The Sixth Estate

Irregularities Reported in 200 Ridings During 2011 Election

Posted in Democracy and Politics

160 Responses to “Irregularities Reported in 200 Ridings During 2011 Election”

1. 
   Saskboy

   Super, I knew you’d make a list to remember
   February 25th, 2012 at 11:44 pm
2. 
   Robocall Scandal May Blow Over | Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff

   [...] a fishing pole, in the helicopter! Does subversion of democratic elections in up to 27 ridings (now 37 ridings), hold any sort of sway with the 24% of Canadians who voted ‘anything but corrupt Adscam [...]
   February 26th, 2012 at 12:32 am
3. 
   Kim

   Saanich Gulf Islands, 2008, Gary Lunn.

   http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/columnists/story.html?id=f70f8ede-0da9-45ea-a06c-c47817864d55
   February 26th, 2012 at 12:06 pm
4. 
   Jymn

   Wow. Thanks for this. This is what blogging is all about!
   February 26th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
5. 
   Sixth Estate

   Kim — Yes, I knew about that one. If there’s any evidence that the same shenanigans occurred in 2011, I’ll add it to the list.

   If I were going to add up all of the Conservatives’ previous election law violations, in between Vic Toews’s conviction and Gary Goodyear’s rent kickbacks and the party’s own laundering scheme, it would be a much longer list.
   February 26th, 2012 at 1:29 pm
6. 
   Kim

   Elizabeth May took the seat in 2011, there were no reports of shenanigans that I have heard. I’m confident that May will report anything illegal. She’s a pretty savvy politician. I just felt it was worth noting.
   February 26th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
7. 
   Sixth Estate

   Yes. Perhaps another list is in order.
   February 26th, 2012 at 2:03 pm
8. 
   Kev

   Bob Rae is saying on twitter ” Add Nipissing Timiskaming to the list. Anthony Rota lost by 18 votes – evidence of voter suppression”
   February 26th, 2012 at 3:42 pm
9. 
   Saskboy

   Kim:
   https://twitter.com/#!/ElizabethMay/status/173900183346745344
   February 26th, 2012 at 3:51 pm
10. 
    Sixth Estate

    Thank you both — the list has been updated.
    February 26th, 2012 at 4:07 pm
11. 
    UPDATED Infographic: Electoral Fraud | 404 System Error

    [...] February 25th, 2012 | SixthEstate [...]
    February 26th, 2012 at 6:04 pm
12. 
    Dr.Dawg

    Aw, come on! That chart was incredibly useful, especially the 2008/2011 comparative data. Please restore!
    February 26th, 2012 at 6:13 pm
13. 
    Sixth Estate

    Can’t please everyone, can I?

    Okay, now there’s both. I’ll put the evidence links into the chart somehow at some point.
    February 26th, 2012 at 6:19 pm
14. 
    Dr.Dawg

    Thank you very much. Dare I suggest turnout data for the ridings in 2008 and 2011?

    *ducks*
    February 26th, 2012 at 6:26 pm
15. 
    Sixth Estate

    I’ll try and do that by tomorrow morning.
    February 26th, 2012 at 7:25 pm
16. 
    Oh Canada voter suppression in 42 ridings – and counting | Bene Diction Blogs On

    [...] Bloggers have been all over voter suppression for some time. One of the better sites (which has livened my real life conversations) is The Sixth Estate. Hoax Phone Calls Reported in 42 Ridings. [...]
    February 26th, 2012 at 7:59 pm
17. 
    Rural

    http://www.greenparty.ca/media-release/2012-02-27/mays-riding-also-hit-robocalls-emergency-commons-debate-public-inquiry-call
    Still no details though!
    February 27th, 2012 at 8:01 am
18. 
    Sixth Estate

    Thanks, Rural.
    February 27th, 2012 at 8:17 am
19. 
    spartikus

    Wow. Outstanding.

    If you don’t win some sort of award for this…
    February 27th, 2012 at 10:05 am
20. 
    Roboconned – The cancer that will destroy the Conservative Party of Canada | The Exile

    [...] through deceptive and/or harassing phone calls in the last Federal election was not isolated. The Sixth Estate is building a list of affected ridings and the number is up to 42. RossK mines the comment threads of his past posts to remind us that in [...]
    February 27th, 2012 at 9:39 am
21. 
    spartikus

    I count 12 on that list that were close enough that misdirection efforts may have affected the result.
    February 27th, 2012 at 11:01 am
22. 
    Holly Stick

    London West someone has audio of a phone call directing to the wrong place:

    http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2012/02/26/19428346.html#/news/london/2012/02/26/pf-19428346.html

    I got it from Aaron Wherry:
    http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/02/27/add-london-west-to-the-list/

    Kady’s list shows RMG ha London West.
    February 27th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
23. 
    Holly Stick

    London West someone has audio of a phone call directing to the wrong place:

    http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2012/02/26/19428346.html#/news/london/2012/02/26/pf-19428346.html

    I got it from Aaron Wherry:
    http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/02/27/add-london-west-to-the-list/

    Kady’s list of RMG clients shows RMG had Ed Holder of London West. as a client (he’s on the list twice, I wonder if typo or what?)

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/inside-politics-blog/2012/02/robocalls-watch-conservative-party-linked-to-calls-directing-voters-to-different-polling-stations.html
    February 27th, 2012 at 1:47 pm
24. 
    Holly Stick

    The call says it’s from the Liberals but the Liberal candidate says it wasn’t from his campaign but he also believes it was not from Holder. Could national Conservative office have arranged it without telling the candidate?
    February 27th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
25. 
    Sixth Estate

    Given the scope of the operation, it’s almost inconceivable that local candidates would have been informed. In fact, whoever was responsible probably stayed away from sharing too much with individual candidates — less opportunity for leaks/objections that way. It’s also possible this was not a natoinal-office thing.

    Other side projects, on the other hand, were probably local. Jamming the Liberal switchboard in Gary Goodyear’s riding, for instance, sounds like a local job, if only because it wasn’t repeated in other ridings.
    February 27th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
26. 
    saskboy

    May 19, 2011 letter from @ElizabethMay to Elections Canada re misleading #robocalls http://t.co/bbujfphH (PDF) #cdnpoli #robocon — jimbobbysez (@jimbobbysez)
    February 27th, 2012 at 3:53 pm
27. 
    Holly Stick

    Article about 2 BC ridings Vancouver-Quadra and Prince George-Peace River:

    http://www.vancouversun.com/news/ridings+targeted+dirty+tricks+campaign+opposition/6218257/story.html
    February 27th, 2012 at 5:21 pm
28. 
    Cathie from Canada

    Excellent chart — very useful to all of us trying to follow what is going on here.
    February 27th, 2012 at 9:54 pm
29. 
    Anne

    According to Jean-Pierre KIngsley, former chief electoral officer at Elections Canada, it isn’t too late to complain and this can be done by anyone (interview with Evan Solomon here): http://www.cbc.ca/thehouse/

    Kingsley’s interview on Global today, re the potential for criminal charges, is here:
    http://www.globalnews.ca/robocalls+big+deal/6442589998/story.html

    I have a bee in my bonnet about why Elections Canada should be looking for a new commissioner at this very moment; wonder why it hasn’t made the news? The posting is here: http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=abo&dir=com&document=index&lang=e
    February 27th, 2012 at 10:02 pm
30. 
    Robo-Call Election Scandal Spreads to 40, That Is, 46 Ridings « Father Theo's Blog

