That's a lot of sour grapes

Via Kady.

• Elections Canada has received a high volume of complaints in recent days as a result of MPs and political parties calling on the public to send information to the agency. More than 31,000 contacts have been initiated with Elections Canada by Canadians. Elections Canada is reviewing these and will take action as appropriate.
  
• The Commissioner of Canada Elections has the authority, during periods of high volume, to contract additional resources or call upon other law enforcement agencies, such as the RCMP, to lend assistance and expertise.

So ... Harper! We're doing exactly what you suggested we do. Obedient little sots that we are.

Better that than an embittered whine.*

Speaking of grapes! Even when they're ripe they can do you in. One of the series of great grape con jobs.

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* The finale provided by Marianne Moore in the retelling of Aesop's Fable, The Fox and the Grapes.

Harper campaigning on Election Day

The Examiner :

"In an interview this morning with Bill Good on CKNW in Vancouver, Stephen Harper openly campaigned for the Conservative Party of Canada, asking listeners to "vote Conservative" in defiance of Elections Canada rules and regulations that state no campaigning may be done during the media blackout on election day."

Well, you know, Harper never much cared for Elections Canada and its silly rules anyway.

Update : There's some duking it out in comments below The Examiner article as to whether Steve actually is in violation of the Canada Elections Act here.

Canada Elections Act : Communications :

Blackout period


323. (1) No person shall knowingly transmit election advertising to the public in an electoral district on polling day before the close of all of the polling stations in the electoral district.

Interpretation

(2) The transmission to the public of a notice of an event that the leader of a registered party intends to attend or an invitation to meet or hear the leader of a registered party is not election advertising for the purpose of subsection (1).

Exceptions

324. Subsection 323(1) does not apply in respect of

(a) the transmission of a message that was transmitted to the public on what is commonly known as the Internet before the blackout period described in that subsection and that was not changed during that period; or
(b) the distribution during that period of pamphlets or the posting of messages on signs, posters or banners.
.
Notice that in 'Exceptions' there is no (c) being Steve.

The secret friends of Gary Lunn

Minister of Natural Oil Resources and While We're At It Let's Fire Linda Keen and Nuke the Tarsands Gary Lunn had some interesting third party advertising help in keeping his seat in Saanich-Gulf Islands.

Of the 52 third parties registered with Elections Canada to advertise for special interest groups, Andrew MacLeod at The Hook reports that four of them share the same address and phone number as the law office of former Alliance Party candidate Bruce Hallsor who, along with the four, was working to re-elect Lunn. The law offices receptionist had never heard of them.

Ah but we have. Patricia Trottier, contact person for one of the four, the "Economic Advisory Council of Saanich", is an oil and gas consultant married to Gwyn Morgan, former CEO of EnCana Corp. where he is still a director.

Hallsor, a former member of the B.C. Chief Electoral Officer's Advisory Committee, is named in Election Canada documents in the alleged Con in-an-out scheme, in which moneys were transferred to local candidates, who then transferred the funds back to the federal party to spend on more advertising for the national campaign. Elections Canada maintains that in this way the Cons exceeded their spending limit by more than $1 million in the previous election.

More Saanich-Gulf Islands shenanigans...
Mike Watkins writes about the automated phone calls allegedly impersonating the NDP and urging voters to vote for an NDP candidate who had already dropped out, thus further splitting the vote. The removed NDP candidate received 3,667 votes, many of which would presumably have gone to second place Liberal Briony Penn, who lost to Lunn by 2,621 votes.

Fun fact : Steve's mom also campaigns for Gary Lunn

Cross-posted at Creekside

Elizabeth May to throw Green votes to Dion says LaPresse

May prête à tout pour battre Harper

At least I think that's what the article says.
Ok here goes my truly terrible French translation :

The leader of the Green Party, Elizabeth May, will ask her troops in the last sprint of the electoral campaign to put all their political weight behind the liberal candidates of Stephan Dion in certain districts where the fight is close in order to block Stephen Harper's Conservatives.
This forms an integral part of the non-aggression pact concluded between the leader of the Green Party and the Liberal leader Stephan Dion in April 2007, LaPresse learned yesterday.

