Today the CBC has released the most comprehensive broadside against the Federal Conservative election machine since initially outing the Guelph robo-call scandal. If reports are to be believed, and most of them seem already to have been publicly substantiated by Elections Canada, then the last federal election was quite likely marred by a stunning polling station shell game played by CPC 'get-out-the-vote' operatives to knowingly misdirect enfranchised citizens and in some cases to frustrate them to a degree that they chose not to vote at all. Yep, this is what voter suppression looks like.
The NDP are right to shout loudly in the press about this issue, given that the Liberals seem to have sullied their own hands in a few less-than-ethical uses of so called 'robo call' technology. It is imperative that the Official Opposition hold the Government to account on this behaviour, which can only increase voter cynicism and from this follows that great enemy of political engagement: voter apathy.
If it is shown that centralized Conservative agents set out to willfully misinform Canadians in a coordinated nation-wide campaign of voter suppression then the last election should immediately be declared invalid, the House of Commons prorogued and an election called immediately. What is most sad is that the CPC came riding into Ottawa with a high idealism of cleaning up corruption, promoting transparency and most importantly championing accountability. And now? With a spotty record on all their key ideals, and with a very real possibility that some within the ruling party believed themselves so close to a coveted majority that they were willing to sideline Canadian voters to get it, will Canadians still buy the goods that the Conservatives stand for moral government in Ottawa?
Tommy Douglas once said Canadians were mice perpetually voting for cats of different colours and calling that change. Given this latest scandal, that has never felt more true.
No comments:
Post a Comment