    [...] See http://sixthestate.net/?p=3646 Rate this: Share this:TwitterFacebookPrintDiggMoreEmailStumbleUponRedditLinkedInLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Tagged: Conservative Party of Canada, cover-up, dirty tricks, Elections Canada, Minister Peter MacKay, politics, robo calls, scandal, Stephen Harper Posted in: politics ← NDP Response to the Robo Call Scandal One Response “Robo-Call Election Scandal Spreads to 40, That Is, 46 Ridings&#8221 → [...]
    February 27th, 2012 at 11:03 pm
31. 
    Sixth Estate

    Thanks for the links, Anne. That ad suggests to me that William Corbett will soon be leaving his position. Interesting timing.
    February 28th, 2012 at 1:55 am
32. 
    Saskboy

    Please update the SGI listing with this
    http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/02/27/add-saanich-gulf-islands-to-the-list/
    February 28th, 2012 at 8:33 am
33. 
    Holly Stick

    CBC radio said two Edmonton ridings were reporting calls, but I didn’t get details and it’s not on their website yet.
    February 28th, 2012 at 10:25 am
34. 
    Sixth Estate

    Saskboy — Thanks, I’m adding that now.

    Holly — I have Edmonton East. Keep us posted. Of course, if I had to hazard a guess…
    February 28th, 2012 at 10:42 am
35. 
    b_nichol

    I see the differential for Edmonton East is reported as 24,111: that was the number of votes cast for Conservative Goldring. The actual differential was just over 7000 votes
    February 28th, 2012 at 12:25 pm
36. 
    Sixth Estate

    Thanks — fixed.
    February 28th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
37. 
    Holly Stick

    Here it is; Edmonton Centre and Edmonton East plus details and a few links about others that you may not have:

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/02/28/pol-election-calls-tuesday.html?cmp=rss
    February 28th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
38. 
    Sixth Estate

    Thanks, Holly.
    February 28th, 2012 at 1:20 pm
39. 
    sky

    My elderly sister (71) who lives in Peterboroug ontario talked to me on election day and told me she had a message on her phone that the voting station had been moved. When she got to the address there was no place to vote … tired she went home and did not go back out. I did not see voter redirection on your list of complaints from Peterborough. I have not talked to her since this story broke but do not believer she was the only one to get a call like this in Peterborough. Maybe they need to advertise about this in that city so people will come forward.
    February 28th, 2012 at 4:23 pm
40. 
    Sixth Estate

    sky — Thank you. We need more people to come forward with this sort of information.
    February 28th, 2012 at 4:26 pm
41. 
    Rural

    Global News now has a copy of some Elections Canada complaints documents on line at http://www.globalnews.ca/elections+canada+complaints/6442590858/story.html
    February 28th, 2012 at 5:00 pm
42. 
    Holly Stick

    Some Windsor-Tecumseh details at the bottom here:

    http://www.canada.com/life/Robocalls+scandal+Pierre+Poutine+behind+Guelph+calls+documents+allege/6222857/story.html
    February 28th, 2012 at 5:06 pm
43. 
    Sam Gunsch

    CBC reports Vancouver-South targeted.

    Dosanjh targeted

    http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Canada/BC/1258521056/ID=2203403166

    February 28, 2012News > Canada > BC

    Ujjal Dosanjh’s former Vancouver riding has been implicated in the robocall scandal

    http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Canada/BC/1258521056/ID=2203403166
    February 28th, 2012 at 8:33 pm
44. 
    islandcynic

    I live in Elizabeth May’s riding and worked many hours volunteering for the 2011 election(not for the Green party). There were no robo calls in this riding in 2011. I can’t find any evidence from past articles. I have no idea where Elizabeth May got the inclination to go on national news and claim that their was. Yes, we had it in 2008, but she wasn’t here then. I wonder if she just wanted to grab some media attention again as she is prone to do over anything and everything.
    February 28th, 2012 at 9:14 pm
45. 
    Sixth Estate

    May I ask which party? I am not going to remove an allegation, but I can add your comment as a counter to it.
    February 28th, 2012 at 9:51 pm
46. 
    Sixth Estate

    Never mind. My own list contains first-hand testimony of misdirection happening in that riding. I don’t know which party you’re speaking for, and I do not care.
    February 29th, 2012 at 12:41 am
47. 
    Dean Del Mastro Has a Sudden Case of Memory « The Ryan Painter Show

    [...] reported Robocalls were made and the voting differentials between year 2008 and 2011,check out this link. Share this:FacebookTwitterDiggRedditStumbleUponLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]
    February 29th, 2012 at 2:05 am
48. 
    islandcynic

    ‘Never mind. My own list contains first-hand testimony of misdirection happening in that riding. I don’t know which party you’re speaking for, and I do not care.
    ‘
    Please direct me to any allegation(or first hand testimony) to a good amount of calls to voters in this riding in 2011. I am just questioning if it happened, not your search for the truth. We all want that don’t we?

    Would it not make sense that the Libs and the NDP also reported robo calls in this riding and not just the Greens? If the Cons were trying to suppress voters, I would think that all three parties would be reporting this type of event in SGI and not just the Greens?
    February 29th, 2012 at 2:27 am
49. 
    Sixth Estate

    islandcynic, the link can be found in the chart. The report is from a person on Pender Island who was directed into Saanich to the wrong polling station. What irks me was your blanket denial, which was apparently wrong, coupled with the gratuitous attack on May, which turns out to have been mistaken. I apologize for being sharp with you.

    It seems most likely to me, at this point, that the calls were not being organized at the riding level in most cases, but from some central point with access to a database of political support (CIMS, for instance). Depending on the size of their database, in some ridings, not many people would be called; in other ridings, many would be. And then, only a small proportion of those people called would take the time to make a complaint to a political party about it.

    No offence (assuming you worked on one of these campaigns), but the NDP and Liberals got crushed in Saanich-Gulf Islands. So I would expect few calls to have gone to those parties.

    Despite the large number of Western ridings involved, I think southern Ontario was the main target here.
    February 29th, 2012 at 7:03 am
50. 
    The Sixth Estate » Anatomy of a Vote Suppression Operation

    [...] not holding my breath, mind you.) In the meantime, thanks to the updates processed last night, the Sixth Estate Vote Suppression List now totals 68 ridings — more than one in five ridings across the country. My list is the [...]
    February 29th, 2012 at 7:22 am
51. 
    saskboy

    A new report from a contact of mine. I’m surprised that my riding, Wascana was already in the list above! I never got an illegal robocall, but I’m not a Liberal or NDP voter, so this may be why. I did get at least one legal CPC call before election day, who left a voice message (don’t think I saved it, I may doublecheck).

    ===

    I was one of those people called… at least twice. Funny how these smalls things come back to BITE the people in power. Oh right…this will once again amount to nothing, as mainstream media doesn’t care to report real news anymore. Take time to properly investigate, not report news…it is just now all 10 second, 140 character blips of info fully intended to sell advertising. But you knew that!
    16 hours ago · Unlike · 1

    Saskboy K. You were called! What riding? No other reports from SK I’m aware of yet…
    What was the caller’s point of calling?
    14 hours ago · Like

    source: I live in NW Regina….got called by a Conservative party person telling me to get to the Ruth Pawson (spell?) school to vote. I walked over the to NW Leisure Centre and voted…and then was called again. I guess I should not have told my current MP that a “chump never changes his stripes”. Tom Lukiwski is my MP[...]
    14 hours ago · Like

    Saskboy K. Wow! Who did they identify as? Can I pass this info on to a blogger keeping a list of impacted ridings?
    14 hours ago · Like

    source: Do I remember a name of a random person asking me to go vote for a tricky dick named TOM ? Not really….do I recall getting two calls…yes…it irritated the hell out of me. Oh…and it wasn’t Ruth Pawson….LOL…. it was St. Angela…. see names are not my thing…
    ==
    February 29th, 2012 at 9:03 am
52. 
    saskboy

    To be more clear, my comment was above the == line, and the report is below, talking about Regina (NW) Lumsden, not Wascana which is in the SW.
    February 29th, 2012 at 9:05 am
53. 
    kootcoot

    “What’s the threshold for a public inquiry in a functioning democracy?”

