Opposition demands public probe on robocalls

Harper denounces claims Tories involved, dismissing them as a ‘smear’ campaign

OTTAWA – A public inquiry is needed to get to the bottom of the robocall scandal, the NDP says, suggesting the issue be treated like the investigation into the Quebec sponsorship scandal.

But Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday the Conservative party had “absolutely” and “definitively” no role in the affair now being investigated by Elections Canada. Harper told the House of Commons the opposition accusations against his party amount to a “smear” campaign.

NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus was undaunted. “We need a public inquiry,” he said Wednesday.

“We believe the issue of an inquiry needs to be addressed because of the seriousness and the scope of what we’re looking at,” he added. “We think Judge Gomery did an excellent job before for Canadians and they trust him.”

He was referring to John Gomery, the retired jurist who led a public inquiry between 2004-06 into the Quebec sponsorship scandal involving the Liberal government of former prime minister Jean Chrétien.

For a third day, opposition parties pummelled the government over allegations voters were misdirected during the election last spring. A Postmedia News-ottawa Citizen investigation last week revealed Elections Canada had traced some fraudulent phone calls made during the election to a disposable-phone account operated by someone using the alias “Pierre Poutine.” The automated calls were chan- nelled through Racknine, an Edmonton voice-broadcast company that says it was unaware of the content of the calls.

Election scanada launched its investigation after complaints about election day calls in Guelph, Ont., one of at least 18 ridings across the country where voters were targeted by harassing or deceptive phone messages in an apparent effort to discourage Liberal supporters.

Conservatives have repeatedly said they are co-operating fully with Elections Canada in the investigation and there is no evidence of their party’s involvement in the scandal.

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae disagreed, saying widespread complaints from the public about misleading robocalls and reports of other dirty tricks is substantial evidence that something fishy was afoot during the last election.

“We’ve provided a great deal of substance on this,” he said. “It appears to be part of a pattern that in fact you are changing how people can vote, you are engaging in electoral fraud.”

Rae said the government is displaying a “catch-meif-you-can” attitude. He recalled that the Tories denied the in-and-out political financing scandal, springing from the 2006 election, until the bitter end and expects the same tactics this time around.

“They said the in-and-out situation was unsubstantiated until they finally had to accept a guilty plea and pay $50,000,” he said. “They’re clearly not going to respond until they absolutely have to.”

Rae said he is confident Elections Canada is taking all complaints seriously, but that he is concerned the elections agency doesn’t have adequate resources to launch investigations into all the complaints that are being put to it.

“There are complaints that have gone in months ago that we’re only now getting acknowledgment from Elec- tions Canada that this has happened,” he said.

The NDP has submitted three wide-ranging order paper questions – which must be answered by the government in writing – this week, seeking information about Racknine and two other companies.

The questions from NDP MP Pat Martin seek information on “all payments made by the government” to the three firms in the past five years. They ask for the origin of any payments that may have been made, requesting specifics on whether any originated from the Prime Minister’s Office, minister’s offices or other government departments or agencies.

The six-part questions seek the disclosure of all details related to any payments made, such as all dates, and “what services were procured through the payment.”

“We have the right to know what is the full extent of the relationship between the government and these three obviously Conservative- friendly communications firms,” Martin said.

Martin told Postmedia News on Wednesday he had received a letter from a lawyer for Racknine and another firm requesting he retract comments he had made about the companies earlier this week.

Comments made by MPS within the House of Commons are protected by Parliamentary privilege, which allows them to make comments without fear of legal action for slander. However, comments made outside the chamber are not covered.

Martin said he was consulting his lawyers.

Dean Del Mastro, parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, said voter suppression “is a very serious issue.” However, Del Mastro told reporters his party isn’t conducting its own investigation and will leave the matter to Elections Canada, which he believes has the necessary resources to get to the bottom of the issue.