Monday, February 27, 2012

Dear media: Don't flinch on election fraud!

Michael Den Tandt in the Vancouver Sun writes,

The Conservatives won their majority with 166 seats. That's a margin of 11. That means the legitimacy of the Tory majority is in question. It's simple math.

Yet then immediately flinches, next claiming that,

No, this will not lead to a redo of the May 2 vote, or to by elections in ridings found by Elections Canada to have been targeted. That's because, though outcomes may have been affected, it will be nigh impossible to establish by how much. All we can say is that the legitimacy of Tory victories, in ridings found to have been hit by fraudulent tactics favouring Conservatives, and in which the Conservatives won, will be permanently tainted.
I counter by saying if you can't determine the result in an election then a means must be found of rectifying that situation. In the case of a post facto revelation that the winner of a particular contest used fraudulent means to secure his win, then that result must be nullified and the contest re-fought or redressed by some means. 
Why? Because, as Mr. Den Tandt even says, the legitimacy of the result is in question. Not taking substantive and rigorous action to rectify the problem is letting the illegitimate result stand. The fact a result was obtained partly through the use of fraud makes the result fraudulent, whether or not you can show the degree to which the result was affected by the deception. 

If a student is caught cheating on paper or exam, they get a zero. If in a university, the professor is required to report the fraud the appropriate body for thorough investigation, which may well result in expulsion. The authorities do not try to determine how much of the assignment was tainted by cheating and then assign a grade based on the clean portion. There's no difference with a fraudulent election.

As I said here, dear media, don't sit there smattering yourself away from the obvious conclusions.

Yes, I agree with Alison and Mr. Den Tandt that we need a judicial enquiry, but we also need an Elections Canada and RCMP investigation that will lay charges where charges need to be laid. 
Furthermore, the Governor General had best be reading up on his reserve powers because candidates and a Party obtaining wins through fraud must not form the government. 

5 comments:

Steve said...

Right on, lets get the Chinese to complain about the lack of Democracy in Canada.

Gloria said...

There is a great concern about, trusting Elections Canada, the judicial system and the RCMP.

Elections BC, was absolutely corrupt and used dirty tactics along with Gordon Campbell's fight to keep the HST. Nor do the BC people have any use for the RCMP. Worst of all...was B.C's totally corrupt judicial system. On Gordon Campbell's theft and corrupt sale of BC's Railroad trial. I doubt any BC people will go along with the crap of the robocon calls investigation. Harper and Campbell also lied about the HST and forced that illegal tax on the BC people.

What we do know is, we don't trust, dictator Harper. Nor do we trust nor believe Harper's ranting and raving henchmen.

Toews deserves everything he gets. If we are pedophiles?? What in the hell is Toews?

liberal supporter said...

Folks we are at the beginning of a full blown Constitutional crisis. When there are 100,000 people in the streets, the GG will act, given he is the only one with widely recognized legitimacy.

Will Harper do the right thing and call an election? He'll be excused for breaking his own fixed election dates law. Or will he cling to power? Will the Canadian Forces back him? Will the RCMP back him? Did you ever think we'd one day be seriously asking such banana republic type questions?

Alison said...

"On Tuesday, the procedure and house affairs committee tabled a report in response to the post-election report of Marc Mayrand, chief electoral officer.

After the recent election, Mayrand sought to enhance the agency's power to examine documents that support the expenses that political parties claim in election campaigns, which would allow investigators and officials to get a better picture of how campaigns are run.

The vote on that motion was defeated in a secret vote earlier in February, which means MPs can't discuss it publicly, but sources say the NDP and Liberals voted to enhance the agency's powers but the Conservatives, who have a majority on the committee, voted against."

Link

Without those powers, I don't see how EC can properly investigate the details of election fraud or be in a position to call on the the RCMP to investigate further. It's a dead-end. Hence the need for a public judicial inquiry.

the regina mom said...

I have to say that for once I'm somewhat pleased with the work the MSM is doing on this one. Here's hoping they keep it up!