    You must be a Pollyanna, thinking we actually have a functioning democracy. We’re in the corporate/fascist zone now baby!
    February 29th, 2012 at 9:21 am
54. 
    saskboy

    I’m surfing without AdBlock on right now, so the ads really pop out. Especially this one, on this page:
    “Stephen Harper:
    Doing a good job as Prime Minister? Tell Angus Reid Your Opinion Now”

    LOL
    February 29th, 2012 at 9:25 am
55. 
    Sixth Estate

    kootcoot — Actually it was a hypothetical question. I was hoping there might be an answer for comparative purposes.

    saskboy — Thank you for your report. I will add it.
    February 29th, 2012 at 1:16 pm
56. 
    Holly Stick

    Ottawa Citizen has an index page of its articles and columns on election fraud:

    http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/election-fraud/index.html
    February 29th, 2012 at 4:48 pm
57. 
    Dr.Dawg

    Deets on Ottawa West Nepean:

    http://www.ottawacitizen.com/touch/news/story.html?id=6232112
    March 1st, 2012 at 6:07 am
58. 
    The Sixth Estate » How Many Times Must I Say This: It Wasn’t Just Guelph, People

    [...] importantly, though, election day misdirection calls were not restricted to Guelph. They also occurred, according to personal testimony and media reports, in Cambridge, Cape Breton, Edmonton, Essex, [...]
    March 1st, 2012 at 8:12 am
59. 
    Holly Stick

    Also reports of robocalls during Ontario election. Ontario PCs have used RMG in recent years.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/03/01/ontario-robo-calls.html
    March 1st, 2012 at 9:13 am
60. 
    Holly Stick

    Details on the Windsor ridings complaints. One man had a robocall and a live call:

    http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Election%2Bcalls%2Bweird%2Bsays/6232636/story.html
    March 1st, 2012 at 9:31 am
61. 
    bigcitylib

    Any idea what the spatial distribution of these was? Other than that there seem to be lots of them in Ontario, its kind of hard to make any generalizations.
    March 1st, 2012 at 11:10 am
62. 
    Holly Stick

    Globe and Mail has a map
    March 1st, 2012 at 12:33 pm
63. 
    Holly Stick

    Interesting story from Pitt-Meadows-Maple Ridge-Mission riding in BC and the woman did make a complaint:

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/03/01/bc-suspicious-election-calls-dimond.html
    March 1st, 2012 at 9:45 pm
64. 
    WestCoastGirl

    I also received calls prior to the election, querying if I would be voting Conservative or Liberal. When I answered with “it’s none of your business who I vote for, but it certainly won’t be either of those parties”, the caller claimed they were seeking donations. I hung up. I received a call on Election Day from the same number which I declined to answer. I live in a strong NDP riding, Burnaby-Coquitlam.
    March 1st, 2012 at 9:56 pm
65. 
    WestCoastGirl

    I also received strange calls prior to the election asking if I would be voting Liberal or Conservative. I replied that “it was none of their business who I voted for, but it certainly wasn’t going to be either of the parties mentioned.” I received another call on election day from the same number, which I declined to answer. I live in the strong NDP riding of New Westminster – Coquitlam.
    March 1st, 2012 at 10:00 pm
66. 
    WestCoastGirl

    didn’t mean to repost but the page keeps saying the the request timed out…..sorry.
    March 1st, 2012 at 10:01 pm
67. 
    Sixth Estate

    WestCoastGirl — Thank you for letting us know (and sorry for the site glitches…)

    Unfortunately, there is nothing illegal about harrassing phone calls, only about deceitful ones. It would be interesting to know what they were planning on telling you. In the meantime, I’ll keep Burnaby-Coquitlam in mind in case I hear anything else.
    March 1st, 2012 at 10:12 pm
68. 
    Saskboy

    Your site must be getting a fair chunk of traffic. I wonder if nyud or another mirror can be used to your advantage…

    The additional updates before 19 don’t show for me presently.
    March 2nd, 2012 at 12:36 am
69. 
    Saint John

    Saint John, NB is another case, reported by CBC:

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/03/01/pol-robocall-riding-wrap-thursday.html
    March 2nd, 2012 at 1:04 am
70. 
    Burnaby Douglas, Burnaby-New Westminister

    Add Burnaby Douglas and Burnaby-New Westminster to the list.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/03/01/bc-suspicious-election-calls-dimond.html?cmp=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
    March 2nd, 2012 at 1:13 am
71. 
    Sixth Estate

    Saskboy — The massive group of update comments at the top were getting unwieldy and seemed unnecessary, since they’re just noting the new entrants on the chart. I removed them.

    To whoever the last two comments are from, thank you for the additions. Saint John is on the list already. I will add Burnaby this morning.
    March 2nd, 2012 at 6:35 am
72. 
    Saskboy

    Breaking news is ElCan has 31,000 complaints. And those are presumably just the people who are politically aware enough to complain.
    March 2nd, 2012 at 7:58 am
73. 
    Saskboy

    https://conservativereporter.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/31000-disgruntleds-have-proof/#comment-2596

    Sandy’s explanation of how she was also called (despite being a Blogging Tory) helps confirm your theory of the DB query, because she’s never identified herself as a CPC supporter over the phone before!

    “I am one of the 31,000 and I don’t have proof. Who keeps phone or voice mail recordings for nearly a year. However, I would sign an Affidavit saying I got a call from an automated system with a female voice saying my polling station had been moved. [...]

    People from all parties got them. I mean, there is no way anyone who phones me knows who I vote for. I simply won’t tell them. I say I haven’t decided yet because it is none of their business. “
    March 2nd, 2012 at 12:15 pm
74. 
    Sixth Estate

    Thanks, Saskboy.

    I’m contemplating writing a further post on the CIMS database. Not that we can prove that was the source, but I’m hearing a lot of people suggesting a political party couldn’t have been involved because there’s no way they’d have the kind of information necessary to do it.

    (On the other hand, as the number of complaints grows, the notion that it was a prank also becomes wildly implausible.)
    March 2nd, 2012 at 12:41 pm
75. 
    Nick Fillmore

    The robo-calling scandal just might be the thing to put the Harper crowd back on their heels so they will leave the rest of us alone. Everyone must help the Council of Canadians in this effort. See my blog, and about the Council at the end:

    http://​nickfillmore.blogspot.com/2012/​03/​big-robo-calling-question-will-​anyone.html
    March 2nd, 2012 at 2:32 pm
76. 
    Derek F.P.

    “the Conservatives are screening evidence from the RMG call centre before it can be turned over to Elections Canada. I’m sure they won’t accidentally shred anything incriminating as they do so.”

