How Many Pierre Poutines Were There?
The noose continues to tighten around Pierre Poutine. We have a second alias, and multiple fake addresses. Conservatives have openly leaked that they know who he is, and even stated that it was Michael Sona (apparently falsely). Last week they gave secret briefings to journalists on what they claimed was Pierre Poutine’s target list, derived from their CIMS database. That too was apparently false, given this week’s revelation that the Poutine target list was much larger than the one the Conservatives leaked.
We also know that Poutine covered his tracks. It has now been revealed that he uploaded a second message to Racknine, supporting a Liberal candidate. This predictably led to a wave of headlines in the pro-Conservative Postmedia chain implying that Poutine might have been a Liberal. That makes sense, if you’re prepared to assume that (a) Racknine for some reason violated its exclusivity contract with the Conservative Party and (b) a Liberal would upload a list of “supporters” to whom he would then send both a message urging them to get out and vote Liberal, and also sending them to a non-existent polling station. Yep. That makes complete sense. Or at least it does to the wave of Neanderthal-grade intellects populating the online forums.
But the real question that now must be asked was: how many Pierre Poutines were there? The Sixth Estate master list documents allegations and complaints of bogus calls which went out in 100 ridings — almost 1 in 3 ridings in the country. The list is so large that it provokes an instant and instinctive denial: that can’t be true. Not in our country. It couldn’t happen in Canada.
Well, it did. The complaints are out there, and they are from actual people. I didn’t make them up. It’s possible that a few people are deliberately inventing stories in order to get in on the story. But only a few ridings only involve a single documented complaint in the media. Want to say that 50% of the people coming forward are lying? Fine. That still leaves us around 90-100 ridings where fraud occurred, if the liars are evenly distributed, or around 50 ridings if they aren’t.
Probably not. Suppose that the internal firewalls in the CIMS database aren’t as secure as they should be, and that for whatever reason a handful of Poutine’s calls were actually sent to people not in Guelph. That’s the excuse advanced by Conservatives in confidential briefings. But even if that were true across the country, and supposing an average of 10 ridings affected for each one targeted, we’re still left with 10 separate Pierre Poutine-style operations across the country. Probably more, given that there were multiple operations in southern Ontario alone. So far few, if any, people have come forward saying they got a robocall directing them to an unknown location in a totally different city and riding, so that’s further evidence that this isn’t just a single rogue operative with a bunch of unintended spillover.
One Poutine callout is a rogue operation, I will concede. Two could be a coincidence? But 100? That’s a conspiracy. There is no other plausible way to explain the fact that similar phone calls were reported in so many different ridings, other than as part of some sort of coordinated covert operation.
Tweet
sushi
Has there been any reporting of how Poutine paid for Rack9′s services?
First we have Rack9′s exclusivity contract with the CPC. To honour that they need to ensure no other party obtains use of their services.
Second, we have reports that Poutine simply placed a call to the CEO of Rack9 and was able to verbally open an account. How could he achieve that? How was it possible for Rack9 to ensure they maintained their contracted exclusivity with the CPC?
Finally, how did Poutine pay for the Rack9 services? My hunch is that the way this worked would have been an invoice showing X number of calls placed on Y date with billing directed to Z.
Since the calls went out en bloc it should be possible to speak with complainants in other ridings, determine the date and time of the robo calls and then compare that with the Rack9 server logs. Knowing something of IT operations, I would suspect that not only were the date and time of the outcalls logged but that the URL of the voice message would also be recorded. As a service provider Rack9 would need to record this information to have it available in the event the client complains in regard to the wrong call, or complains that they are being billed for service that was never performed, or the client complains that Rack9 did not honour its contracted exclusivity with the CPC.
Not only is it likely that this information was logged it is also extremely likely that it has been fully backed up. No one in their right mind runs a commercial IT operation without backup.
So there should be lots of records available, far more than you would find in any other form of crime. It follows that it should be fairly easy to verify the nature of the calls to other ridings.
