Harper denies party involved in dirty election tricks

OTTAWA — The Conservatives scrambled Thursday to distance themselves from fraudulent “robocalls” sent out during last year’s federal election and attempted to point suspicion at a young campaign worker.

In response to a Postmedia News report that Elections Canada investigation has traced the robocalls to a call centre that counted the Conservative Party among its customers, Prime Minister Stephen Harper denied his party was involved in the attempt to mislead voters.

“Our party has no knowledge of these calls,” Harper told reporters in Iqaluit. “It’s not part of our campaign.” Anyone found responsible would face the full consequence of the law, Harper said.

Later in the day, a Conservativefriendly media outlet cited two anonymous Conservative party sources and reported a staff member who had worked on the campaign of Guelph, Ont., Conservative candidate Marty Burke was a person of interest to the investigation.

The recorded election day calls received in Guelph and other ridings represented themselves as from Elections Canada and told voters their polling stations had been moved, which was not the case.

The Conservatives’ campaign manger, Jenni Byrne, issued a statement that denied any connection to the calls but also raised the possibility that a campaign worker could have been involved. “The party was not involved with these calls and if anyone on a local campaign was involved they will not play a role in a future campaign.”

While Elections Canada continues to investigate, the party is conducting its own internal investigation.

Sun Media’s website ran a photograph of a Burke campaign worker, standing next to Harper at what appears to be a campaign event, claiming he was being investigated by the party in relation to the calls.

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae dismissed the naming of the staffer as a tactic, noting that he was identified only after the story surfaced.

“Why would they only find the guy today, after the story has come out? They’ve known about this allegation a long time.”

Rae said the real blame for any election trickery rests with the political culture Harper has created in the party.

“The prime minister has created a Nixonian culture,” Rae said. “This stuff doesn’t happen unless the boss lets it happen.”

“He has allowed to seep into his party and into his organization a culture of attack and, frankly, a culture of deception and dirty tricks, where almost anything goes.”