    Heard this on the news today, Elections Canada keeps saying it has access to all the relevant info required to conduct its investigation, but the above fact tempered with the fact in the CBC radio reporting that EC officials won’t be arriving in Thunder Bay until next week (no rush there folks, just the accused party getting its bloody hands on relevant tech info before you shouldn’t matter too much…)

    Maybe an indication of Elections Canada already fumbling the investigation?
    March 2nd, 2012 at 4:29 pm
77. 
    joe

    An alleged screen grab from Matt Meiers’ FB page has been floating around various MSM forums. I found this link on the G&M story regarding Pat Martin being sued by RackNine:

    http://i.imgur.com/639Ot.jpg

    The November 2, 2010 photo shows a stack of Dell (?) servers, with the caption: “Adding final servers for the political superweapon.”
    March 2nd, 2012 at 4:45 pm
78. 
    Sixth Estate

    joe — Obviously I don’t know what is meant by that either, but for the moment I still have not seen evidence that RackNine was anything other than the service provider of choice. (Unlike, say, RMG — in that case there is a direct allegation that RMG employees were part of a misdirection scheme.) I’m happy to jump on the anti-Racknine bandwagon, but before doing so, I’ll have to see some sort of meaningful connection. Otherwise, I don’t think much of the robocalling business, but that in itself isn’t illegal.

    Now, if we hear that RackNine is shredding documents, deleting recordings, being run out of the Prime Minister’s Office, or some such, THEN I will be happly anti-Racknine. But not before then.

    Derek — I think it is fairly plain that Elections Canada doesn’t actually want to investigate this scandal. Their dismissal in writing of claims of illegal actions by private citizens and by the Liberal Party, for instance, is appalling. I suspect they lack resources for investigation and that they have fallen under any extraordinary political pressure from the government not to push this case too hard. Remember, they are investigating their employer here. The possibility of political interference is real and cannot be discounted.

    The problem is worse because I cannot see any discussion in the corporate media of when William Corbett will be quitting, why, and how that will affect the investigation. Applications for Elections Commissioner were due at Elections Canada’s headhunter today. That would suggest Corbett is leaving fairly soon.
    March 2nd, 2012 at 5:53 pm
79. 
    Barrie

    http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3489865

    Add Barrie to the list. Off-hours live phone calls from a South Dakota number to Liberal supporters.
    March 2nd, 2012 at 6:58 pm
80. 
    The Sixth Estate » New Conservative Spin: It Was All a Mistake! Honest!

    [...] here’s the thing. The misdirection calls which are on the Sixth Estate Master List (now listing dozens of ridings from coast to coast) aren’t just giving out the wrong voting [...]
    March 3rd, 2012 at 4:44 am
81. 
    Eduardo Harari

    They all have forgotten to name also York Centre where more than 300 people have reported the issue to Elections Canada.
    March 3rd, 2012 at 9:24 am
82. 
    Derek F.P.

    I wonder then if the timing of the reporting is meant to feign concern for the malfeasance in the electoral process at a time when the person with the strongest mandate to investigate these claims is on his way out the door. Would be a terrific use of hiring policy to replace Corbett with an inexperienced lackey who can be pressured into dropping the credible claims and focusing on Sona’s activities or the employees at RMG for instance. Since these claims have been in the media since the election, the most recent developments in this story might have the carpet pulled out of it through one specific hire. Let’s not forget that the RCMP now have a directive to have their press releases vetted by the PMO. Inept EC + Muzzled RCMP = CPC will walk.

    I would bet that unless an enterprising TBay employee retained copies of the script related to the RMG matter, then it’s probable that CON operatives and managers of RMG have colluded to doctor the original script with a neutral one (RMG owner/manager being a major contributor to CPC for years). It would be a simple matter of going back to the account, opening the script file, and altering it so that it would not actively indicate different polling locations but something more along the lines of “make sure to check to see where your polling location is now located”.
    March 3rd, 2012 at 9:39 am
83. 
    Holly Stick

    A couple of my comments are still in moderation. I think it may be because they each have two links in them?
    March 3rd, 2012 at 9:40 am
84. 
    Mogs

    Part 1 of 2

    I too have been watching the sleazy (couldn’t help this word slip it just slithered out of my mouth rise to power of The(Far)Right Honor-less Prime minister Slicko Steven Harper, hmphhh. This man unfortunately is not a mental moron but he is a danger to Canada. It is said that he has been anointed by the larger powers that be, in the greater Geo-political world sphere of NWO types, to be the man that dismantles democracy in Canada, which in retrospect is obvious; we can not let him get away with this.

    I have seen the change in him he is not the political idealist he may once have been. He sold his soul to the highest bidder and does not work for Canadians anymore or unless you are with him and if your not its easy; your either a terrorist, an Eco terrorist, an anti big business terrorist, an anti development terrorist, an anti G8 (NWO) terrorist or an anti free trade (which benefits only Multi- and Transnational Corporations and the extremely rich) terrorist and if that does not work you are simply a child pornographer, because you have a computer that is internet connected.

    Why do you think the NWO would choose Slicko? Here is what Slicko had to say about coalition governments governing Canada in the winter of 96-97, which by the way is quite a reverse from election 2011 where coalition governments became painted as a terrorist plot of some sort:

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/51938443/Stephen-Harper-and-Tom-Flanagan-Our-Benign-Dictatorship-Next-City-Winter-1996-97

    Basically if I may paraphrase here what Slicko and Tom “Assassinate Julian” Flanagan had to say about a coalition government. Because Canada is such a vast and diverse country the only fair way to govern it is with a coalition of all the separate and diverse regions of Canada, preferable five parties, (basically North, Far West, West Center, East and Far East), represented fairly. Now get this they also emphatically stated that our form of government meaning a sitting one party majority government in Canada was nothing more than an elected dictatorship they called “benign” here is the title of the paper and opening salvo

    “”Next City, Winter 1996/97.”

    Our benign dictatorship Canada’s system of one-party-plus rule has stunted democracy. Two prominent conservatives present the case for more representative government-by Stephen Harper and Tom Flanagan”

    So not only does Harper know he has unfettered power, he plans to make full use of it and have us fall in line into the ‘bigger picture’ of one world government order. Hence the Security Perimeter Agreement with the US behind closed doors, this one is truly scary and the Euro free trade pact. The Security Perimeter Agreement gives the US ultimate say as to whether or not Canadians can enter or exit our own country and not just to the US and back but to anywhere in the world, after all we might be terrorists, right? But also who can and cannot enter Canada, do you feel sovereignty slipping away yet, for the good of the ‘bigger picture’? Read what Ralph Nader warned Canadians about during the 2011 election here regarding the Security Perimeter Agreement: (see part 2)
    March 3rd, 2012 at 11:13 am
85. 
    Holly Stick

    Florence Grottenberg in Calgary Centre emailed Pat Martin about getting a hoax phone call

    http://www.hilltimes.com/news/politics/2012/03/01/mp-martin-accuses-tories-of-suppressing-votes-to-further-%E2%80%98starve%E2%80%99-opposing/29766
    March 3rd, 2012 at 11:51 am
86. 
    Eduardo Harari

    Can you please update your list to include Ken Drydens riding of York Centre
    March 3rd, 2012 at 6:56 pm
87. 
    Gavin

    I see that my riding (Edmonton-Centre) is on the list, but I find that that the NDP being targeted here is a bit bizzare for a couple of reasons.

    First, this riding has become more of a Conservative stronghold under Hawn, as is indicated by the increased margin of victory with an increase in the overall vote count (6.5% increase from the last election).

    Second, when discussing the race, the Liberals have long been considered number two in this riding when they didn’t hold it. This is the land of Landslide Annie for all purposes.

