ROBOCALLS A YEAR LATER
Finding answers top priority for Elections Canada,
One year after Canadians first learned Elections Canada was investigating misleading robocalls made during the 2011 federal election, the Commissioner of Canada Elections says the probe is making “significant progress” and remains his No. 1 priority.
In a rare public statement, released to Postmedia News this week, Yves Côté called the investigation “very complex” and seemed to suggest that the current legal framework is making the job harder.
“I have highly competent and motivated people assigned to the file, and while we are limited in the tools at our disposal to gather all of the evidence, we have been making significant progress,” he said.
“This continues to be the top priority for my office.”
Elections Canada has been investigating misleading robocalls sent to more than 6,000 voters in Guelph since shortly after the May 2, 2011 vote. A wider probe of live and prerecorded calls outside of Guelph has been underway since March 2012.
Though Côté doesn’t specify in what way his tools are “limited,” he is likely referring to the investigation provisions in the Elections Act. Under the law, his investigators are constrained by the same evidencegathering standards used in criminal cases — for instance, requiring them to go to court to seek orders compelling the release of documents.
By contrast, government agencies that investigate wrongdoing under a regulatory rather than criminal model do not need to jump through the same legal hoops. In the Guelph probe, Elections Canada has had to file multiple requests with courts in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan to obtain production orders forcing Internet and phone companies to hand over their records. This can be a slow process and is complicated by media reports on the sworn statements in which investigators give the court detailed written accounts on their investigative work.
At the same time, the penalties for Elections Act violations are also relatively weak. No one has ever been jailed and most offences carry fines of $2,000 or $5,000. This could be making it more difficult for investigators chasing “Pierre Poutine,” the pseudonym used by the culprit behind the Guelph calls, to compel evidence from accomplices by suggesting plea agreements.
Côté, a former public servant who had worked for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, took over as commissioner in July when former federal prosecutor William Corbett retired from the job.
Corbett had overseen the investigation of the Conservative party’s “in-and-out” financing of advertising in the 2006 federal election, which eventually led to the party pleading guilty to Elections Act violations after prosecutors agreed to drop charges against four officials, including senators Doug Finley and Irving Gerstein.
Corbett’s departure, which was scheduled before the robocalls story broke, was greeted by concern from some quarters over whether Elections Canada would pursue the politically charged case with same thoroughness he had brought to inand-out. Côté’s expressed commitment to the case — in his first public comment on it — could allay those concerns as the investigation continues into its 21st month.