The exception would be in the case of “live” calls made by a human operator which appear to have been handled by a different firm. But even here there would be extensive record keeping on the date and time of the call and the number(s) called. I once worked in an inbound call center (customers calling us rather than us calling customers) and the level of detail associated with each call was frightening. Any action taken by an agent could be called up and a few mouse clicks would permit identification of the exchange, the rrunk line, the calls point of origin and any other detail.
Since it is likely this level of detail is associated with the robo-calls the question becomes why is it taking so long?
Sixth Estate
He (or she) paid with a Paypal account. The latest news is because someone has found the warrant for Paypal records related to his account.
According to the warrant, “Pierre” contacted Racknine’s boss on his personal extension and mentioned the order being known to someone within the Conservative ranks. The order apparently doesn’t specify that individual. Racknine says that satisfied them that it was an internal Conservative order.
The problem is, the narrower we close the net on the Pierre Poutine op, the more non-Guelph calls don’t get potentially swept up as “collateral damage.” So it grows increasingly likely that there were other orders, possibly from other robocall companies than Racknine, and possibly using similar aliases. Is Elections Canada investigating those, too? They’re not saying, and my confidence in them isn’t exactly high.
Mogs
Proof that Elections Canada won’t do a thing:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/story/2011/05/02/cv-election-polling-pranks-411.html
We need a Royal Commission.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/03/21/rick-mercer-robocalls-rant_n_1369483.html?ref=canada-politics#s800823&title=Bob_Rae
Mogs
“Canada’s chief electoral officer is being called before MPs to speak about the robo-calls controversy dogging the Harper government on the same day Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivers his budget.
The Conservative-controlled procedure and House affairs committee has asked Marc Mayrand to appear March 29, just a few hours before Mr. Flaherty tables the 2012-13 federal budget.
Most of the media in Ottawa that day will be sequestered in a lockup digesting the financial plan. They will be unable to leave the budget proceedings until Mr. Flaherty tables the document at 4 pm ET.” Story from:
MPs summon elections watchdog to talk robo-calls on budget day
steven chase
OTTAWA— Globe and Mail Update
Posted on Friday, March 23, 2012 5:54PM EDT
Interesting how the pattern of suppression continues……..
Sixth Estate
This is not suppression, just silliness.It’s not as if the RCMP are sweeping down and detaining all journalists in the city in the budget lockup or something.
Sixth Estate can only be in one place at once, but from the rumours I’ve heard, some reputable newspapers have two or even three full-time reporters working for them. I realize that for them it would be tough, but they should be able to work out some sort of schedule that allows them to cover two events at the same time.
Sixth Estate
And yes, that was some thinly veiled sarcasm there, directed at the absurdity of the largest newspaper in the country implying that it has no choice but to give short shrift to the vote suppression investigation because it is so busy getting a few hours’ head start on the new budget.
timber
I don’t have the answers (where’s Poutine? for example.. or ‘how much for that gazebo,, what ? more than an F 35?’) & its far more likely that you, Sixth E, or Elections Canada, or Brian-Michel or someone else, in Sask .. already has them answers) .. and will spell it out, soon.. in blunt stunning, disappointing terms..
And Canadians will take it on the chin.. then step forward solidly.. maybe with a little less joi de vivre.. or prairie patience.. or whatever the damn STUFF is .. we seem to fuel up on when needed.
Really ? A country and a citizenry that saw the Halifax Explosion, the development of insulin, the courier de bois, the Haida, the Crazy Canucks.. the Guess Who.. Wolfe and Montcalm.. George Chuvalo, Vimy Ridge .. will .. just .. roll over here… legs in the air ..
or head in the damn sand … for a ‘roboflop’ …
oh … … I .. .. don’t think so ..
(do you really think this will fly ? really !)
In the meantime (of your delusion),
I have a few questions..