    Third, the NDP had always run a distant third until the last election.
    March 4th, 2012 at 1:22 pm
88. 
    Sixth Estate

    Gavin — In my mind, the likelihood that at least some of the reports are false positive seems reasonable to believe. Not all databases, and CIMS in particular (at least the version whose operating manual I read) distinguished which party someone liked, if they didn’t like the Conservatives. It would be quite conceivable that someone had a list of people identified as “non Conservative,” or just the opposite — “non Liberal” — and called them all.

    Edmonton Centre has been identified by CBC as well.
    March 4th, 2012 at 7:52 pm
89. 
    St. John, NB.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2012/03/02/nb-robocalls-continue-.html?cmp=rss

    Misdirecting people to the wrong polling location for ridings in New Brunswick.

    Add St. John, NB.
    March 4th, 2012 at 7:55 pm
90. 
    Anon

    It’s possible that the calls were untargeted and went out as part of canvassing all across the country from a certain point.

    There’s also the fact that a 2-cent robocall can prevent someone from voting, which starves opposition parties of $10 in per-vote subsidies over a four-year period.
    March 4th, 2012 at 7:57 pm
91. 
    Northumberland Quinte-West

    http://www.trentonian.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3491221

    Add Northumberland Quinte-West to the list.
    March 5th, 2012 at 11:20 pm
92. 
    East Edmonton (pre-writ)

    East Edmonton, harassing pre-election robocalls.

    http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3491600

    MP stated that his private phone number was set as the Caller ID for an unpleasant robocall in his riding.

    To have 150 callbacks, even for an unpleasant message, would require phoning many thousands of people.
    March 6th, 2012 at 9:36 am
93. 
    York Center?

    Does anyone have a media or opposition party reference for the complaints from York Center?
    March 6th, 2012 at 10:00 am
94. 
    York Centre

    York Centre has assembled a package with names of constituents who received two types of fraudulent calls — both harassing Jewish voters and calls directing voters to the wrong polling location. The riding association complained to Elections Canada at the time.

    Ken Dryden of the Liberals lost by about 2,000 votes in this riding.
    March 6th, 2012 at 11:43 am
95. 
    joe

    Some interesting news from the Temaskaming-Nipissing riding, won by the Conservatives last election by 18 votes:

    Reports of payments from the Conservative candidate Jay Aspin to Alberta Blue Strategies , who identify themselves as “… Conservatives who want to see Conservatives win.” No joke.

    It seems that ABS is owned by Matt Gelinas, a University of Calgary graduate who helped organize Ann Coulter’s visit to UofC last fall , and worked on Ted Morton’s campaign .

    Original news source:
    http://www.therecord.com/news/canada/article/682022–robo-calls-could-have-tipped-tight-ontario-riding-in-last-election
    March 6th, 2012 at 1:04 pm
96. 
    GingerG -! Mike Cassidy \

    Hello Sixth Estate – Something curious here. Media have been reporting that the total of ridings where problems have been reported has reached 31. You are reporting 77 based on media reports that you itemize. If the news of the rot is spreading, how come the mainstream media are still sticking at 31 rather than noting that the complaints have now reached more than double that # of ridings?

    Just wondering . . . GingerG
    March 6th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
97. 
    Holly Stick

    I think some media are counting only numbers of calls directing people to wrong polling stations; I think Aaron Wherry is up to 38 or so.

    As It Happens ad on the radio says they have a report of someone in Milton receiving a fake voter’s card?!

    Also watch that possible in-and-out business in Quebec; payments were made to RMG, and Giorno and Ivison were both arguing RMG is innocent re the robocalls. I wonder if the one scandal is bringing out a separate scandal.
    March 6th, 2012 at 4:16 pm
98. 
    Holly Stick

    Here’s the As It Happens clip: the man in Milton who received the fake Elections Canada card with the wrong address for his polling station did not have a land line, so no phone call I guess.

    He could have been targeted for the Liberal sign his neighbour had put up, but I find he has also criticized Harper gov’t in letters to editor:

    http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/

    http://www.insidehalton.com/insidehalton/article/435826

    http://www.insidehalton.com/community/milton/article/998187

    He says the card also had a different phone number and he gave the card to Elections Canada, so I hope they can still find it.
    March 6th, 2012 at 11:01 pm
99. 
    A Quick Trailer | Thirty One Thousand

    [...] here, as well a list of electoral divisions putatively influenced by voter suppression are found here. Now 50% of any statisticians work involves coercing data, so I will need a few tools to work with [...]
    March 7th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
100. 
     York Centre

     Here’s a reference for York Centre.
     March 8th, 2012 at 8:25 pm
101. 
     Beaches East-York

     Add Beaches-East York.

     http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/map-which-ridings-were-hit-with-robo-call-allegations/article2355169/?from=2358364
     March 9th, 2012 at 11:54 pm
102. 
     Holly Stick

     CBC says a story is developing of widespread fraud in east end Toronto. I’m not if that would include Vaughn, fantino’s riding? I think Greg Weston is going to report on it.
     March 13th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
103. 
     Holly Stick

     CBC radio says Scarborough-Rouge River in Toronto had people voting who did not have the right to.
     March 13th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
104. 
     Holly Stick

     Here’s the story; so a more old-fashioned kind of voting fraud going on: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/03/13/voting-scarborough.html
     March 13th, 2012 at 6:19 pm
105. 
     A Scandalous Opinion | Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff

     [...] Wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG! [...]
     March 14th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
106. 
     Poutine Getting Stale – Facts Stay Fresh | Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff

     [...] multiple ridings got robocalls, and Guelph CPC staff would not typically have access to the phone numbers of non-Conservative [...]
     March 15th, 2012 at 10:15 am
107. 
     GingerG

     Hello SE –

     You are now up to 86 ridings where there have been media reports of hoax phone calls, but media reports continue to keep the figure down to about 31. Disparity puzzled me a fortnight ago and continues to do so now. Maybe you should try robocalls to all the elected MPs to ask them what’s up?

     GingerG Ottawa
     March 16th, 2012 at 8:04 am
108. 
     ConCalls: It’s the Liberals Calling, No Wait, Conservatives? | Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff

     [...] – Hat tip Sixth Estate [...]
     March 16th, 2012 at 9:51 am
109. 
     Trinity-Spadina

     Trinity-Spadina received some complaints.

     http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/03/16/john-ivison-pierre-poutine-called-voters-in-ridings-across-ontario-not-just-guelph/
     March 16th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
110. 
     Sixth Estate

     Thanks — it will be in the next update.
     March 16th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
111. 
     The Sixth Estate » Conservative Insiders Admit Their Database Used for Election Fraud

     [...] there’s a problem with that argument: fraudulent calls are alleged to have occurred in 86 ridings, not just Guelph. So the new excuse is that Pierre Poutine actually called a bunch of people around Ontario, not [...]
     March 16th, 2012 at 2:46 pm
112. 
     Sixth Estate

     GingerG — The disparity is because most media people are very busy chasing down trivial gossip about irrelevant stories and don’t have time to do proper investigative research anymore.
     March 16th, 2012 at 2:49 pm
113. 
     joe

     You may be able to add Vancouver Centre to the list, based on a comment by user Listener** at 2:27PM ET on the CBC story by Terry Milewski:

     Listener**2012/03/16
     at 2:27 PM ET
     “I also received a fraudulent phone msg. on Election Day, purporting to be from Elections Canada, which said my polling station had changed to an (incorrect) polling station in Vancouver Centre. A week prior to this msg., I received a canvassing live call from the Conservative Party, and I told them I was not a Con supporter. I have reported this to Elections Canada…”

     http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/03/15/pol-investigation-.html
     March 16th, 2012 at 2:55 pm
114. 
     Sixth Estate

