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Robocall Scandal: Canadians Plan Rallies From Coast-To-Coast Condemn Controversy

Robocall Protests Canada

First Posted: 03/11/2012 2:52 pm Updated: 03/13/2012 4:09 pm

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Protesters armed with placards and megaphones gathered in a number of Canadian cities across Canada on Sunday to call for a public inquiry into the robocall election fraud scandal.

There were modest turnouts of several dozen in Halifax and Montreal while local media outlets estimated the turnout in Toronto was in the hundreds.

In Winnipeg, former Liberal MP Anita Neville joined more than 100 protesters.

Neville lost to Conservative Joyce Bateman in the riding of Winnipeg South Centre in the 2011 election, and some Liberals have said robocalls may have hurt Neville's campaign.

Protest organizers are calling for a full public inquiry into the robocall scandal, in which thousands of voters got phone calls directing them away from the proper polling stations in last May's election.

Montreal demonstrator Alexandra Smith says she wants someone held accountable for the robocalls to ensure Canada has fair and transparent elections.

The Liberals and New Democrats accuse the Conservatives of being behind the calls — a charge Prime Minister Stephen Harper denies.

Elections Canada is reviewing more than 31-thousand reports of Canadians receiving robocalls.

About 42,000 people have signed an online petition for a public inquiry into the matter.

Protests were planned in other cities including Calgary, Regina and Victoria.

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Jim Harris

Jim Harris: Harper Conquers Canada, One Robocall at a Time

This robocall scandal is not just about some inconvenient phone calls, it's about subverting our democracy and altering the outcome of the election. And it's about Harper remaking Canada in his own image.
J.J. McCullough

J.J. McCullough: The Media's Pre-Programmed Response to Robocalls

We don't know much about the scandal right now, which means it's an incredibly exciting time for the nation's political commentators, who will never again enjoy such a vacuum of ambiguity just begging to be filled with their wildest partisan fantasies.
Zach Paikin

Zach Paikin: Harper Will Keep Playing Dirty, So Long as we Let Him

Robocalls are just the latest example of what Canadians have let the Tories get away with. The tragic lesson of modern Canadian politics is clear: Parliamentary crime pays. The Conservative party won its majority by gambling that Canadians didn't care about what goes on the Ottawa bubble. Harper's gamble paid off.

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Takenback
2 Fans
03:40 PM on 03/12/2012
I think all parties used Robocalls to some degree. But "No" I don't like strange telephone calls coming to my house. Seriously lets stop any unauthorized phone calls from being made to residential numbers period. It would hurt fundraisers but heck I have not trusted them for 20 years. If we can make cheques illegal from Credit card companies we can make these calls illegal as well. With call display the unauthorized caller can be picked up immediatly. Some people wanted to know why we needed more jails obviously for illegal callers.
The other thing if a call comes to your house from a strange number, private call or restricted number so you get no number on your call display, "Don't answer it", its not in your interest.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Taylor Jay
I don't align myself with any political party.
44 Fans
03:33 PM on 03/12/2012
the conservative party openly disccusses the use of Supression calls at their own school for democracy? names after Manning himself

these guys are cons, there is almost more to it than comes up on the local news, they were proven to have cheated the 2006 election (not really, but they did admit GUILTY when the new scandal came up)

its unfortunate that they have already changed Canada to the "Harper Government" in the past year Harper has done more campaigning or himself as being the dictator of Canada, Removing all other pictures of other PMS out of his office. Leaving only goofy pictures of him barely being able to stand in a fire suit & other pictures, he even took the picture of the queen down to replace with a picture of himself with a queen.

This is brainwashing in action & unfortunately harley I think you swallowed a little to much fluoride to see what actually is going on in your country.
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HarleyOpenRoad
2185 Fans
12:04 PM on 03/12/2012
Elections Canada reports that in the first week following the election, approx 1,000 complaints were registered, which is normal for every election in recent memory, also according to them.

Now, coincidentally, right after the story breaks on the robocalls, promoted by Liberals, 30,000 more complaints are registered in the next few days.

