Assignment 2
By: Hilary Bowser
# 300768347
An employee for the Conservative Party in Guelph is being charged in connection to election offences. Michael Sona is being charged in connection to robo-calls that were used during an election in 2011. These calls instructed many voters, who were not voting for the conservatives, that their polling stations had been changed to confuse voters and make them frustrated or in some cases miss the opportunity to vote because they were in the wrong location.
Mr. Sona was “bragging†about his involvement in the robo-calls to other Conservative employees. These other employees have given the impression that they believed from what Mr. Sona said that he was acting in a small group, not in a scandal involving many members of the party. This was the position that the Conservative party was presenting when the scandal broke. When asked, other members of the Conservative party denied involvement in the scandal or did not comment at all. One witness claims that Mr. Sona was impersonating a liberal candidate when making calls to voters.
Six witnesses are included in a publication ban, which may be overturned at some point this week. A lawyer for the Conservative party helped find witnesses to inform Elections Canada of the fraudulent phone calls. Mr. Sona allegedly told one of the witnesses that he had purchased a disposable phone and used Visa gift cards to set up the phone calls so that the calls would not be traceable. He also spoke about having a friend who owed him a favour, implying this person’s help in the fraudulent phone calls. He then claimed that this person supplied him with the names and phone numbers of Liberal voters. It is claimed that similar robo-call scandals occurred across Canada and is not only specific to Guelph.
Retrieved from : The National Post
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/11/14/tory-staffer-michael-sona-bragged-about-robocalls-that-attempted-to-prevent-people-from-voting-witnesses-told-investigator/
I am very moved by this article. Bad mouthing opponents and the opposing party in general is one thing, but posing to be an opposing candidate and intentionally misleading and confusing voters to frustrate them into not even voting at all really messes with the integrity and fairness of the election procedure/system itself. With election day about a week away, it makes me wonder how accurate will the results of the upcoming provincial elections really be.
I definitely agree with what Nicole said with regard to integrity and the credibility of the results. I also would like comment on how disheartening this is as well. Politicians constantly comment on how low the voting percentage is here in Canada, and pay for advertising that promotes youth voting and the right to vote but then behind the scenes employees of these same politicians pull stunts such as these. There is a reason why Canadian citizens don’t exercise their right to vote and it is not just about not educating yourself, it’s about losing faith in the system that is meant to protect our democratic society because of individuals such as Mr. Sona.
With the election right around the corner, I find this summary was a very interesting read. I remember when this issue came forward in the media and there was a great deal of controversy around this, there are strict rules around lobbying and pressuring voters. As I understand, the individual in question denied the allegations however the media presented a number of facts that suggested the robo-calls had in fact been made and the charge was issued as a result. Politics is about governing but it is also about governing ethically. Any attempt to sway voters, mislead voters, confuse voters, pressure voters or present incorrect or potentially misleading information is wrong. The justice system has to asses the facts of the case to first determine if there was a fault and secondly to take action to deter any type of inappropriate behaviour in the future. We live in a democratic society and it is vital that the integrity of the political and democratic process be upheld.