ROBOCALL - DEMAND A PUBLIC INQUIRY! . . .UPDATES

[Oscar]

How far is Harper from losing Majority Government?

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5912

The Supreme Court will hear Election result July 10.

Harper might lose his majority government, sooner than the next scheduled Federal Election in 2015. Look at recent developments and then do the math.

1. The Supreme Court will hear the Etobicoke Centre appeal of election results on July 10th (Former Liberal MP welcomes rare July sitting for high court on election case) http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5914. The likely outcome in my mind, is a by-election.

2. It is possible that Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro (Peterborough) will go down. He is in serious trouble with Elections Canada's investigation of his 2008 campaign financing. When the court document became public, citizens quickly responded with further damning evidence of their own. They had been asked to make a contribution of $1000 to Del Mastro's campaign, in return for which they received $1050 back.

Elections Canada says in a court document it has reasonable grounds to believe offences were committed by Dean Del Mastro, who serves as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's parliamentary secretary, and by his campaign's official agent. Del Mastro has also led the Government's defence against the robocall scandal. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5878

Employees linked to cousin's company each gave $1,000 to Del Mastro campaign http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5908

3. There are the 7 robocall ridings.

4. It's possible that more citizens in other ridings "know things" and will also be motivated to speak up.

This is where we have a role to play. IF PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW what happened in Mississauga, and how people spoke up, they are not in a position to help out.

If YOU didn't know about it, THEY are unlikely to know.

So - - spread the word! It's the only way to defend against fraud, corruption and the slide down the slope to loss of democracy.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

DO THE MATH: What is the potential for taking down Harper's Conservative majority government?
166 seats in the House of Commons are held by the Conservatives.

155 seats constitute majority government (308 seats in total, (1/2 + 1) = (154 + 1 = 155))

154 seats is a minority of seats

Therefore, a loss of 12 seats (unadjusted) = Conservative Minority Government

Adjust for Speaker-of-the-House:

- 1 Andrew Scheer, Conservative. By the Constitution, the Speaker cannot vote unless his or her vote would break a tie.

So, the loss of 11 seats would mean Conservative loss of Majority Government.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Number of seats currently at risk:

1 Etobicoke Centre.

June 15, The Supreme Court "says it will hear the Etobicoke Centre case in an unusual summer sitting on July 10." (Conservative MP Ted Opitz won the seat by 26 votes. Liberal candidate Borys Wrzesnewskyj immediately after the Election challenged the results in Court. In May, Judge Thomas Lederer of the Ontario Superior Court found that Elections Canada officials made clerical errors at the polls. He threw out 79 votes and overturned the final result which the Conservatives then appealed. And now the news, Former Liberal MP welcomes rare July sitting for high court on election case http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5914.)

1 Del Mastro's riding of Peterborough, as explained above.

7 Robocall ridings

Don Valley East in Ontario, won by Conservative MP Joe Daniel by 870 votes.
Nipissing-Timiskaming in Ontario, won by Conservative MP Jay Aspin by 18 votes.
Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar in Saskatchewan, won by Conservative Kelly Block by 538 votes.
Vancouver Island North in B.C., won by Conservative John Duncan by 1,827 votes.
Winnipeg South Centre in Manitoba, won by Conservative MP Joyce Bateman by 722 votes.
Elmwood-Transcona in Manitoba, won by Conservative MP Lawrence Toet by 300 votes.
Yukon won by Conservative Ryan Leef by 132 votes.
TOTAL : 9 ridings currently at risk

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Conservatives are doing what they can to block progress on the robocall ridings through the Courts. But the Supreme Court expedited the Etobicoke Centre case.

If TWO more ridings surface where offences were committed by Conservatives, the Harper majority could go down.

It replenishes my faith and fires my spirit to see citizens who "know something", speak up. In this Del Mastro instance, I believe that most of them are from Mississauga.

Let's hear a thundering round of applause for the defenders of Canadian values:

in Mississauga, the (literally) HUNDREDS of thousands in Quebec all those thousands who worked across Canada to draw Bill C-38 to attention.

I do believe we will overcome the greedy and unscrupulous who embrace not-Canadian, not-human corporate values.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = == = = = ==

Email from Sandra Finley
Saskatoon, SK Canada
306-373-8078

[Oscar]

SHIELDS: Should Politicians Enjoy Privileges Not available To The Public Before The Law??