Reminds me of the hillbilly in the deep South who reports a UFO, and in the next few days his neighbors all report "Yep, ah saw somethin' strange, too".
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Kristopher Leang
training to take down the elite
109 Fans
02:08 PM on 03/12/2012
education. its a good thing harley you should get some
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canfemlib
150 Fans
03:13 PM on 03/12/2012
Yes, we were surprised to learn that the calls from Elections Canada were frauds. Silly us for ever believing that the system wasn't corrupt and we should be suspicious. I got a call on election day, and thought they had made a mistake. No longer will we be able to give anyone the benefit of the doubt now that the CPC party is in full gear.
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justicewhip
0 Fans
 
10:31 AM on 03/12/2012
Fight for your right to vote!
http://youtu.be/ccpFNYbLvjM
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butchcliff
The future is unwritten
261 Fans
06:21 AM on 03/12/2012
Odd that libs are trying to condemn. Apparently they used robocalls in Guelph themselves. Riding which they actually won. Odd that the Cdn Press doesn't mention it.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
djelimon17
what's this thing for?
75 Fans
08:28 AM on 03/12/2012
Were the calls fraudulent and hampering voters from voting?
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butchcliff
The future is unwritten
261 Fans
06:12 AM on 03/13/2012
Misinforming fraudulent calls, is the same thing. It's amazing that when the libs do it, it's ok
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
canobserv
719 Fans
09:26 AM on 03/12/2012
are you kidding??.it is all over the "Canadian press"......of course they didn't actually dirrect anyone to false voting locations
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butchcliff
The future is unwritten
261 Fans
06:19 AM on 03/13/2012
Cdn Press, not Cdn press.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
JackHoffman
Pundit
7751 Fans
 
05:45 AM on 03/12/2012
Apathetic Canadians don't care and never will. Unfortunate.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
canobserv
719 Fans
09:26 AM on 03/12/2012
never say never.....
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
okgranny
Egalitarian by birth
317 Fans
02:35 PM on 03/12/2012
A poll published yesterday found 75% of Canadians want an Inquiry. Don't be too pessimistic, They thought the people were too apathetic to dump lying Campbell here in BC. Now, both he and the HST are gone and his con influenced party are sinking in the polls. It's time too show our colors. How about "purple"? Let's have a purple day for a visual expression of our concern.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
lulex
Made in Canada
147 Fans
 
12:34 AM on 03/12/2012
We had a great turn out at Kitchener City Hall. Lots of folks honking horns in support. My parents got a robocall telling them to go to a different poll on election day in Trenton Ontario so I went to the rally here in Kitchener to show support. At the rally I met four other people who also got calls redirecting them to a different poll on election day. At the time many simply hung up because they voted already but in retrospect, they are now very angry at the situation. One said she will call her phone provider to trace the number that called her house. She wants to get to the bottom of this.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Kenneth T Tellis
47 Fans
11:59 PM on 03/11/2012
Where is your polling station you may ask of the Elections Canada. And they might JUST tell you it is in the Pigeon coop way up high. But there has been an improvement in LIBERAL POLICY no doubt. Because they have gone from SHAMOCRACY to ROBOCRACY.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
lulex
Made in Canada
147 Fans
 
01:20 AM on 03/12/2012
Check out this article and see who APOLOGIZED for a robocall that tried to redirect a resident of St. Clemens to another poll: http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/642815--tories-say-misleading-phone-call-was-a-mistake
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Bytown
One way or the other!!
158 Fans
10:49 PM on 03/11/2012
30 people in Ottawa on parliement hill.
20 were reporters and the rest opposition reps.

Looks like the new car smell is gone on this one.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
djelimon17
what's this thing for?
75 Fans
09:06 PM on 03/11/2012
Toronto had a pretty big turnout.
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dresdengirl
2587 Fans
11:54 PM on 03/11/2012
which would have been much larger, if more people knew about it.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
djelimon17
what's this thing for?
75 Fans
08:29 AM on 03/12/2012
I got my notice through avaaz
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Chris Tomaszewski
2 Fans
08:42 PM on 03/11/2012
http://bit.ly/AyfRGW I took pics!
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brianmouland
25 Fans
 
12:56 AM on 03/12/2012
How many would you estimate were there Chris
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rightorwrongihaveavoice
47 Fans
07:57 PM on 03/11/2012
Awesome, I applaud all those that are in larger centers, who can organize and get out and protest.