     Thanks, joe. It will be in the next update.
     March 17th, 2012 at 9:25 am
115. 
     evaluuna

     Sixth Sense, Great job; thanks for this!!

     re your ‘benefit of the doubt’ take re Racknine:
     these screen captures would indicate a longstanding connection between Mr. Meier and the CPC.

     http://thecanadianpoliticalscene.blogspot.ca/2012/02/ndp-leaks-more-links-between-racknine.html?m=1
     March 18th, 2012 at 8:28 am
116. 
     evaluuna

     also, this article by Michael Harris: one must wonder how a stack of servers could constitute a ‘political super-weapon’…however combined with CIMS, a deep ethical deficit and/or other CPC antics…
     http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/03/08/michael-harris-was-a-political-super-weapon-part-of-robogate/
     March 18th, 2012 at 8:31 am
117. 
     Holly Stick

     I think your Peace River Alberta entry is wrong; the link appears to be for Prince George Peace River riding which is in BC and not for Peace River riding in Alberta.
     March 18th, 2012 at 8:53 am
118. 
     Sixth Estate

     Holly – Yes, that’s an error. Peace River does not appear in the top chart that I make the count from, but it also should not have a link on the bottom either. I’ll rectify that.
     March 18th, 2012 at 7:47 pm
119. 
     Sixth Estate

     evaluuna — I’m still awaiting genuine persuasive evidence on this one. All the “political superweapon” innuendo would prove was that Racknine was doing contract work for the Conservative Party before the 2011 election. That wouldn’t surprise me. It doesn’t prove that they knowingly allowed their service to be used for illicit purposes, just that they are one of a surprisingly large cottage industry of small communications companies who do consulting and services work fro political parties.

     As far as I am concerned, political parties and politicians are completely free game when it comes to speculation. Private citizens and their businesses, on the other hand, should only be attacked with some measure of proof, even ones who work in an industry as seedy as robocalling. There are a large number of Conservatives who conducted the 2011 campaign without any knoweldge of robocalling. I will not condemn Racknine unless and until someone points me to evidence that they knew their services were being used for illegal purposes and did nothing about it.
     March 18th, 2012 at 7:52 pm
120. 
     evaluuna

     fair enough.
     March 19th, 2012 at 5:01 pm
121. 
     Holly Stick

     News about Racknine tonight; one employee with a false name or possibly not existing at all? :

     http://www.canada.com/technology/Identity+mystery+employee+deepens+robocall+puzzle/6326624/story.html

     And have you been following unfuckwithable? He’s now posting detailed looks at each riding in the 2011 election. I don’t know much about him, but he does seem to be producing good stuff:

     http://unfuckwithable.ca/
     March 19th, 2012 at 7:00 pm
122. 
     Holly Stick

     Some tweeters have found R. Martinez and Rick McKnight seem to be credited with writing the same articles on the Racknine website, and one tweeter has suggested R. Martinz could be Rafael Martinez Mineusa (google thinks it probably should be spelled Minuesa)

     https://twitter.com/#!/probative/status/181925166283108352
     March 19th, 2012 at 7:38 pm
123. 
     Sixth Estate

     Holly — A weird development, I’ll agree. Again I’m not sure how it proves wrongdoing though, as opposed to just general weirdness.

     But I don’t know who Rafael Martinez Minuesa though, either. Should I?
     March 20th, 2012 at 5:41 am
124. 
     Sixth Estate

     Oh, the other point — as for unfuckwithable, yes, I’ve been following him for a couple of weeks now after another reader tipped me off to him. I don’t know much either. He claims to have some pretty bombshell material about ministers embezzling money from the government and solid proof that the Conservatives were behind robocalls outside of the Guelph scheme, but so far he’s been pretty slow about releasing anything noteworthy. His new list of affected ridings doesn’t contain any serious fraud allegations that aren’t already on this list (but he hasn’t finished with his Ontario list yet, so that may change).

     He also is apparently suffering from cancer, so I do hope he recovers from that.
     March 20th, 2012 at 5:43 am
125. 
     Holly Stick

     I think Rafael Martinez Minuesa may have been one of “Rick McKnight’s” Facebook friends, but can’t check to be sure since I am not on Facebook. The tweeter I linked to above seems to have worked that out.
     March 20th, 2012 at 7:37 am
126. 
     evaluuna

     http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/firm-at-centre-of-robo-call-storm-unmasks-mystery-employee/article2375881/?from=sec431
     March 21st, 2012 at 6:02 am
127. 
     Sixth Estate

     A weird story that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in Racknine. But I’m still waiting to hear the relevance of this story from the people who broke it.
     March 21st, 2012 at 6:46 am
128. 
     Holly Stick

     More about the Yukon robocalls:

     http://www.yukon-news.com/news/27818/
     March 21st, 2012 at 2:49 pm
129. 
     Holly Stick

     My source for that Yukon link:

     https://twitter.com/#!/jimbobbysez/status/182595935166140417
     March 21st, 2012 at 2:50 pm
130. 
     thirtyonethousand

     It is no longer a matter of if I will be able to calculate how much suppression there was, and what the results should have been, it is just a matter of when.
     March 21st, 2012 at 10:32 pm
131. 
     The Sixth Estate » How To Rig an Election

     [...] want to share what I think happened. As you can see from the Sixth Estate master list, now at 100 ridings and counting, there was quite a variety of different covert ops last May. In [...]
     March 22nd, 2012 at 1:22 am
132. 
     Judyth

     Re: Nanaimo-Cowichan, one voter in the #tellVicEverything protest tells me she also received the two-call approach: first, a live call to determine her voting preference, then a robocall which tried to misdirect her to a non-existent polling station. What I found most interesting was that the place she was told to go was right outside her riding. She knew right off that it was wrong but didn’t report it, assuming it was a mistake. It would astound me if she were the only case like that.

     Re: Jeanne-Leber, it’s my riding and I’m sure there were no attempts here: neither the CPC nor the Liberals had a ghost of a chance.

     Le Devoir had a good investigative piece (English summary at http://scathinglywrongrightwingnutz.blogspot.ca/2012/03/double-whammy-election-fraud-in-out.html)

     where Bertin Denis, candidate in Rimouski-Neigette-Témiscouata-Les Basques openly admitted the national CPC campaign made a hefty $55k contribution to his campaign of which he was required to pay $15k to Responsive Marketing Group (RMG) for unknown services never explained to him. His official agent confirmed this was an “”in-and-out” kind of thing. Both later retracted their candid statements, presumably on instructions from on high. The $15k (plus an unexplained penny in QC ridings) was explained by the CPC at some point as a flat fee per riding, for services that local campaigns could order or not as they saw fit. To me, the sum looks very much like the cost of live calls to everyone in the riding to determine support plus a couple of “tele-townhall” setups, normally used so the candidate can interact directly with voters in an Internet-based conference call. The TTH would be a sensible, cheaper alternative to the candidate door-knocking every home in a riding or holding a “townhall” meeting or several where voters can ask questions. However, it seems clear Mr. Denis did not participate in them or receive any report from those who used the mechanism.

     On the whole, there has been much less French-language reporting of the “Robogate” issues and what has appeared is usually less detailed than the English coverage. Also I expect Quebecois of a certain age might take dirty tricks for granted: they were standard operating procedure for the old Union Nationale in this province. These may help to explain why there have been fewer reports from Quebec to Elections Canada over ridings where the Conservatives had any chance of winning…which would be only a handful since Quebec-bashing seems to be SOP for the party.

