Tories put hand in cookie jar, get caught

[Eulogy]

A young Conservative staffer in Ontario has resigned as Elections Canada investigates automated crank calls that were aimed at suppressing voter turnout in the last federal election.

Michael Sona, 23, has resigned from his post at an Ontario MP's office, after his name was linked to a political scandal over ‘robocalls' that aimed to mislead voters about where to cast their ballots.

While there is no official evidence that Sona was behind the automated calls, it's believed he left the office of Toronto-area MP Eve Adams on Thursday night.

The RCMP and Elections Canada both launched probes into the scandal after opposition MPs came forward with accusations that voters in tight ridings had been subject to a ploy to suppress the vote.

The automated calls dialed up voters on election day and gave them erroneous information about where to cast their ballots.

Liberal interim leader Bob Rae has since asked for an emergency session in Parliament to address the issue, which he has called an attack on democracy.

"This debate is necessary because denying someone the opportunity to vote, is to deny them the most basic right that exists in our democracy," Rae said in a letter to House Speaker Andrew Scheer.

"These reports undermine the reputation of Parliament and cast a shadow over the legitimacy of all Parliamentary proceedings."

The Conservative Party of Canada has steadfastly denied any involvement in the scheme, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper saying Thursday that he had "absolutely no knowledge" of the crank calls.

But this week, Liberal MP John McCallum said that the calls were widespread and must have been the work of several people.

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

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

Sona's professional profile on LinkedIn lists his position as a communications worker at the office of Conservative MP Rob Moore.

His experience also lists four months working for Conservative candidate Marty Burke in the riding of Guelph, Ont.

Sona was also linked to an attempted theft of a box of votes at a special ballot on the campus of the University of Guelph.

In April 2011, The Guelph Mercury reported that the communications director for the Guelph Conservative candidate Burke, showed up at the balloting site and said that it violated the Elections Canada Act.

The Tory staffer tried to then snatch the ballot box, but failed and left empty-handed.

At the time, the Conservatives denied that any supporters touched a ballot box.

Students speaking to the Guelph newspaper identified Sona as the Conservative involved in the incident.

Link

Stay classy, Conservatives. Hope this backfires on them.

[Aaron MkII]

It won't. There is four years until the next election, it'll be long forgotten by then. At most someone will be made to take a dive.

[Enigma]

It won't. There is four years until the next election, it'll be long forgotten by then. At most someone will be made to take a dive.

Besides, the opposition parties are in a mess. Liberals are still licking their wounds and really don't have a strong leader and the NDP, who could have jumped on this, would probably been successful if Layton was still alive instead of focusing on getting a new leader.

Harper will survive this and no one will care by election day.

[Phantasee]

Well, it's blowing up every day. It's up to 39 or more ridings now, including Elizabeth May's riding out on Vancouver Island, Edmonton East (Peter Goldring aka the DUI MP), though most are in Ontario.

Sona put out a statement today as well; he denies he did it.

Statement
The following is a statement from Michael Sona, who worked for the Conservative campaign in Guelph, Ont., during the last federal election. He resigned on Feb. 24 from the office of Toronto-area Conservative MP Eve Adams.

I wish to address the allegations and accusations levelled against me in the media over the last six days. I have remained silent to this point with the hope that the real guilty party would be apprehended. The rumours continue to swirl, and media are now involving my family, so I feel that it is imperative that I respond.

I had no involvement in the fraudulent phone calls, which also targeted our supporters as can be attested to by our local campaign team and phone records. On Thursday, I offered my resignation to my employer. The role of a staffer is to assist their employer in their responsibilities, and that was impossible to accomplish with the media continually repeating these rumours. It is for that reason and that reason alone that I resigned from my position.

Michael Sona

Overview of the current situation.

A "burner" cellphone linked to the growing robocalls scandal was registered to a man named "Pierre Poutine" who lived on "Separatist Street" in Joliette, Que., court documents show.

The fictional name and address were used to cover the trail of whoever was behind a series of automated phone calls that allegedly attempted to mislead voters in the last election, Elections Canada's investigator states in court documents.

Opposition parties claim turnout may have been affected by the calls, when either pre-recorded messages or live callers informed voters of changes that hadn't actually occurred.

The RCMP and Elections Canada are looking into reports that automated calls were made in as many as 18 ridings, though opposition parties claim 34 ridings were affected.

Among those is a riding in Guelph, Ont., where voters reported getting calls from a phone number with a 450 area code directing them to the wrong polling station.

Elections Canada investigator Al Mathews said that phone records obtained in his investigation show that the phone number behind the Guelph calls was the same one that was registered to "Pierre Poutine."

And the records also show evidence that the phone registered to Pierre Poutine had made to calls to an Edmonton-based company called RackNine Inc. Those calls occurred on April 30 and May 1, the documents show.

RackNine has said that an unknown person used its automatic dialing service, and it's doing all it can to help with the probe. The company is not suspected of having committed any offences and is not subject to the investigation.

The phone records are included in an Information to Obtain a Production Order that was filed in an Edmonton court last November. The claims haven't been proven in court.

The records also show phone numbers associated with Guelph Conservative candidate Marty Burke and the Guelph riding association made a total of 32 calls to RackNine between March 26 and early May.

