The Conservative Party of Canada has been caught spitting on democracy yet again.
This time it’s voter suppression in Kitchener-Conestoga—and some odd goings-on elsewhere:
On May 2, Elections Canada reported it received more than 100 complaints of phone calls offering fake polling station information from the Waterloo Region and Guelph areas, telling residents to go to the poll on their voter registration card.
…None of the pesky calls stuck in [Dorothy Venkiteswaran’s] mind as clearly as one that said her polling station had changed.
“I thought, why would they change it? It’s always been at a school,” she said. “I think they said it was at a church.”
She lives in conservative MP Peter Braid’s Kitchener-Waterloo riding.
Guess who helped out Braid this past election, to the rollicking tune of $19,210? Why, Nick Kouvalis’ Campaign Research—the folks who assisted House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer.
Here’s Braid, oozing more slime than a hagfish:
“I used them for a very specific and limited purpose and that was phone calling to constituents and voter identification,” said Braid. “Nick has a particular expertise in this and that’s why it was helpful to have him involved.”
Braid said he’d consider using Campaign Research again, citing its excellent record with live phone calls. He added “It doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with everything they do.” [emphasis added]
Ah, “plausible deniability,” that ready-made alibi for every dirty trick in the US Republicans’ bulging playbook. We’ve seen that movie play well in Peoria: now, thanks to the Harper gang, it’s coming soon to a riding near you.
[H/t deBeauxOs, b/c]