Apparently not done dirt cheap. In fact, as the Postmedia reporter indicates, whoever was responsible for attempting to suppress the vote for the benefit of the Conservative candidates in tightly contested ridings required money, organization and voters lists. Doesn’t exactly sound like a formula for some obscure “rogue” now does it?
In addition to this story of bogus “robocalls” misdirecting unwitting Liberal/NDP voters to the wrong polling station (a time-worn dirty trick in U.S. politics) come revelations of another campaign of deceit whereby certain groups of voters were apparently targeted by miscreants (presumably Conservative operatives) posing as Liberal volunteers who would phone repeatedly during the supper hour, late at night, or on the Sabbath in the case of Jewish voters, and then act rudely on the phone in an effort to annoy and alienate those targeted by the calls.
Red Tory v.3.0.3 
I really suspect that this week has been the turning point for this government. I think that they just lost a huge percentage of their swing voters. I lived in England during the entire reign of the John Major and he never recovered from the day that his government was forced from the Exchange Rate Mechanism. It happened just about the same amount of time into his mandate as Harper is now and no matter what he did after that he had lost too many people’s confidence. People seem to forget that even if a week is a long time in politics, once a government passes a certain point, they almost never recover from it no matter what they do. I suspect that this time has come for Harper, if enough people now see him as tainted (Nixon-like) then it really doesn’t matter what happens after that. And I always expected that once he got his much vaunted majority Harper would begin a long downhill spiral toward self-destruction because people have a very different image of a majority government than they do of a minority one and problems seem to people more inherent than circumstantial.
Kirby: Unfortunately, I seriously doubt this “scandal” will manage to penetrate the protective layers of Teflon coating the Harper government, let alone be a tipping point of some kind in terms of public confidence. Should it be pursued to the fullest extent by Elections Canada (with the media eagerly in tow) any wrongdoing that’s eventually uncovered will probably be attributed to a few “bad actors” that were “overzealous” and Team Harper will skate away from the whole mess with little damage…
I’d like to be proven wrong, but I seriously doubt that I will be.
Time will tell Red, but it took a while to see that Norman Lamont’s failure concerning the Exchange Rate Mechanism was the tipping point for the Major Government in England. But I actually blogged about three or four weeks ago that the mood of the country had changed and I really believe that it has. The change is in large part due to the fact that now that the Conservatives have a majority, people are looking at them differently. I believe a great deal of the teflon was due to the minority status which really enabled their misdirection strategy. Such misdirection is just a lot more difficult in the context of a majority. Furthermore, their nasty continual campaign approach was, I believe, tolerated in large part because in a minority they could believably claim that an election could come at any moment. I just believe that overall, what enabled them has now changed and public perception has now begun to change because of that.
Kirby: Still not signed on to the “tipping point” theory vis-à-vis this particular kafuffle, but I do agree that the mood of the country has changed with respect to the Harper Government now that it’s the majority – i.e., the “establishment” solely responsible for its actions… many of which are dubious in nature (their crapulent “law and order” agenda and efforts to modify the pension system, to cite two examples). We’re a lot more skeptical and wary about the machinations of the government these days…
Of course they will skate away from this mess with little damage because when they said that they wanted to open the government, wanted transparency and wanted accountability they meant for the other guy… and, y’know, only the other guy.
When it comes to their own dirty tricks their mantra is “the Liberals did it too”. For example, MacKay’s first thought when confronted with his improper use of search and rescue aircraft was to enlist the military in his effort to smear the opposition for doing the same thing. We’ve heard it innumerable times from the Prime Minister and the two or three other members of the government who, at any given time, the PM has unmuzzled and allowed to speak in public.
They even did it this time, with some Conservative MP who won his riding by like eleventy-billion votes, who claimed that his constituents were subject to voters suppression by Liberals… after the fact, of course, and without any actual constituent complaints (that occurred on the day, to Elections Canada, as yet produced) to back him up.
I have never been able to figure out how the right misses the forest for the trees on Harper’s promise (and, in fact, actually use) of “Canada’s New Government” being the tidalwave that would wash away Ottawa’s deceit and scandal when it has only amplified it a dozen times over. When a police officer breaks the law it seems all that much more offensive given that they’ve pledged themselves to uphold and defend the law and the public. I don’t understand why the right sees no reason to be outraged at a Prime Minister and a party who pledged to cleanse cronyism, scandal and open up the government to accountability and clarity and then ended up governing as Harper has.
No, alas, I’m pretty sure that this won’t dog the Conservatives, and particularly Mr. Harper nearly as much as it should. Which is a shame. Even though his party benefited from it he should be losing sleep over the idea that someone is trying to tamper with out democracy. That is what he is elected to defend. I surely, truly hope that when the conspirators (and there is more than that fellow who resigned involved in this, for sure, especially given that the recording was in a woman’s voice) are tried and convicted to the fullest extent of the law. Anything less would be an utterly disingenuous result from a Prime Minister who claims to want to be tough on crime. These actions – whether by party or man alone – strike at our democracy itself. They make victims of every Canadian who has ever lived or died a Canadian and who ever will live or die as a Canadian.
Terry: Well said.
