Elections are the life-blood of a democratic system. It is the oxygen that makes it possible. Shut off or in any way limit that oxygen and democracy is faced with death. It may be as Churchill once note "messy" but it is the best we have and even when he was faced with defeat immediately after the end of WW11 (in which he led his nation so inspirationally), he did not resort to subotage/ or subterfuge to prevent this and so strenghtened British democracy. Britain will forever be indebted to him and rewarded him soon after , by making him Prime Minister again in 1951.
Contrast that with the last election in Canada in 2011. The Ref/Cons. had a minority government and desperately wanted a majority and so would seem to resort to under-handed means to get that majority. Thye were ahead in all the polls and the three opposing parties were in dis-array, but that was not enough and they decided to leave nothing to chance. They decided to use "robo-calls" to dis-inform voters about polling stations; they decided to mislead other voters by pretending to be from their ethnic community ( using Pakistani accent or Jewish names, for example); made harassing calls at super time, late at night, early in the morning, on the Sabbath.
They targeted ridings with close races ( the Liberals claim that 27 ridings , 14 in southern Ontario were targeted; the NDP claim that 34 were targeted and the number is growing )According to Stephen Maher of Post Media News and Glen MacGregor of the Ottawa Citizen, 18 "closely fought ridings were targeted with fraudulent automated calls". The Liberals also said 14 ridings received calls from live people.
When you consider that the Ref/Cons. won by a majority of 11 ( 166 seats), the legitimacy of that majority is questionable. This raises some interesting but crucial questions. How many ridings were targeted? Who was responsible ( planned, organised and financed it)? And who knew, what, when and how?
Voter suppression is an attack on democracy. Cheating and breaking the law to win an election is criminal. Harassing and misleading voters, in order to deny them the right to vote is anti-thetical to our democratic values . Using fraud to win an election make it illegitimate. What took place was the systematic denial of voters rights to a free and fair election and is dangerous to our democracy and those quilty of these deleterious actions must be found and made to pay.
Our democracy is under attack. The legitimacy of the government is questionable. Public faith has been shaken again (just recovering from "Gomery"). The Liberals had to pay a high price for their "sponsorship scandal". The party was dismantled by the Gomery Inquiry. Harper saw this and would be hesitant to have an independent commission investigate this "Robogate", but this is the only way to ensure a fair and open investigation and it must be done now. No dilly-dallying, no trying to ride it out. No convenient "fall guys", or "over zealous " miscreants, working by themselves. This goes too far and too widespread to be the work of "the lone wolf". It was too well planned, organised and financed.
Contrast that with the last election in Canada in 2011. The Ref/Cons. had a minority government and desperately wanted a majority and so would seem to resort to under-handed means to get that majority. Thye were ahead in all the polls and the three opposing parties were in dis-array, but that was not enough and they decided to leave nothing to chance. They decided to use "robo-calls" to dis-inform voters about polling stations; they decided to mislead other voters by pretending to be from their ethnic community ( using Pakistani accent or Jewish names, for example); made harassing calls at super time, late at night, early in the morning, on the Sabbath.
They targeted ridings with close races ( the Liberals claim that 27 ridings , 14 in southern Ontario were targeted; the NDP claim that 34 were targeted and the number is growing )According to Stephen Maher of Post Media News and Glen MacGregor of the Ottawa Citizen, 18 "closely fought ridings were targeted with fraudulent automated calls". The Liberals also said 14 ridings received calls from live people.
When you consider that the Ref/Cons. won by a majority of 11 ( 166 seats), the legitimacy of that majority is questionable. This raises some interesting but crucial questions. How many ridings were targeted? Who was responsible ( planned, organised and financed it)? And who knew, what, when and how?
Voter suppression is an attack on democracy. Cheating and breaking the law to win an election is criminal. Harassing and misleading voters, in order to deny them the right to vote is anti-thetical to our democratic values . Using fraud to win an election make it illegitimate. What took place was the systematic denial of voters rights to a free and fair election and is dangerous to our democracy and those quilty of these deleterious actions must be found and made to pay.
Our democracy is under attack. The legitimacy of the government is questionable. Public faith has been shaken again (just recovering from "Gomery"). The Liberals had to pay a high price for their "sponsorship scandal". The party was dismantled by the Gomery Inquiry. Harper saw this and would be hesitant to have an independent commission investigate this "Robogate", but this is the only way to ensure a fair and open investigation and it must be done now. No dilly-dallying, no trying to ride it out. No convenient "fall guys", or "over zealous " miscreants, working by themselves. This goes too far and too widespread to be the work of "the lone wolf". It was too well planned, organised and financed.
