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Robocall Scandal: Tories Play Blame Game

Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott chairman of the House of Commons aboriginal affairs committee is shown in the House of Commons, in Ottawa, Tuesday May 9, 2006.The Conservatives started with a failed attempt to blame Liberals and while continuing on their same failed mantra, Conservatives now start blaming Elections Canada for the misleading phone calls that may have lead to voter fraud in the last election. However, a reluctant Conservative party has now decided to cooperate with an Elections Canada investigation into the matter and prefer to play the blame game than get to the facts. For a party that prides itself as tough on crime, the idea of election fraud should strike their heroin attitudes, but instead it has left them hiding in the corner launching missiles in random directions. Failed tactics or something to hide?

Canadians want answers and they aren’t buying the idea that the Liberals would sabotage their own campaign and they don’t believe Dean Del Mastro’s failed argument that phone calls to Liberals were made by Liberals and that there was no possibility that they could have been impersonated by one who would like to alter the result. Being the government of the day and victor of the last election, how can they possibly be surprised that everyone looked to them first? Had the Liberals or NDP been the victor, the same would have happened – although based on their attitudes, a public inquiry would have been called.


Conservative backbencher MP Maurice Vellacott said,  "I suspect that at the end of the day, if Elections Canada has the resources to do a proper investigation, they'll find they're themselves significantly responsible," just two days after MP Dean Del Mastro and PM Stephen Harper commenced their failed assault on the Liberal party which has continued up until recently. Rather than calling for a public inquiry, the Conservatives hide behind a sea of allegations and spin.

Vellacott, however, justified his case stating that in his past contested election results, address errors had been found in Elections Canada databases.

"This is no reflection on our faithful, local returning officer ... and their office workers. The errors and misinformation are compiled and compounded by Elections Canada's head office," he said.

"We don't even bother trying to chase down, trace back and correct all these Elections Canada errors anymore. Too much valuable campaign time would be used up on such a project."

"Because Elections Canada too frequently provides incorrect information, and secondly because technological problems occur with trying to merge Elections Canada info for phone lists, there is a significant potential for error.

"Hired live phoners or automated calling systems are only as good as the data provided to them. You know the saying, 'garbage in, garbage out."'

As questions mount as 31,000 complaints are in queue for revision, the Conservatives blamed Michael Sona, the Liberals and now Elections Canada. Who’s next? Wouldn’t it be easier to prove their innocence with a public inquiry? Or is there something that should be left unsaid? The Conservatives only just decided to cooperate with the investigation – after reviewing the tapes for themselves. To their surprise, the Liberals gave in their data, as it is blatantly obvious they have nothing to hide. So what is taking the Conservatives so long to do the logical thing to try to clear their name of allegations – which they claim are false?

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