Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Robocalls fit pattern of Conservative dirty tricks

For the Harper government, the most comforting thing that can be said of the "robocall affair" is that no envelopes stuffed with cash are involved.

Rather, the allegations relate to recorded phone calls allegedly ordered by the Conservatives in May's election in dozens of ridings.

The calls supposedly gave bum steers to Liberal-and New Democrat-minded voters to dissuade them from voting. The messages delivered false word, for example, of a switch in a polling location.

MPs unanimously endorsed on Monday an NDP motion calling on all parties to hand over to investigating authorities all documents relating to the vote suppression activity.

Robocalls are nothing new in politics; they're a valid outreach tool as long as they aren't fraudulent under Elections Canada rules.

Stephen Harper will have a challenge on his hands managing this latest controversy.

That's because it's going to take time to get to the bottom of any allegations and his government will be forced to operate under a black cloud pending clarification. It's even possible byelections may need to be held in ridings where fraud is established to have taken place, according to retired chief electoral officer Jean Pierre Kingsley.

So far, RCMP and Elections Canada are investigating calls in one riding: Guelph. And Conservative political aide Michael Sona, who was lately working for a Toronto-area MP, has resigned.

Disconcertingly for the PM, this imbroglio has a ring of familiarity about it.

Conservatives were discovered last fall to have bombarded Irwin Cotler's Mount Royal riding with calls that suggested the veteran Liberal MP was retiring and that sought support for a potential Conservative successor.

That campaign was described as "a reprehensible tactic" in a parliamentary ruling by Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer, himself a Conservative.

Then there's the uncomfortable fact that four Conservative operatives are still facing charges involving party overspending of $1 million on ads in the 2006 election campaign.

The so-called "in and out advertising scandal" refers to a scheme whereby Conservatives moved cash from national coffers into and out of accounts of local constituency campaigns in order to skirt national campaign spending limits.

And the same Conservatives have been castigated in the past for demolishing the reputations of assorted Opposition party leaders by way of low blow negative advertising.

In other words, it's not that difficult to now imagine the Conservatives might have undertaken a broader campaign of mischief at the riding level during the last election.

While only one campaign worker has resigned, people will be concerned about the general ethics of a campaign in which a worker would imagine such misleading automated calls might be tolerated.

Liberals, New Democrats and the Green party have identified dozens of ridings where they say the dirty tricks took place, mostly in Ontario.

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae has issued a news release asserting the robocalls were part of "an elaborate web of under-handed vote suppression tactics" that also included "aggressive people acting on behalf of the Conservative party outside of polling locations misleading voters, often seniors or new Canadians."

This sounds like Vladimir Putin's Russia or Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe.

Complicating things further, Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro says his Peterborough riding was targeted too, although the Opposition accuses him of trying to create a diversion.

Another reason the controversy will be so tricky for Harper to manage relates to timing.

In late March or early April, Conservatives are set to table a tough budget featuring all manner of cutbacks.

A government needs a lot of legitimacy to impose such hardship on government workers and taxpayers.

That could be in particularly short supply if the latest tempest fails to subside.

Original Article
Source: vancouver sun
Author: Barbara Yaffe

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