Prove Tories guilty, PM challenges opposition
Harper denies knowledge of misleading calls
Standing firm amid questions and allegations of a political conspiracy, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing in the robocalls scandal, and challenged the opposition parties to prove his Conservatives were guilty.
On the first day back for parliamentarians after a week off, the opposition parties used the majority of question period to demand answers from the government about what Conservatives knew about the robocalls and when they knew it.
A Postmedia News-ottawa Citizen investigation revealed last week that Elections Canada has traced fraudulent phone calls made during the federal election to an Edmonton company that worked for the Conservative party across the country.
Opposition parties demanded the Conservatives come clean and provide information proving they were not involved in any telephone campaign to harass voters and direct them to non-existent polling stations.
“The prime minister must be tough on crime,” interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel said. “Will he commit all the necessary resources to investigate and prosecute and put an end to vote suppression?”
Harper rejected what he called “broad, sweeping” allegations from the opposition parties, and put the onus on the NDP and Liberals to provide evidence of wrongdoing.
“If the NDP has any information that inappropriate calls were placed — and we certainly have information in some cases and we have given that to Elections Canada — then I challenge that party to produce that information and give it to Elections Canada,” he said.
The Postmedia News-ottawa Citizen investigation identified 14 ridings where electors reported receiving harassing or deceptive phone messages in an apparent effort to discourage Liberal supporters from voting, including pointing them to non-existent polling stations.
Opposition parties have since alleged that between 27 and 34 ridings were targeted by fraudulent callers with the number or ridings growing as more MPS come forward with reports of questionable calls.
Bloc Quebecois MP Andre Bellavance said supporters in his own rural Quebec riding were targeted by mysterious calls during the 2008 general election at a time when the Conservatives were actively trying to defeat him.
He said his party also made a complaint to the RCMP during a 2009 byelection campaign after a caller, claiming to be from the Bloc, made calls to residents in a closely fought battle that was won by Conservative Bernard Genereux, who was later defeated in the 2011 election by the NDP.
Elections Canada has refused to comment on any investigation into the 2011 federal election, but it confirmed Monday that 127 out of 15,626 polling locations were changed across the country during the campaign.
The Postmedia News-ottawa Citizen investigation found that Elections Canada traced fraudulent calls to Racknine Inc., an Edmonton call centre that worked for the Conservatives’ national campaign and those of at least nine Tory candidates, including Harper in Calgary Southwest. There is no evidence that Harper’s campaign or those of any of the other candidates were involved in the calls. Racknine said it was unaware its servers were being used for the fake calls.
However, NDP ethics critic Charlie angus blasted the prime minister’s refusal to investigate. “It’s a very disturbing message when the prime minister says, ‘Hey, if you’ve got evidence, catch me,’ ” he said.