     Anyway, back to specifics Candidate Carol Néron in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord told Le Devoir he also paid RMG $15 000,01 without knowing why. He said he ran his own campaign and didn’t concern himself with that. Asked if he saw any results from the calls, he said he got reports on voter intentions but that was all and he couldn’t say whether he’d got his money’s worth or not.

     It seems 14 of the 18 Quebec Conservative candidates paid the same amounts to RMG. Two paid $15,000 witthout the extra penny; Larry Smith paid only $ 5000.01 and Michel-Éric Castonguay in Montmorency-Charlevoix-Haute-Côte-Nord only $1500.01.

     Conservative spokesman Fred DeLory stated that some Quebec campaigns hired RMG to identify sympathizers and encourage them to vote. He added that those contracts were signed and paid for by the local campaigns..

     Some of the campaigns confirmed this to Le Devoir.
     Martin Lemire, official agent for Pierre Paul-Hus in Louis-Hébert, explained that the party sent them documentation and he considered it would pay off better than hiring volunteers [sic]. But he claimed they didn’t reallly pay for the service: the money was given them by the party so they could pay the bill. He said explicitly that it was “in and out”.and the data collected by RMG were put into the CIMS; on election day, the riding’s volunteers could use the program to sympathizers and encourage them to go vote.

     To me, the big questions (aside from te voter suppression issue itself) relate to the exact nature of the calls made by RMG (and presumably several other service providers), who really placed the orders, and how the bills were reported to Elections Canada.

     It’s not illegal for a party to contribute to a local campaign or for local campaigns to share costs of a regional or national effort as long as the amounts stay within prescribed limits and everything is properly accounted for. The scandalous in-and-out case was one where transfers were used to conceal spending over the legal limit on advertising. Information-gathering and soliciting donations to campaigns are legitimate expenses “GOTV” calls–to supporters in order to get out the vote, often live but sometimes a prerecorded message–are legitimate, too. But calls to non-supporters to get them to change their votes might well fall under the heading of advertising. Calls misidentified as being from Elections Canada and intended to steer non-supporters to non-existent polls are certainly fraudulent, though that can be hard to prove in court. But they also qualify as false advertising, and it may well be easier to prove that:

     Elections Canada can audit the invoices, ask searching questions, and get its hands on supporting documents, to the point where it can be established whether the Conservatives’ national campaign once again buried its overspending in the books of local campaigns. We might think that unlikely, given that the party was already being prosecuted for that by the 2011 campaign and evaded the disgrace of admission of guilt because the story was effectively buried in the larger Robogate scandal. (To be fair, they did “voluntarily” pay back some of the money they obtained through our subsidy of local campaign expenses–something over $200,000–while protesting they did nothing wrong.) Still, with word of undeclared bank accounts and unfiled invoices, allocation discrepancies and such keeping the Elections Canada audit from wrapping up, it is almost impossible to believe that nobody ion the inside of a very tightly controlled party knew anything about anything all this time. It will be interesting to hear the briefing to MPs on Thursday…which coincidentally is scheduled for the time most of the Ottawa media will be in the budget lockup.
     March 25th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
133. 
     Sixth Estate

     Thanks, Judyth. I’ll make updates to the list accordingly.
     March 25th, 2012 at 2:03 pm
134. 
     The Sixth Estate » Don’t Expect Much From Mayrand’s Testimony

     [...] More to the point, people who think the testimony has been pushed into a quiet and easily overlooked setting are kind of missing the point. If Mayrand really did have something explosive to say to the committee that would implicate the Conservatives, they would simply not bring him into the Committee in the first place. If he had something explosive to say about an Opposition party, they would schedule the hearing at a more convenient time and place. Ergo, the reason this is being “covered up” is much more mundane: they don’t want any awkward questions raised about why Elections Canada apparently has nothing to show for their eight-month-long investigation of Pierre Poutine, or of Poutine’s accomplices in 100 other ridings. [...]
     March 26th, 2012 at 2:14 pm
135. 
     Saskboy

     “According to the Conservative Party”, is as far as I let my brain think about alternative theories they present. They cannot be taken seriously because credible evidence already refutes their previous official stories, including their original erroneous claim that they knew nothing of the calls when they later provided fake/alternate data to Ivison. Listening to their flailing is like listening to a crazy person. My brain cannot stoop so low as to consider their version as anything other than crass confusion.

     –
     You’ve got a typo with Sona’s name near the end.
     March 29th, 2012 at 11:40 am
136. 
     Sixth Estate

     Thanks — I’ll fix.
     March 29th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
137. 
     sushi

     SE – Cannot let you have all the fun! I am reminded of a Sherlock Holmes stroy in which Holme’s remarks that the clue to the crime was the curious fact of a dog’s bark in the night. Watson replies that the dog did not bark whereupon Holmes retorst that this is the curious fact.

     I took the liberty (precious commodity that!) and examined the races in Nova Scotia.
     In ridings in which there was no likelihood of a turnover there are no known harrassments, no known misdirections.

     But in those ridings in which the outcome appeared close there were incidents of robo-calling.
     I will examine more ridings to see if the same pattern holds but I offer the following observation: if in fact this iniative was the result of errant junior campaign workers would it not be just as likely to occur in ridings in which a hail mary pass was the only possible way to achieve victory?

     But robo-calling costs money. And in the case of Nova Scotia ridings it appears that money was only spent in ridings where a turnover was possible or threatened a CPC incumbent. This suggessts that an authority higher than some inept 24 year old undertook injudiscious action to alter the outcome. It appears more likely that the “higher authority” only interceded in very specific cases.

     Cape Breton—Canso
     CPC – 10,875
     LPC – 16,478 incumbent / elected
     NDP – 7,036

     Central Nova
     CPC – 21,591 incumbent / elected
     LPC – 5,619
     NDP – 9,386

     Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley
     CPC – 21,041 incumbent / elected
     LPC – 7,207
     NDP – 9,322

     Dartmouth—Cole Harbour
     CPC – 10,718
     LPC – 15,162 incumbent
     NDP – 15,661 elected

     Halifax No problems
     CPC – 8,276
     LPC – 11,791
     NDP – 23,745 incumbent / elected

     Halifax West – No problems
     CPC – 13,778
     LPC – 16,230 incumbent / elected
     NDP – 13,239

     Kings Hants
     CPC – 14,714
     LPC – 15,887 incumbent / elected
     NDP – 8,043

     Sackville Eastern Shore
     CPC – 12,665
     LPC – 4,676
     NDP – 22,480 incumbent / elected
     ====================

     South Shore St Margarets – Misdirection
     CPC – 17,924 incumbent / elected
     LPC – 7,014
     NDP – 15,058

     Sydney – Victoria – Misdirection / Harassment
     CPC – 13,945
     LPC – 14,805 incumbent / elected
     NDP – 7,050

     West Nova – Misdirection / Harassment
     CPC – 20,206 incumbent / elected
     LPC – 15,712
     NDP – 5,631
     March 29th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
138. 
     sushi

     Ooops! I need an edit button for all those uncaught errors. My bad. The data, however, is clean.
     March 29th, 2012 at 1:46 pm
139. 
     sushi

     Another data point.

     Both South Shore St Margarets and West Nova were on the Catch-22 list of targeted ridings. Catch-22 was attempting to have voters vote strategically to prevent the election of CPC MPs.
     March 29th, 2012 at 1:51 pm
140. 
     Sixth Estate

     sushi — Thanks for your thoughts.

