The news about the voter suppression election fraud scandal keeps getting worse.
There are reports that illegal calls took place in dozens of key swing ridings all over the country. This looks like a systematic campaign to mislead non-Conservative voters.
The reaction of the government during question period is preposterous. Designated parliamentary secretaries provide robotic non-answers.
The Conservative Party of Canada has already been convicted under the elections act and fined $52,000 in the 'In and Out' scandal. On Friday as the storm was breaking they quietly dropped their appeal in the Supreme Court and agreed to pay back $200,000-plus in reimbursed expenses to Elections Canada.
It takes serious money and major phone number databases to target non-Conservative voters in multiple close ridings. We know the lists were developed by Responsive Marketing Group (RMG) who created the Orwellian 'Constituent Information Management System' for the party. Who decided to call and mislead non-supporters on election day?
We also know that 'In and Out' payments of $ 5,000.01 were made by Conservative campaign headquarters to multiple campaign offices throughout the country who were then required by party HQ to write cheques for this exact amount to RMG without ever being told what services they were paying for [Helene Buzzetti Le Devoir].
We need full, immediate, and publicly accountable investigations that include all affected ridings. We need a public inquiry to learn the whole truth and restore the basic integrity of our democracy.
This looks like a lot more than just dirty tricks. Highly organized electoral fraud is a crime, and a direct attack on the foundation of our democracy.
If you get caught stealing a car, you don't get to keep the car. If the party in government is found to be responsible for systematic electoral fraud then there must be new elections.
Chris Peter
Prince George