----- Original Message -----
From: Stewart Shields
To: CommissionersOffice ; Peter - M.P. Julian
Cc: Alberta Activism ; Canada's Canada ; dnd_mdn@forces.gc.ca ; flaherty ; ForestEthics Advocacy Tzeporah Berman ; goodale ; peter watson ; Premier Graham ; premier@gov.nl.ca ; Prime ministre
Sent: Sunday, June 17, 2012 3:17 PM

You bet your butt Del-Mastro’s Lawyer would love to meet privately with Elections Canada!

I would also if I were Del-Mastro! I can’t believe how the Tories are trying their best to shed a bad light on Elections Canada, by trying to leave the impression Del-Mastro was used unfairly by not being coddled by Elections Canada!

The Tories, as is normal for them, has started to attack Frank Hall, president of Holinshed, in a method to discredit his character as again a method of protecting the Buffoon—Del-mastro!! I come to Elections Canada from a different perspective---in wanting charges brought to any and all Tory members involved in Robo-calls and other acts against our democracy!

Harper himself was given a form of deference by Elections Canada, on his outlandish attacks on the NDP party over the Canadian airways on election day, on the chorus radio network in Calgary, with respect to the Rutherford show!! This leniency toward high ranking Canadian politicians must be brought to the attention of the Canadian public—with hopes they will come to terms with how our democracy is being misused—and demand action

The Tories lack of action against Mulroney after the enlightened facts that came out during the Oliphant hearings-- has left the Canadian public with little doubt about the difference our elected persons enjoy in front of Canadian law, with respect to the average public citizen!! To gain a degree of public respect for our democracy and the law under that democracy, Elections Canada have a duty to bring those who have attacked or misused our electoral laws before our courts for lawful correction!! Go Election Canada Go!!!

Stewart Shields
Lacombe, Alberta

- - - -

Del Mastro lawyer wants meeting with Elections Canada

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/06/15/
pol-del-mastro-lawyer-letter-to-elections-canada.html

Agency wants Tory MP cautioned his statement could be used against him, lawyer says

By Laura Payton, CBC News

Posted: Jun 15, 2012 11:27 AM ET
Last Updated: Jun 15, 2012 6:36 PM ET

A lawyer for Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro says in a letter to Elections Canada that he's profoundly disappointed the agency won't meet with them unless Del Mastro has been read his rights

Related Stories

MP Del Mastro bank records turned over to Elections Canada
View the two memos filed with Elections Canada (.pdf)
Del Mastro denies campaign spent $21K on Holinshed
5 questions about Dean Del Mastro's election spending
MP Del Mastro's election returns leave questions swirling

A lawyer for Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro says in a letter to Elections Canada that he's disappointed the agency won't meet with them unless Del Mastro understands his statements could be used against him in court.

In a letter written June 13 and provided to CBC News, Jeffrey Ayotte writes of his "profound disappointment" that Elections Canada won't meet with Del Mastro or any of his representatives.

Ayotte says in the letter he's confirming a conversation with Elections Canada officials.

"I further confirm that Elections Canada will only be interested in meeting with Mr. Del Mastro at some point in the future if he is prepared to give a cautioned statement," Ayotte wrote.

A cautioned statement means people answering questions are aware their statements can be used against them in court.

Elections Canada is investigating Del Mastro over allegations he and his campaign spent too much on the 2008 election.

The case revolves around a personal cheque written by Del Mastro to Holinshed Research Group, which did research and made live phone calls to constituents as part of his election campaign.

Mystery memo [ . . . ]

[Oscar]

COMMENTARY - Could Harper lose his majority government?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Janet M Eaton" <jmeaton@ns.sympatico.ca>
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2012 7:51 AM
Subject: Robocalls: New developments. Could Harper lose his Majority
Government? Spread the Word + JE Commentary

Dear All:

Sandra Finley (below) says Harper might lose his majority government, sooner than the next scheduled Federal Election in 2015.
Elizabeth May has been saying all along that Harper must go within the next year--I would say that it is too dangerous to allow him to proceed not only for the planetary cycles and ecosystems upon which we depend but also for our own welfare, for our democratic rights, civic rights, freedom of speech, freedom to protest, our security, health, economic justice, well-being and the conservation and appropriate use of the biophysical resources upon which we depend for long term survival.