"I think it is reasonable to believe that some sort of consumer relationship existed between the Marty Burke Conservative campaign in Guelph for the 41st general election and RackNine Inc., or between certain Burke campaign workers and RackNine Inc.," Mathews writes in the court documents.

"(And) that this relationship was related to the general election campaign in Guelph; and that the relationship related to the misleading calls made to Guelph area electors which they perceived as coming from the phone number."

But who is behind the calls and the messages contained within them remains a mystery.

In its Elections Canada return, the Burke campaign lists no reports of business dealings with RackNine.

Still, the return lists payments of $6,215 to Campaign Research and an additional $15,000 to Responsive Marketing Group. Both companies are known for providing similar services to those available at RackNine.

"I believe that the individual(s) behind the misleading calls which are the subject of this investigation would not want a local campaign to be identified with the calls, as they amount to improper activity, and consequently I believe that any expense would likely be omitted from a campaign return," Mathews says.

The Poutine revelations came a day after MPs agreed to co-operate with investigators probing allegations of election campaign impropriety.

"The prime minister must release all information about the phone calls made on behalf of the Conservatives by these companies," interim NDP Leader Nycole Turmel demanded during Tuesday's question period.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper repeatedly said the opposition should bring forward evidence for its allegations.

Last Friday, it was revealed that 23-year-old Conservative staffer Michael Sona, who had worked on Burke's campaign in Guelph during the election, was no longer working for the party.

On Tuesday, he told CTV News: "I had no involvement in the fraudulent phone calls," and added that he hopes the "real guilty party" is caught.

Tories stand behind campaign

Taking umbrage with the suggestion Conservatives are not taking responsibility, the prime minister's parliamentary secretary Dean Del Mastro noted that his party held meetings on the issue Monday.

Besides, Del Mastro said, the party stands behind its campaign tactics.

"We absolutely made calls to make sure that our supporters knew that their voting locations had changed," he said, noting that 127 polling locations shifted ahead of election day.

"So we absolutely called people. We make no apologies for that. We would expect that all parties would do the same."

Echoing the prime minister's remarks in the House of Commons Monday, De Mastro said anyone with evidence of wrongdoing should submit it to the investigators at Elections Canada.

Members of his party have already done so, Del Mastro said, even if there's confusion over the nature of the phone calls.

While Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae suggests the tactic amounts to "voter suppression," Del Mastro is waiting for the RCMP and Elections Canada investigators to report their findings.

On Monday, Rae suggested that the Liberals may attempt to have results in some ridings overturned.

In particular, he cited the riding of Etobicoke Centre, which he said "is being litigated right now, and will be in court at the end of April."

In that riding, Conservative Ted Opitz beat Liberal incumbent Borys Wrzesnewskyj after a recount put the Tory on top by 26 votes.



Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/201202 ... z1nk7x6qum

[Phantasee]

Fun fact: Racknine also manages the membership lists of the Wildrose Alliance here in Alberta.

[Phantasee]

Greatest thing ever re: robocalls:
Click through to hear audio of these phone calls for maximum amusement.

[Aaron MkII]

I just have to laugh at the Liberals over this. I thought it was pretty obvious that they lost and are now ineffectual because of years of corruption and lack of any charisma, didn't a lot of their ridings go to the NDP?

[Coop D'etat]

The Tories effort to try and blame this on the Liberals was hilariously lame.

[Fiji_Fury]

I just have to laugh at the Liberals over this. I thought it was pretty obvious that they lost and are now ineffectual because of years of corruption and lack of any charisma, didn't a lot of their ridings go to the NDP?

Losing seats to the NDP vs. Conservative would not have meant the Liberals had any chance of forming government after the election. BUT - to dismiss questions and concerns by saying 'sore losers' as Stephen Harper has tried to do today is utterly missing the point. If a strategy or campaign was nationally coordinated to suppress voters in a democratic election, it goes beyond sleazy politics and directly enters the realm of illegal activity. I don't give a damn if it was one or 15 seats that any party may have lost due to voter suppression - if such interference has occurred based on fraudulent activity, the responsible parties need to have their asses nailed to the fucking wall. Period.

[Aaron MkII]

Oh I agree, punish all those responsible. I just find the attempts to paint each other as guilty to be pathetic.

The Tories effort to try and blame this on the Liberals was hilariously lame.

What did they try?

[Phantasee]

I'm not entirely clear, but I think it's something like "sore losers in denial that they lost". They're claiming people at making things up.

Meanwhile, today it is revealed Elections Canada received 31,000 complaints about harassing or misleading calls on election day. Mass delusions, obviously.

[Aaron MkII]

31,000? Holy shit!

Wonder were this will end up then.

[Thanas]

Shouldn't Canada's equivalent of a constitutional court look into that on its own?

[Coop D'etat]

Oh I agree, punish all those responsible. I just find the attempts to paint each other as guilty to be pathetic.

The Tories effort to try and blame this on the Liberals was hilariously lame.

What did they try?

On the floor of the commons they claimed that the robo-calls were from the Liberals and/or companies the Liberals had hired. Both Harper himself and a back-bencher were making that kind of claim.

That got exposed as being wrong before the day was out.

Between the contempt for Parliment and this the Conservatives have been showing a showing a pretty basic disrespect to democracy lately.

[Aaron MkII]

Shouldn't Canada's equivalent of a constitutional court look into that on its own?

There will almost certainly be an inquiry.