Today in Robocon – because it’s still
rolling along – we learn that the Conservatives may not have complied with
Elections Canada’s directives that lists of election day polls be used for
internal use only. Meanwhile, revelations in Guelph have Elections Canada
reevaluating Conservative spending records during the campaign, seeing as they
no longer match up to what has been said in the media. Oops. Also, we have more
Elections Canada probes in ridings like Nipissing-Temiskaming, which the Liberals lost by a mere 18 votes. Meanwhile, Conservative MP Maurice
Vellacott points the finger at Elections Canada itself and its terribly
inaccurate voter database as an explanation for why robo-calls could happen. He does, however,
raise the point about the lack of enumeration before elections, and it is a
legitimate point that has also been blamed for declines in voter turnout, so
perhaps this is something that we need to think about restoring. Elsewhere, the
Liberals say they’ll be releasing their phone records to prove there’s nothing
amiss on their side – but the Conservatives say they won’t release their own,
since they did nothing wrong, don’t you know. Guy Giorno took to the Twitter
Machine on Saturday night to test-drive new Conservative talking points. And here’s
a look at the reporting duo that broke the Robocon story.
In other odd partisan-calling news, a
Quebec senior has been harassed by the Conservatives over donations he
apparently promised the party – except he didn’t make any promises. And he’s voted
Liberal all his life. Oops.
Over at iPolitics, Elizabeth Thompson takes
a closer look at secrecy being employed by committees in comparison to the same
period under the last Liberal majority. (Caution: possible paywall, but it’s
totally worth it.) And while in a certain sense there were more in camera
minutes in proportion under the Liberal watch in some committees, the
committees also produced a lot more reports (the drafting of which is typically
done behind closed doors already).
Economist Stephen Gordon takes apart the
“Dutch disease” argument about where our economy is headed.
The premiers of Ontario and Quebec are
joining forces to oppose the federal downloading of costs (like the prisons
agenda) in the new age of austerity.
From Russia, Maclean’s Michael Petrou gathers his thoughts on the corrupt and
illegitimate election there.
FYI, we’ve closed our embassy in Syria.
And those veterans whose presentation
Rob Anders slept through are considering legal action after he called them NDP
hacks (they’re card-carrying Conservatives), communists and Putin-lovers.
Why you can trust Xtra
