Group wants progress on robocalls scandal

A group seeking to overturn the results of last year’s election in seven ridings has asked Elections Canada to provide more details of its ongoing investigation of the robocalls affair.

The lawyer for the Council of Canadians wrote to the electoral agency’s lawyer Wednesday, asking for documents and statistics that could help bolster claims that pre-recorded and live calls made to voters suppressed enough votes to change the outcome in the ridings.

Elections Canada has stayed mum about the investigation since Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand appeared before a committee hearing in March.

The agency refuses to give new information about the status of the investigation in Guelph and other ridings.

Lawyer Steven Shrybman hopes to pierce the veil of secrecy surrounding the investigation by requesting full disclosure of the court orders obtained by Elections Canada investigators.

Some production orders obtained by the investigator probing the “Pierre Poutine” calls in Guelph have already been made public.

But the documents give no indication whether Elections Canada is actively pursuing the approximately 800 complaints received from voters in 200 ridings across that Mayrand cited in March.

Shrybman wants to know if other production orders have been filed.