Polling Company Trying to Discredit Liberal MP Has Conservative Ties
As you may have heard by now, a polling company has been phoning around Montreal, claiming that Liberal MP Irwin Cotler is about to resign and asking who they plan to vote for in the upcoming by-election. The first problem is that Cotler hasn’t resigned and there isn’t (as yet) a by-election. Now, Cotler may be stretching the truth when he says he isn’t resigning. Whoever decided to fund this shadowy operation — presumably the Government of Canada’s ruling party — must have thought he was going to, or they wouldn’t have exposed themselves like this.
The press has done us at least some service by reporting that the organization responsible for the calls is Campaign Research. Given that both Campaign Research nor the Conservative Party have refused to comment on the matter, it seems relatively safe to assume that Campaign Research really is doing it, and they were prompted into it by the Conservative Party.
What the press doesn’t seem to have noticed is that Campaign Research is a Conservative outfit. Yes, there’s Nick Kouvalis, the Rob Ford election aide from Toronto. But there’s also Aaron Wudrick, a Conservative campaign manager who was caught a few years ago calling for the creation of Conservative “shell organizations” and “front groups” on university campuses. And Richard Ciano, athe Conservative national vice president up until a couple of years ago; Greg Dunlop of the Guelph Riding Association; and Shahin Behroyan, a BC Liberal youth leader.
It’s hard not to notice that all of the men responsible for this company’s Ontario operations (Behroyan being the isolated outsider over in Vancouver) are Conservative Party insiders.
This is not the first time that we have heard rumours about mysterious phone calls. Last May, I predicted that the most under-studied story coming out of the Conservative victory was the fact that somebody had the resources to run a criminal project in at least a dozen ridings across the country, widely reported in the media, attempting to deceive voters about where they were supposed to vote. The project as reported was so scattershot that it was impossible to guess who was responsible. Allegedly some of the callers were told they were being contacted by a Conservative representative, but there was never any proof. Elections Canada promised to investigate, but we’ve never heard a peep from them about it. That in itself is suspect.
And now, another case, this one clearly linked to a Conservative marketing company, attempting to discredit an Opposition politician. The answer from the party is, of course, “no comment.” You could tattoo that phrase onto Conservative spokespeople’s foreheads and the press conferences could be run a lot more efficiently.
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Faith
Um, the Montreal Gazette reported on this in the past week. In fact, the article mentioned the Conservative link and many of the facts you mentioned. This is old news.
Scott Tribe
I didn’t know there was a statute of limitations on being able to comment on a story, Faith. Besides, he’s offering some commentary on it… and it’s always amusing to see what our old colleague ALW is up to, since he once was a blogger that was a Blogging Tory affiliate not too long ago
ck
Yeah, I posted about this awhile ago.
I have a feeling this is top down. My theory is that Harper is obsessed with this particular riding, not because of his professed love for Israel, nor does it even really have anything to do with Irwin Cotler, per se. No, this would be the next big step in Harper’s Liberal derangement syndrome infested agenda. Mount-Royal was PE Trudeau’s riding–Harper’s arch-enemy #1–even in death. For Harper, taking this riding would be the ultimate victory. Why else do you think he pick an obnoxious, old city councillor who clearly doesn’t seem to be afraid to play in the gutter, like Saulie Zajdel?
Sixth Estate
Faith, the Gazette article I read did not contain these details. Obviously I missed a more informative one. My admittedly and obviously incomplete scan of a few articles suggested that while Kouvalis (the Ford one) had been identified, the other principals hadn’t been, and I thought it was relevant to point this out. Vague accusations of Conservative linkages are better than nothing, but not enough, in my mind.
ck, I agree. Well, maybe. I don’t know how much Harper was personally involved, but only because I’m sure he has many other things going on to distract him. He has more than enough retainers willing to play these sorts of dirty tricks. That said, it really doesn’t matter how top down it is. If it’s a Conservative operation, which I suspect it is, then the Conservative leader is responsible for it, automatically. That’s how representative democracy works. Of course the Conservative leader will disagree with me on this, I’m sure.
I see, as I predicted, that the story is dying down now. Why investigate another manipulative electoral scheme when so many have already been ignored?
The Sixth Estate » Are We Supposed to Take the Media Seriously, Or Not?
[...] shifting from the government to the news media. They’re not happy about being deceived on the Montreal phone hoax. They’re not happy about being lied to about MacKay deducting his personal vacation from the [...]
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The Sixth Estate » Asymmetric Justice: Outside Contractor Becomes Fall Guy in Conservative Bogus Polling Scheme
[...] as you may recall, the Conservative Party was caught bombarding residents of a Montreal riding with a misleading “poll” implying that their Liberal MP, Irwin Cotler, was resigning and that there would shortly be a by-election. [...]
zawieszki z drutu
I leave a response each time I appreciate a article on a website or I have something to contribute to the discussion. It’s a result of the passion displayed in the post I read. And on this post The Sixth Estate » Polling Company Trying to Discredit Liberal MP Has Conservative Ties. I was actually moved enough to post a thought
I actually do have a couple of questions for you if you do not mind. Could it be simply me or do some of these responses come across as if they are written by brain dead visitors? 
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