We must keep the awareness of Harper's governments almost weekly if not daily disrespect for Parliamentary democracy and his dismantling and devastation of democratically achieved legislation out there in full public view; we must continue to expose the egregious nature of his government which is now on the slippery slope towards fascism and Petrostate, and we must keep working for and articulating the change we want not as some prescription of old political party values but as a well thought out vision arrived at by 'decolonizing' our minds of past paradigms and then considering principles and frameworks that can help us arrive at ethical and ecological and economically sustainable systems i.e to shift in the short term and survive in the long term.

We must articulate and hold high , ideals and values, such as the 'common good', participatory democracy, smaller scale government, localization, national control of trade, dismantling of the Bretton Woods Institutions and implementing alternatives, a return to tariffs and quotas that protect local agriculture and manufacturing and ecological sustainable development, a return to public banking; awareness of the need for steady state economies and the concept of degrowth; embedding the economy in the social and cultural domain; and understanding and pushing for wealth re-distribution and in the south land redistribution, focus on quality not quantity etc..

These along with other related prescriptions for change are all suggestions that come from many of the minds that have been looking at how we make the shift for long term survival and to weaken the impact of collapse - recognizing that we are at the 'end of growth' - - minds such as David Korten in his New Economic Agenda; Walden Bello and his concept of Deglobalization; Herman Daly in his Steady State Economics {SSE} ; Richard Heinberg in his 'Power Down'; many Degrowth economists; Transition Town active participants; advocates of Localization and many, many more. They are all coming to the same conclusion - the existing economic model has failed. We are at the end of economic growth as we have known it i.e the neoclassical, free market model -- for many reasons from climate change, massive contamination and disruption of all our ecosystems upon which life depends; depletion of natural resources-- peak oil, and peak everything as we continue to deplete most of the natural resources upon which we depend; inability to produce enough food via the present system of agribusiness; not to mention financial collapse and breakdown of the capitalist system i.e we are fast reaching the limits to growth, however you cut it. Fossil fuels allowed a population surge and an unprecendented increase in growth and draw down of natural resources since the industrial revolution, resources which cannot regenerate. We now must live by the Laws of nature such as the laws of Thermodynamics, Liebig's Law of the minimum etc; consider formulas such as Energy Return on Energy Invested {EROI] in making energy related decisions and recognize that the Biophysical
limits of the planet must be part of the new economics of reality.

So as Sandra states below - in regard to the Robocalls and calling Harper government out:

---------------

IF PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW what happened in Mississauga, and how people spoke up, they are not in a position to help out.

If YOU didn't know about it, THEY are unlikely to know.

So - - spread the word! It's the only way to defend against fraud, corruption and the slide down the slope to loss of democracy.
-------------------

Likewise we all must learn about and speak out about alternatives to a flawed and failed economic system and then join with fellow citizens to re-envision, re-think and re-fashion a livable society where we shall thrive on a different paradigm of wealth and well-being!

Tonight three of us from Nova Scotia who attended the recent Degrowth Conference in Montreal are offering a Debriefing on that experience and on Degrowth as a well established, academically based idea that embodies all of the suggestions mentioned above.

As Joanna Macy suggested in her framework for The Great Turning - to create systemic change i.e to shift the paradigm from today's outmoded economic model we must do three things at once.

1. Continue to stand against the old system
2. Deconstruct the old sytsem and envision the new system and start articulating it.
3. Ensure there is a consciousness shift for as Einstein said - We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

So stand against the Harper government on an ongoing basis - Robocalls, bill C-38, Fighter Jets etc; learn about the alternatives and work toward systemic or paradigmatic policy shifts; and take time for the personal work that brings ones life into balance while seeking out like minded communities and working to build strong local communities wherever you are -things like voluntary simplicty movements, transition towns, local food movements, and local living economies and communities!

fyi- janet

Please forward this e-mail to your lists, friends, and Facebook using the website address below - http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5912. At least the following part of it if not all.

===============================

This email is posted on-line at
http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5912.