     Given Mayrand’s testimony, we need to stop speculating about the targeting of specific ridings. Assuming that most of the 100 ridings I’ve identified here are also on Mayrand’s list of ridings under investigation (which seems like a safe assumption), there’s roughly a 50% chance that any riding not on my list is still on his. And we don’t know which ones.

     I am gratified to hear that Elections Canada has opened so many files. Of course, the proof of their commitment will be in the results of those investigations.
     March 29th, 2012 at 2:33 pm
141. 
     kootcoot

     SE, you and that French guy in Montreal (unfuckablewith) are truly doing God’s work. I consider Harper no more my legitimate P.M. than I consider Premier Photo-Op Clark my premier. I currently live in an anarchy resulting from illegal coups on the federal and provincial level.
     March 30th, 2012 at 5:20 am
142. 
     Sixth Estate

     Brian-Michel Larue, yes. I eagerly await something more substantive from him.
     March 30th, 2012 at 5:29 am
143. 
     Lexy

     After hearing Marc Mayrand yesterday complain that EC hadn’t been informed/received complaints in a couple of Toronto ridings but had to read about them in the newspaper, it occurs to me that EC only acts when complaint-driven.

     So, I have just fired off emails to Andrew Gill who ran in St. Catharines, urging him to complain to EC if he hasn’t already, because there was at least one instance of a caller impersonating his campaign. (see http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/7015098703 ).

     Same with Andrew Telegdi in Kitchener-Waterloo, except in that case it was a called from Peter Braid’s campaign giving the voter a misdirection as to polling station. (see: http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-519-479-0031 )

     I’ve sent my 164 pages of culled comments to Elections Canada but perhaps they will only use it to pull out evidence for use in the files already open, rather than to activate new files.
     March 30th, 2012 at 10:17 am
144. 
     Sixth Estate

     Thanks for the links, Lexy. Both ridings are on the list but I will add the links to the lists of documented allegations for each riding.

     Good luck with Elections Canada. We’re probably reaching the point where they no longer take seriously a new flood of complaints, and my guess is that complaints have been sent in for both ridings, but it’s good to make sure. There’s no real organization on our side, and that’s obviously making it harder to make a large-scale protest.

     On the bright side, Mayrand says he’s received complaints and opened files on 200 ridings. It’s a fairly safe bet (but by no means certain) that that includes almost every riding on my list, if not every single one. I look forward to that list being released eventually so that we can see how closely mine and Brian-Michel LaRue’s lines up with the official record. LaRue claims to have vastly more ridings on his unreleased data list, and I’m eagerly awaiting a truly substantive release from him, as opposed to daily teasers.
     March 30th, 2012 at 12:58 pm
145. 
     Holly Stick

     More about robocalls and getting hold of phone records in the Yukon:

     http://www.yukon-news.com/news/28011/
     April 3rd, 2012 at 11:29 am
146. 
     The Sixth Estate » Independent Journalist Claims to Know the Identity of Pierre Poutine

     [...] of electoral fraud in Canadian history, in which Elections Canada is currently investigating an astonishing 200 ridings. Documented allegations in over 100 ridings are currently known by Sixth [...]
     April 8th, 2012 at 11:38 am
147. 
     Adrift in Dystopia: Canada Today | Tariq Jeeroburkhan’s Blog

     [...] but by consent and trust. It has also launched a ferocious attack upon the citizens of Canada, corrupting the electoral process; suppressing dissent of all kinds, presiding over the mass brutalizing of [...]
     April 15th, 2012 at 2:07 pm
148. 
     The Sixth Estate » How Far Does the Rot Spread?

     [...] the news in connection with the Election 2011 fraud scheme, about which Sixth Estate still has the most complete online list of affected ridings. The news, for those who haven’t read it, can be seen at Postmedia and at the Globe & [...]
     May 4th, 2012 at 10:54 am
149. 
     I want a Prime Minister not a Crime Minister

     It said there were no problems at Scarborough Guildwood. I was shocked on election day that the voting station was located at my childrens school at Peter Secor Public School, normally I vote at Saint Martin de Pores just up the street. I do not recall receiving any phone calls or letters advising me of the change. I believe I probably would not have voted that day except for the fact that it was at the school where my children attend. Maybe I am wrong, but I found that odd.
     May 13th, 2012 at 7:06 pm
150. 
     Sixth Estate

     Which location did your official notice from Elections Canada tell you to go to?
     May 13th, 2012 at 7:42 pm
151. 
     I want a Prime Minister not a Crime Minister

     I am not sure.
     May 13th, 2012 at 8:04 pm
152. 
     The Sixth Estate » Inside the Etobicoke Centre Ruling Overturning Ted Opitz’s Election

     [...] to overturn the results on the grounds of numerous irregularities. His was the first riding on Sixth Estate’s list of dubious ridings from 2011 to end up in court, and the first to have its result overturned. More may [...]
     May 19th, 2012 at 12:01 am
153. 
     zero peroxide reviews

     Using 11 cents per KWH grossly understates the marginal cost of electricity.
     September 30th, 2012 at 2:53 pm
154. 
     zero peroxide review

     The structure for the blog is a tad off in Epiphany. Even So I like your weblog. I might have to use a normal web browser just to enjoy it.
     September 30th, 2012 at 5:26 pm
155. 
     Friday morning Robocon blogging - Peace, order and good government, eh?

     [...] running total at The Sixth Estate has reached 100 ridings. Since the CBC story reported in last week's post, I haven't seen much in [...]
     November 26th, 2012 at 4:54 pm
156. 
     Friday morning Robocon blogging - Peace, order and good government, eh?

     [...] Sixth Estate list of ridings where hoax calls have been reported continues to grow, if more slowly than before. The [...]
     November 26th, 2012 at 4:55 pm
157. 
     Friday morning Robocon blogging - Peace, order and good government, eh?

     [...] Sixth Estate's crowd-sourced list of ridings where voters received "hoax" phone calls during last spring's federal election campaign has now [...]
     November 26th, 2012 at 4:57 pm
158. 
     Friday morning Robocon blogging - Peace, order and good government, eh?

     [...] list at The Sixth Estate has grown to 102 ridings and will continue to be maintained. Brian-Michel at Unfuckwithable.ca is [...]
     November 26th, 2012 at 5:12 pm
159. 
     Robocalls: So where were we? : Canada's online magazine: Politics, entertainment, technology, media, arts, books: backofthebook.ca

     [...] do with credit card scams and phishing. Two thirds down page one is this one dated Mar 27 2011 (h/t commenter Lexy at Sixth Estate) [...]
     December 13th, 2012 at 1:20 am
160. 
     nex13

     Halton Hills . I reported my case but seems it was only me reported it, and while i spent one hour to have our names back, that were missing from the Voters list,we had the election cards and the address same we were voting for the past 7 years (i was and my wife the first in the station), While waiting they were more voters with missing their names from the voters list.
     That is: in one hour about at least 7 voters missing from the list. If the voting hours were 8 then in this poling station would be 56 fraudulent cases. So the size of the reported are the tip of the Iceberg. An other indication that the election was scam was that at election day results showing the PC were well behind and at the very end got majority . for 50 years i watch election in Canada and an other country, Always the first samples of votes shows to very end, who made it , some people after the first results,stop watching it.
     Only in Canada this Election defeated the Laws of statistics.
     December 14th, 2012 at 1:12 pm