A large Canadian ‘data’ guy with a red goatee has been mentioned as working in a Fantino election office with Stephan Lecce. Has anyone asked either if they have any recollection of sharing an office, in Vaughn, Ontario? Lecce should have equally valuable recollections from within the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office)
Can John Baird, clarify his and his government’s discovery, concern/attention and immediate mitigating response to petrochemical related cancers in the Canadians of all ages, living downstream of the tar sands,in Fort Chippewa? (please don’t say its not happening.. I cannot bear to hear any denials.. or cover ups .. or ‘we’ve been baselessly smeared’ bluster.. The people directly impacted are our Canadian Citizens .. and I always have and always will believe .. THAT COUNTS… large, immediate.. without exception) Get the VanDoos up there.. or whatever/whomever.. & get the situation under control
Can Keith Ashfield (Fisheries) respond re missing cancerous salmon tissue samples from BC via Alexandra Morton or other Canadian stakeholders. Can his department help find or bring them forward..
or tell us if they will eat wild or farmed Canadian salmon? I do believe a lot of us do buy or eat such salmon.. even if Keith or Stevie or Joe Oliver or their families don’t. Call the Canadian Coast Guard pleez.
Can Ethical Oil validate itself – explain themselves? In simple untwisted terms that Canadian citizens recognize. They could start with validating their funding purity or the premise of their comedy troupe.. Are they kind of trying to be like Borak? Or be like Dadaists .. or some kinda of Nihalists.. The names are great .. !!
Hamish ! Ezra ! .. Damn ! its got a wonderful biblical or evangelical energy to it all. And its certified/stamped ‘Ethical’ and cleansed.. kosher ? Pasteurized Say Hey !
The Carson investigation is stalled.. filed. Parked.
Where? By Whom? Could the RCMP rise from the grave and speak on this matter with veracity ..?
Will we ever understand what the Cadman Affair was?
Or the In/out affair.. .. or .. oh never mind ..
its just politics, possibly carcinogenic,
so leave it along
Can we examine recent 2012 Fed/Prov MP candidates standing for election and their ridings, then co-relate religious belief and key ethical convictions versus level of Electoral Fraud and Electoral harassment.. without including which candidate won? Or getting lost while appraising the statistics..?
Can we measure the ‘noise level’ or intensity of recent American voter suppression tactics/success versus Canadian elections with zero phone/cyber electioneering/stumping included?
Can Stephen Harper validate his perspective, lack of, or responsibility re daily tanker traffic to/from Kitimat..
ie either with pipeline delivered bitumen from the tar sands or tanker delivered diluent headed to the tar sands? Will sonar be employed to the complete lack of controls re protection of ‘fish habitat’? Will non fish species such as cetaceans (whales), mammals such as killer whales or other species like sea otters or seals be unprotected as a result of this type of clever omnibus re-legislation?
Stephen, dude .. What ? Are you new? If you don’t ‘own’ this discussion and all the related scientific and logistical and related facts, the pipeline/tanker environmental fiasco will be .. what sends you off nicely, from a Federal Politico career into your Board of Directorship career .. Oops, OK .. you may get a helpful shove from a few impatient Christian Nationalists to help you on your way..
Before you get taken out by any other warring Conservative factions can you please validate the twin pipelines likelihood of staying under the mandated or ‘accepted level of pipeline spillage/leakage’? Can you state, accurately what this percentage of pipeline failure is currently accepted as ‘the norm’ and what it means to at least four disparate ecosystems while transiting BC or Alberta
I’m just looking for some reasonable leadership.. and honest answers. Tantrums or bluster or other evasions don’t really answer the bell… nor the poppies row on row. We’re not really expecting ‘exemplars’ .. Just honest, basic, hard working, uncomplicated.. values..
Some ass hat decided elder Canadians were a pragmatic target.. to shape election results
It could be the same folks that see BC Haida Elders and other First Nations Elders as foreign funded radicals. That’s one of the great stupidities I’ve ever heard.. Next thing they’ll decide Newfoundlanders are vulnerable to attack from the sea .. and new regulations are needed for the Inuit (The People), so they will understand Polar Bears… and the life cycle of the seal.
You’re kidding.. right ?
T
PS .. I have other questions.. & I aint alone
ConCalls: Not Serious? Get Serious! | Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff
[...] MPs cannot talk about the findings without risking repercussions. The media should be encouraged to all attend Mayrand’s report, stop being silly/blind, and if they are forced to wait outside, they should be as grouchy as they were for the NDP [...]
Sixth Estate
I assume your questions are rhetorical.
404 Project: #OpProRouge | 404 System Error
[...] How Many Pierre Poutines Were There? [...]