Harper might lose his majority government, sooner than the next scheduled Federal Election in 2015. Look at recent developments and then do the math.

1. The Supreme Court will hear the Etobicoke Centre appeal of election results on July 10th (Former Liberal MP welcomes rare July sitting for high court on election case) http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5914. The likely outcome in my mind, is a by-election.

2. It is possible that Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro (Peterborough) will go down. He is in serious trouble with Elections Canada's investigation of his 2008 campaign financing. When the court document became public, citizens quickly responded with further damning evidence of their own. They had been asked to make a contribution of $1000 to Del Mastro's campaign, in return for which they received $1050 back.

Elections Canada says in a court document it has reasonable grounds to believe offences were committed by Dean Del Mastro, who serves as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's parliamentary secretary, and by his campaign's official agent. Del Mastro has also led the Government's defence against the robocall scandal: http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5878

Employees linked to cousin's company each gave $1,000 to Del Mastro
campaign: http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5908

3. There are the 7 robocall ridings.

4. It's possible that more citizens in other ridings "know things" and will also be motivated to speak up.

This is where we have a role to play. IF PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW what happened in Mississauga, and how people spoke up, they are not in a position to help out.

If YOU didn't know about it, THEY are unlikely to know.

So - - spread the word! It's the only way to defend against fraud, corruption and the slide down the slope to loss of democracy.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

DO THE MATH: What is the potential for taking down Harper's Conservative majority government?

166 seats in the House of Commons are held by the Conservatives.

155 seats constitute majority government (308 seats in total, (1/2 + 1) = (154 + 1 = 155))

154 seats is a minority of seats

Therefore, a loss of 12 seats (unadjusted) = Conservative Minority Government

Adjust for Speaker-of-the-House:
- 1 Andrew Scheer, Conservative. By the Constitution, the Speaker cannot vote unless his or her vote would break a tie.

So, the loss of 11 seats would mean Conservative loss of Majority
Government.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Number of seats currently at risk:
1 Etobicoke Centre.

June 15, The Supreme Court "says it will hear the Etobicoke Centre case in an unusual summer sitting on July 10." (Conservative MP Ted Opitz won the seat by 26 votes. Liberal candidate Borys Wrzesnewskyj immediately after the Election challenged the results in Court. In May, Judge Thomas Lederer of the Ontario Superior Court found that Elections Canada officials made clerical errors at the polls. He threw out 79 votes and overturned the final result which the Conservatives then appealed. And now the news, Former Liberal MP welcomes rare July sitting for high court on election case http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5914.)

1 Del Mastro's riding of Peterborough, as explained above.

7 Robocall ridings

Don Valley East in Ontario, won by Conservative MP Joe Daniel by 870 votes.
Nipissing-Timiskaming in Ontario, won by Conservative MP Jay Aspin by 18 votes.
Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar in Saskatchewan, won by Conservative Kelly Block by 538 votes.
Vancouver Island North in B.C., won by Conservative John Duncan by 1,827 votes.
Winnipeg South Centre in Manitoba, won by Conservative MP Joyce Bateman by 722 votes.
Elmwood-Transcona in Manitoba, won by Conservative MP Lawrence Toet by 300 votes.
Yukon won by Conservative Ryan Leef by 132 votes.

TOTAL : 9 ridings currently at risk

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Conservatives are doing what they can to block progress on the robocall ridings through the Courts. But the Supreme Court expedited the Etobicoke Centre case.

If TWO more ridings surface where offences were committed by Conservatives, the Harper majority could go down.

It replenishes my faith and fires my spirit to see citizens who "know something", speak up. In this Del Mastro instance, I believe that most of them are from Mississauga.

Let's hear a thundering round of applause for the defenders of Canadian values:

in Mississauga
the (literally) HUNDREDS of thousands in Quebec all those thousands who worked across Canada to draw Bill C-38 to attention.

I do believe we will overcome the greedy and unscrupulous who embrace
not-Canadian, not-human corporate values.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = == = = = ==

Email from Sandra Finley

Saskatoon, SK Canada

306-373-8078

[Oscar]

Robocall-related complaints filed too late, Tory lawyer argues

http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Federal ... 012/06/25/
robocall-tory-lawyer/
?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=260612

By The Canadian Press June 25, 2012 08:44 am

A bid to overturn the federal election results in a handful of tightly contested ridings should be tossed out, because the cases were filed too late, the Federal Court heard Monday.

