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UPDATE: Robocalls a crime affecting Peninsula: Elizabeth May

Saanich-Gulf Islands MP calls for inquiry into efforts to dupe voters

There might be thousands of Peninsula residents whose right to vote was affected by robocalls, the riding’s MP said.

And Elizabeth May hopes residents who were affected can help.

“We are trying to solve a crime. Interfering with somebody’s right to vote is a crime,” she told the News Review.

May said a company phoned people in her Saanich-Gulf Islands riding just before the federal election of May 2, 2011 and told voters their polling station had moved in hopes of keeping them from voting.

That election was a tight race in Saanich-Gulf Islands, with Conservative incumbent MP Gary Lunn pegged to win by a small margin. May said she doesn’t believe Lunn is responsible for the calls – rather it was likely someone aiding Lunn.

“The people who received calls as far as I know … were not people who were about to vote Conservative. I’m not suggesting Gary Lunn had anything to do with the dirty tricks in … 2011. Clearly the motivations were to assist the Conservative candidates.”

Lunn’s former financial agent denied the local Conservative riding association was involved in robocalls  in the 2011 election.

“If I had a list of people who were voting for the Green Party or some other party, which I don’t have, and wanted to send them a robocall, I can think of a lot more effective things to do than telling them to go to the wrong polling station,” Bruce Hallsor said. “Ninety-plus per cent of people vote earlier in the day and if they were told to vote five or 10 minutes away from their polling station, they could find their way to the right polling station before they closed.”

In the days leading up to the election, May’s constituency office received a handfull – four or five – calls from voters who had been contacted by the robocalls.

Hallsor said the Conservative Saanich-Gulf Islands Electoral District Association also received calls from Conservative supporters misdirected by robocalls.

Since the story hit national media in late February, May said she’s received many more calls and more than 11,000 emails.

She hopes more people in the riding who were affected will call the constituency office, or contact Elections Canada to report what she is calling a crime against democracy.

“People should care about the fact our riding has been targeted two elections in a row to interfere with the election and nothing’s been done to solve it. … For voters on the Saanich Peninsula, I would think people would think the way I do. We don’t want our community to be somewhere elections are affected by mysterious, nefarious election [tricks].”

Robocalls affected Saanich-Gulf Islands voters in 2008 as well, when Lunn won a close contest against Liberal candidate Briony Penn. Robocalls directed voters to vote for NDP candidate Julian West – who had already dropped out of the race.

“I don’t have any idea how many calls were made in 2011. I know in 2008 it was a substantial number of calls,” May said.

She’s calling for an independent inquiry, similar to the Gomery commission, into the scandal.

“The reason I think we must have full inquiry that is independent is … given what happened in 2008, I just doubt [Elections Canada has] the right capacities to make it work. How could you find the phone lines that, in 2008, led you to the U.S., then you just give up?

“I’m not accusing anyone … Doesn’t anyone want to find out who did it? This is a crime. This is a criminal event.”

Hallsor said the calls giving out incorrect polling station information is likely due to human error and his association does not have a list of supporters of other parties in this riding.

“It is a ridiculous suggestion. That would be the most ineffective method of voter suppression.”

Elections Canada has dedicated a webpage to collecting complaints about robocalls.

The agency created a form to gather contact information from people who were fraudulently contacted in order to interfere with their right to vote. People have complained about being sent to the wrong polling station and being called at inconvenient times. Saanich-Gulf Islands MP Elizabeth May said the robocalls happened in this riding in both the 2008 and 2011 federal elections. She is calling for an inquiry.

To access the Elections Canada complaints form, go to elections.ca and click Report a Fraudulent Call in the bottom right, after selecting your language.