In an attempt to “assist” the massive probe into alleged vote suppression leading up to the 2011 vote, Liberal interim leader Bob Rae made public a small sample of the automated telephone calls that were made on the party’s behalf, as well as scripts provided to call centre employees tasked with identifying Liberal supporters.
They included recordings of former leader Michael Ignatieff inviting people to campaign rallies as well as recordings to two MPs urging people to cast a ballot on election day.
The move is an attempt to compel the Conservative party to also reveal the extent of its robocalling activities as well as the speaking notes that the party provided to privately run call centres, like one in Thunder Bay where former employees have said they may have been instructed to send voters to the wrong polling stations on election day.
“We feel it would be irresponsible and tantamount to obstruction for any political party to be anything less than fully transparent and cooperative with your investigation,” Rae wrote in a letter to William Corbett, the Commissioner of Canada Elections.
But the latest gambit in the matter of allegations of illegal vote suppression in the riding of Guelph and elsewhere did not appear to sway Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who maintained that Elections Canada has the power to obtain any records necessary for its investigation from the Conservative party.
Tory spokesman Fred DeLorey said the party has “proactively reached out” to investigators with an offer to help in the probe.
“That includes handing over any documents or records that may assist them. We will not comment on specifics as we do not want to compromise any part of the investigation,” he said in an email.
The Conservatives have, in turn, accused Guelph Liberal MP Frank Valeriote of violating federal election laws with a campaign robocall that failed to identify that it was paid for and authorized by the candidate. Defeated Tory candidate Marty Burke, whose campaign is in the eye of the robocall storm, has asked Elections Canada to investigate the matter, the Guelph Mercury reported Tuesday.
NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus said the Conservatives are hiding behind the secrecy of the Elections Canada investigation, which could drag on for years.
“They cannot do that with an independent probe,” he said. “We need the authority and the power to subpoena the documents, to demand the witnesses come forward and have an independent system that Canadians can have confidence in.”
Rae said a royal commission is “very much in the public interest.”
He agreed that such a commission is unlikely to be called soon, but warned that the pressure will grow on the government.
“You know this is not going to be like Perry Mason where somebody breaks down in the middle of the House of Commons and says, “I did it, I did it, I did it.” That isn’t going to happen,” Rae said.
“It’s going to take a lot of time and the gathering of evidence from all sorts of people, from all sorts of Canadians. It would just a lot easier if the Canadian government recognized the importance of this issue. It’s something that we think people want answers to.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Allan Woods
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