OK, we knew that, but :

But this pact also provides that Mrs. May possibly decides in favour of the election of Stephan Dion for Prime Minister in the last days of the electoral campaign. This electoral strategy had never been revealed up to now.

"The idea of the agreement, it is like a non-aggression pact so that the day before the vote, the environmentalist forces in the urban centres join Stephan Dion. In the discussions with Mrs. May, it was implicitly understood that she will launch a call in favour of Mr. Dion. That was always the spirit of the agreement", affirmed a liberal source well acquainted with the talks between the Liberals and the Greens."

Wow. If someone more fluent in French can give me a less clunky/more accurate translation, I'd be grateful.
Cross-posted at Creekside

A bit of the old 'in and out' on the side, Con style

There's only ever really been one traditional 'in and out' scandal storyline :

~ Honestly I've never done anything like this before.
~But you look like a million bucks to me
~And this just feels so right, there can't possibly be anything wrong with it.
~Besides, everybody else does it too.
~Sneaking around. ... Lying about it.
~Guilt, guilt, guilt - you just gotta ignore it!
~Whoa! That was a close one! I sure hope we never get...
~Busted. Damn.
~But I'm innocent - I swear!
~You're just imagining things. Besides, Baby, it really didn't mean a thing to me

~Yikes!: Damage control is 90% damage + 10% control.

And finally of course no 'in and out' scandal is complete without the obligaTory :
~Beating a hasty retreat down the back fire escape stairs.

Cross-posted at Creekside

Read the Act, Harper. Then get back to us when you have it figured out.

Harper could have taken a higher road. He could have withheld comment by suggesting he needed more information. But he didn't do that.

Instead, he ran off at the mouth like a soup sandwich intent on casting Elections Canada in the worst light possible over an issue that simply does not exist.

Inasmuch as this whole thing is taking on a life of its own, few who are commenting have actually read the rules Harper is claiming Elections Canada is ignoring. Once you do, you realize that Elections Canada is absolutely correct in their interpretation of the means of establishing the identity of a voter at a polling station. Face covered or bared makes no difference whatsoever. Section 143 of the Canada Elections Act spells it all out quite clearly. If you need further clarification, Red Tory and Impolitical actually took the time to read the act and its implications for the identification of electors. Red Tory goes one further and describes how this red herring actually made its way onto the front pages of today's newspapers. Suffice to say that it was a non-issue from the start and I suspect was partially fueled by racism. Add sloppy journalism and a poorly researched report to the mix and you have an issue that was tailor-made to allow Harper to take a swipe at Elections Canada.

Harper and his party are in a head to head fight with Elections Canada over campaign expenses in the 2006 election. That is just the latest bit of head-butting Harper has had with the independent Elections Canada. His history goes back to his days as the head of the National Citizens Coalition and an unsuccessful attempt to have the Supreme Court overrule Elections Canada regulations prohibiting the publication of election results before the last polls had closed.

This whole issue is manufactured. It is designed to give Harper a wedge issue to initiate the breaking apart of Elections Canada, an organization Harper clearly has no use for. Far from being the champion of democracy, Harper would have election legislation rewritten completely and, given the alleged improprieties of the Conservative Party in the last election, you can bet who would be best served by any changes.

For what it's worth, Elections Canada has a global reputation for fairness and scrupulous attention to voters' rights. It's one of the reasons that body is consulted internationally and regularly invited to provide monitors for elections in countries which are attempting to improve their electoral process. Elections Canada occupies a position on the world stage and has done so for longer than Harper has been trying to crawl up the steps.

The requirement to visually identify voters at the polling station simply does not exist. The rules are clear. You can walk in and vote with a paper bag over your head if you want to. The requirement is to determine that the person appearing to vote is on the voters list, resides at the address stated on that list and can produce identification which verifies that name and address. What you look like is irrelevant.

So, Harper can put a lid on the apparent outrage. He's milking a headline and if he had an ounce of honesty he would have stated the truth and put the situation in its proper perspective. He might have even garnered some respect from people who understand the electoral process.

But then, he wouldn't have satisfied the mouth-breathing wanks who form his base. Those whose reading doesn't include acts of parliament.