. Robocalls the night before the election reached thousands of NDP supporters to urge them to get out and vote for the non-existent candidate. Both the RCMP and Elections Canada abandoned their investigations without finding the responsible parties.

With that brief factual background, I invite you to read the following blog from March 28, 2009 by Will Horter from BC Conservation Voters.

His last sentence is certainly prophetic: “If someone with subpoena powers doesn’t step up with some investigative muscle, I predict many more Karl Rove-like black-op operations in future elections.”

KARL ROVE COMES TO CANADA?

Friday, March 28 2009
Will Horter

Canadians have watched the chaos and dirty tricks happening in U.S. presidential elections with a sense of superiority – giving thanks that ‘it couldn’t happen here in Canada”. Don’t be so sure.

Elections Canada’s decision to drop their investigation into the fraudulent election eve robocalls in last October’s federal election in Saanich-Gulf Islands (SGI) bodes badly for the future of Canadian democracy.

Expect dirty tricks to increase in future elections.

The 2008 SGI election was full of dirty tricks. There were shady 3rd party organizations advertising for Lunn, all being created by Lunn co-campaign chair Bruce Hallsor, as well as fake robocalls on the eve of the vote purporting to be from the NDP riding association asking voters to vote for NDP candidate Julian West, who had withdrawn from the election. The Caller ID displayed on the fake robocalls indicated the fax number of Bill Graham, president of the NDP riding association who denies any involvement.

In closing their lax investigation, an Elections Canada official said they “found no one who had actually been influenced in their vote because of the purported telephone call.”
But Elections Canada and the RCMP seem to have overlooked other laws that could have been broken. The Criminal Code designates it an offence “to knowingly provide false information over the phone” (Section 372) or “to fraudulently impersonate another” (Section 403).

If it was known that the Elections Canada investigative threshold required “influenced voters” to be identified, I’m sure there are many people that would have helped them locate voters that felt duped by the calls.

Although Elections Canada claims they couldn’t find anyone that was influenced the numbers say otherwise. A poll taken just a few days before the election showed the NDP vote to be at less than 1% while on polling day the NDP pulled 3,667 votes (5.69% of the vote). The NDP upswing in voting support surpassed the 2,621 vote margin Mr. Lunn had over Liberal challenger Briony Penn perhaps winning Lunn the election.

But finding voters that had “actually been influenced in their vote” should not be the standard Elections Canada uses because that opens the door to parties (or their plausibly deniable supporters or low level campaign staff) to game the rules and force someone to prove after the fact that it influenced voters -a high hurdle.

The fact that that the Elections Canada’s letter to Paul McKivett, president of the Liberal riding association, also said Elections Canada “could not identify the source of the calls”, is also worrisome.

What kind of investigation did Elections Canada conduct?

How can thousands of calls come into a small geographic area from a call centre in the U.S. and Elections Canada can’t track it back to see who made the calls, who paid for them and who provided the list?

Is Elections Canada really saying that they can’t document these facts?  Is it that they don’t have the staff, the authority to reach beyond the border and compel answers and documents or the political will?

Elections Canada’s lax investigation in SGI should raise serious concerns about future elections in Canada. The signal being sent is that Elections Canada is not an aggressive investigator.

The signal being sent to political parties, particular the Conservative Party of Canada – which has a track record of playing up to, if not over, the lines – is that they can have someone associated, but deniable, hire a U.S. call centre to flood a riding with spoofed or faked robocalls and Elections Canada will do little to get to the bottom of it.

As Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch recently said, Elections Canada’s failure to fully investigate the SGI scam has ramifications for future elections, “If they are allowed to get away with this [in SGI] what happens if there’s a case where the candidate is still there? Someone could do bulk calling on behalf of whichever candidate you think will split your candidate’s vote.”

Given the one-on-one nature of robocalls it is hard for third parties that can’t subpoena phone records to identify the source or scale of the fraudulent calls. Only Elections Canada or the police can get to the bottom of these kinds of dirty tricks.

If someone with subpoena powers doesn’t step up with some investigative muscle I predict many more Karl Rove-like black-op operations in future elections.

The post Robocalls Redux appeared first on Elizabeth May.

The “robo-call scandal” and its sweeping allegations of voter suppression across multiple Canadian ridings last May is bringing new attention to possible election fraud in the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding in both 2008 and 2011.

MP Elizabeth May has said members of the riding are among those to complain about calls directing them to nonexistent polling stations during the May 2, 2011 federal election. Adding that to complaints about automated robo-calls and third-party advertising that the Liberal Party of Canada registered with Elections Canada in 2008, May has deemed Saanich-Gulf Islands the pilot project for a wider campaign of voter suppression now thought to include at least 45 Canadian ridings.

View the full original article >>

The post Robo-call talk returns focus to Saanich-Gulf Islands riding appeared first on Elizabeth May.

The “robocall” scandal involving allegations of voter-suppression calls in up to 34 ridings across Canada during the last federal election had its roots in Saanich-Gulf Islands in the election of 2008, Green Party leader Elizabeth May said Monday.

“I believe the robocalls system was piloted in Saanich-Gulf Islands in 2008,” said May, elected MP for the riding last May. “I can’t make any allegations who was responsible for robocalls in 2008. But whoever did it got away with it.”An Ottawa Citizen investigation revealed evidence last week of a “systematic voter-suppression campaign” in highly contested ridings during the 2011 election.

View the full original article >>

The post Saanich was test ground for fake election calls, May says appeared first on Elizabeth May.

She also announced that she is eager to work with other opposition parties in revealing those who made use of “voter suppression” tactics in various ridings including Saanich-Gulf Islands during both the 2008 and 2011 federal election.

“The real questions are: Who planned these calls, who programmed them, who paid for them?” said May.  “These things shouldn’t be too difficult to establish.  Also, did they affect the final outcome of a number of very close races across Canada? How often have these tactics been used before? Finally, what does this mean in terms of the Harper government’s status?”

“In circumstances less troubling, such as the malfeasance of the Sponsorship Scandal which never touched on the fundamental right of citizens in a democracy, the former Prime Minister and Liberal leader Paul Martin launched a full inquiry — not calculating the cost to his political future, but doing what was right. On this issue, I expect Stephen Harper to do no less.”

May’s book, Losing Confidence: Power, Politics and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy warned Canadians of a dangerous downward slide in our democratic process with the increased use of “dirty tricks,” especially relating to Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party.  She is available to provide background information and answer media questions relating to the robocalling scandal, and will be in the media foyer after Question Period on Monday afternoon.

The post May’s riding also hit with Robocalls; Emergency Commons Debate, Public Inquiry Called For appeared first on Elizabeth May.