No, alas, I’m pretty sure that this won’t dog the Conservatives, and particularly Mr. Harper nearly as much as it should.
Funny, isn’t it, that Harper, the supreme control-freak who supposedly micromanages the last detail of everything that goes on in the Conservative Party, now feigns aloof detachment and complete ignorance of anything to do with the mechanics of the sleazy campaign apparatus that got him elected to be Grand Poo Bah for the next four years… “Who, me? Whaaaa? I know nothing whatsoever of these potentially criminal shenanigans!” [not an actual quote]
Hey! A post about Canadian politics, this should make Fred happy… right?
I can’t understand how one could believe that THIS is the thing that will finally bury the buggers. As far as sheer sick-making I don’t think you can beat prorogation and the punishment they got for that was a majority government. Post Media (or McGregor and Maher) have done a bang-up job, but the jealous G&M continues to bury the story and Quebecor… well let’s not talk about that.
Anyone who really believes that this will knock them off their perch has a standing invitation to come over to my place for a game of cards with my friends Rahim, Bruce, Bev, Maxime, Tony, Peter, Lisa and Jason. Oh the fun we’ll have!
Canada is dying.
Carmichael,
No, if anything Canada is being killed. But I don’t think we’re past the point of no return just yet.
Shiner: Heh. Curious that “Fred from BC” has nothing to say about Canadian politics other than to bitch about the lack of sufficient “Canadian content” – with that sort of mentality, perhaps he should go get a job with the CRTC.
When people said I am being overly dramatic to say I am ashamed to be Canadian because of things like the Afghan abuse issues (both on the front part and on the back/political part) maybe this will finally be enough to get them to understand why I say that. I was never ashamed during the Mulroney years, indeed I was able to be quite proud at times of a man who in many ways I opposed because of his stands on Apartheid in the Commonwealth, Acid Rain, and other such measures. This government though from the outset has done nothing to instill a sense of Canadian pride in me and done a great deal to trigger shame and disgust in me and what my home now represents to the world as well as the domestic side. This latest evidence of the assault on our core principles and way of life in this nation that appears not to trouble the PM only underscores the problem. Even if he and his are not behind this (an assumption I would normally extend except for their prior record in shall we say questionable electioneering tactics) if he cared one whit for the principles that are at the center of Canadian democracy and governance he would be very visibly outraged and pushing as hard as possible to expose who was behind this (if only to clear his party’s own “good” name) by investigations that would not only appear to be beyond reproach/partisanship but in actuality were.
I’ve said since the Grewal fraud and coverup by Harper that he will embrace, excuse and if exposed cover-up any criminal wrongdoing done in the name of electing his party to power. Indeed, it was what Grewal showed Harper personally capable of that made it so important to me and why I ranted about it for over 2 years afterwards despite almost no-one else appearing to recognize its true significance in what it demonstrated about Harper himself, not just his party, when it came to making criminal allegations using the leadership position he held and then once the fraud was exposed for the sloppy shoddy hack job that it was and one that HAD to have been done by CPC hands he covered it up and said any wrongdoing on his side was a figment of the Liberal media and Liberal War Room. I said at the time this proved Harper to be something far more dangerous than a mere ideologue but someone that truly will embrace any and all means to gain power regardless of precedent, convention, and legality if he thinks he can get away with it, and even when exposed he will do all possible to cover it up.
Clean cut Conservative government…I sneered at it when I first heard the phrase and never stopped…this is yet one more piece of proof that I wasw right to do so.
You remember Red just how much I tried to point out that the real problem with Harper wasn’t the policy side but the process side, and why he had to be opposed regardless of whether you were a partisan of a party or not or were just like me someone that believed the process itself was the most important thing to be protecting. You also saw the hatchet job I got from so many that claimed I was a Lib partisan instead of what I always said I was, a Harper opponent only saying what I thought was the most realistic way to prevent the horror we now are living with. I was never going on about how much I liked the policies and leadership of other parties (except where they might have helped to stop Harper, but I did call out those I saw aiding Hrarper in his quest for power. A partisan is someone that not only detracts the opposition but lauds their own side, well my own side was only stopping Harper, and despite being extrememly clear in this too many were blinded by their own partisanship to realize or accept this reality, though not you and many of your regulars, here at least I got the respect I should have from too many that didn’t in what my true goal was instead of what was projected on me, something I still thank you and yours for to this day. Not to mention how much it grates my ears to hear them referred to as Tories, they are anything but, I grew up with Tories, I knew Tories, Tories were friends of mine and the Harper CPC, they are no Tories, they dishonour the name every time it is attatched to them. And here at least the understanding of Tory has not been lost/debased unlike too many other places in this nation.
Once again Harpercons stretch the boundaries of credibility only to have too many believe what is outright lies.
I agree that this will only have a minimal effect…
I doubt it will have much effect (after all, let’s not forget that 40% of people don’t even bother to vote, so it’s not like they care much about so-called democracy being perverted), but it should be interesting to see where the investigation being carried out by Elections Canada leads.
It does however speak to the sleazy character of some “Conservative” operatives who will do anything to get their “team” elected. That immoral culture of corruption doesn’t come out of nowhere…