The Council of Canadians has asked the court to review the May 2011 election results in seven ridings where Conservative MPs narrowly won their seats.

The council alleges misleading or harassing phone calls in those ridings kept some people from voting and may have affected the outcomes.

But Conservative party lawyer Arthur Hamilton told the court Monday the legal applications to overturn the results, by law, should have been filed within 30 days of the election outcome being certified. That would have been by early June of last year.

Hamilton argued that since the applications were only filed in March, it is far too late for the court to consider them.

"These applications simply cannot be allowed to leave the starting gate," Hamilton told the court.

He argued that allowing the cases to be heard could cause a "free-for-all," setting a precedent in which anyone could challenge the results of an election at any time, meaning MPs would always be looking over their shoulders, never certain when their election win might be called into question.

In court documents filed earlier this year, the Conservatives claimed the council is more concerned with attacking them and raising money than getting to the bottom of the so-called robocalls affair.

Party lawyers called the council's conduct improper, unseemly and a clear abuse of the court's process.

The seven Conservative MPs targeted in the council's court action have asked the court to toss out requests to review the results in their ridings.

The council has countered that the Conservatives are attempting to delay the cases and drive up legal costs.

The law lets voters legally challenge the results in their ridings. If a judge finds anything that would have changed the outcome, a new byelection can be ordered.

Such decisions are extremely rare. But this spring, an Ontario judge ruled that enough suspect votes were cast due to clerical errors to warrant overturning last year's election result in a Toronto riding, where Conservative MP Ted Opitz beat Liberal Borys Wrzesnewskyj by a mere 26 votes.

If the decision stands, a byelection will have to be called in Etobicoke Centre.

The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear Opitz's appeal of the ruling in early July.

For more from the Canadian Press scroll down The Tyee's main page or click here.

[Oscar]

Sona penalty does not reflect the true scale of election fraud: Ringleaders still at large

[ http://canadians.org/media/sona-penalty ... till-large ]

Media Release November 19, 2014

OTTAWA – Today, Michael Sona has been sentenced to nine months in jail with 12 months probation after being found guilty of participating in a voter suppression scheme in Guelph during the 2011 election.

The Council of Canadians continues to call on the Commissioner of Canada Elections to re-open the investigation into the 2011 election fraud which extended far beyond Guelph. With two court decisions pointing to the Conservative Party of Canada’s central database, it is essential for Canadians to know which Conservative Party officials used that data to orchestrate the election fraud.

“Justice Hearn has applied a sentence that reflects the seriousness of these crimes, but Justice Hearn also made it clear in his verdict that the ringleaders are still roaming free,” says Dylan Penner, Democracy Campaigner with the Council of Canadians. “So as long as the main perpetrators of the widespread 2011 election fraud remain at large, what's to prevent them from striking again in the next election?”

The Sona verdict does not resolve the issues surrounding the widespread orchestrated electoral fraud in the 2011 election. This fraud took place not only in Guelph, but in many ridings across the country. [ http://canadians.org/letter-to-Harper.html ] The Council of Canadians, which supported legal challenges of election results in six ridings across the country, and has recently challenged amendments to the Canada Elections Act that it argues are intended to suppress the vote and the constitutional rights of non-Conservative voters.

“The end of the Sona case means it’s all the more urgent that the Commissioner of Canada Elections re-open the investigation into the May 2011 election fraud,” says Garry Neil, Executive Director of the Council of Canadians. “The Commissioner must follow the lead of the federal court judge who found the most likely source of the information used to make the fraudulent calls was the Conservative Party database. If he is serious about protecting the integrity of elections, the Commissioner should demand that the Conservative Party reveal who accessed their database for illegal purposes during the 2011 election.”

Prime Minister Harper’s former Parliamentary Secretary Dean Del Mastro will also soon be sentenced for knowingly overspending on his Peterborough election campaign and then falsifying records in an attempt to cover it up. The sentencing hearing, originally scheduled for this Friday, has been postponed until January 27th.

Following the 2011 election, Del Mastro was the government’s original spokesperson on election fraud, prior to being charged himself with election fraud. -30-

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