I unfortunately I live in a small redneck town in western Canada, held by conservatives for decades, it feels as though I am the only one here to sees the devastation of our democracy or perhaps the only one who cares, sucks.

The poor, working poor, working and middle class have lousy lobbyists, unlike the wealthy who have the best that money can buy.

Get active, get out and vote. Take back the government from the hands of the ultra-wealthy.
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denisleo
0 Fans
01:11 PM on 03/12/2012
Must have been 50 people out to protest in Toronto, with probably 50 reporters and hanger on's from the CBC and other media. When you vote you win, democracy is not devastated. Democracy allows anyone to protest an outcome, shout out your disapproval, write to to representative with a complaint. Almost 15 million Canadians voted in the federal election of 2011. The Conservatives won a majority. Live with it. During the next election get off your duff and campaign vigorously for your party of choice. Maybe with your participation your candidate of choice will win.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
okgranny
Egalitarian by birth
317 Fans
02:19 PM on 03/12/2012
I saw video footage from CTV which showed at least a thousand people around Dundas in Toronto.
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rightorwrongihaveavoice
47 Fans
03:36 PM on 03/12/2012
Chuckle, go ahead support these corporatists. You, your children, your grandchildren will pay the price for decades to come with lower wages, lower standards of living, your choice.

Democracy has been suspended under harper and his cronies, he is a corporate pawn, bought and paid for by the wealthy. Harper runs a corporatocracy, he is simply a neo-con.

The inference that harper has a majority is laughable, barely 60% of Canadians even bothered to vote, of those barely 50% of them voted for the corporatists oops I mean the neo-cons, oops again I meant the conservatives. That equates to less than 30% of Canadians imposing their wishes on the other 70%. So who is the true majority here?

You are being duped by the wealthy.

And people champion for the upper 1%, to their own detriment? How ridiculous, how under informed! There is NO trickle down economy!

The poor, working poor, working and middle class have lousy lobbyists, unlike the wealthy who have the best that money can buy.

Get active get out and vote, take back the country form the Corporatists, the elite and the upper 1%.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
rickthaluddite
What noisy cats are we
426 Fans
 
06:50 PM on 03/11/2012
We had about 100 people march in Guelph this afternoon.
http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local/article/685298--guelph-residents-demand-a-public-inquiry-into-robocall-scandal
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Language Learner
149 Fans
05:20 PM on 03/11/2012
This is not a left or right issue, this is an issue of Democracy. We've been divided by race, religion, class, and even sports. This was designed this way to keep up fighting among ourselves, what would happen if we put aside our differences and decided to work together?

These old men would become obsolete and this will happen very soon. The people are waking up from their slumber.....
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A Tired Canadian
40 Fans
07:53 PM on 03/11/2012
The only issue that is evident here is one of TOTAL STUPIDTY!
Face it, everyone is using these robocalls, from someone trying to get you to accept a new credit card to some clown in a travel agency offering a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. Everybody gets them and if you have at least one functioning brain cell you HANG UP. If someone tries to say their vote was swayed by this they should be banned from voting for reasons of sheer stupidty!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
djelimon17
what's this thing for?
75 Fans
09:10 PM on 03/11/2012
Not everyone is committing election fraud with robocalls

Why do people get caught up in the technology and forget about the fraud?

If you want to ban the elderly (the age group targeted) from voting I support your right to lobby for it

But having a crappy alarm system is not a license for burglary
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Canuckview
292 Fans
09:41 PM on 03/11/2012
the issue is no robo calls (which are legal) my frightened little Tory but using them to impersonate Elections Canada is a crime and only Tories have been implicated in that crime.
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Mrs Robinsons
42 Fans
05:15 PM on 03/11/2012
We are stuck in a rut again..
spending months talking about the
tea party discussion topic
(I guess up here we should call it a coffee party)
...
we are going to miss all the important issues again...
and spend so much time complaining that we
forget that all we have to do in Canada
is acknowledge that we can't be sure the sites on line are giving us accurate poll information..
that NOTHING on the phone lines is reliable...
that perhaps Canada Post will catch a mass mailing that is incorrect...
but other than that we could just look in our newspapers
and know that if we BELIEVE we are safe...
and fall into the rut of trusting that the government is in control of itself..
we WILL be duped again
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