"It took five years and dozens of spirited denials in the House of Commons before the Conservative party finally pleaded guilty in 2011 to significant overspending in the 2006 campaign — a plea deal that Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre celebrated as a victory.
"Poilievre also frequently rose in the House to defend the government in the ongoing investigation into fraudulent robocalls during the 2011 campaign.
"Poilievre, NOW MINISTER FOR DEMOCRATIC REFORM*, is questioning Mayrand again, dismissing his criticism and declaring him wrong about many of the provisions in the sweeping bill." ~ "Elections watchdog says proposed election law damages level playing field" by Joan Bryden and Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press.
Elections watchdog says proposed election law damages level playing field
Canada's chief electoral officer has provided fuel to opposition claims that new election rules being proposed by the Harper government are designed to tilt the field in the Conservative party's favour.
The massive rewrite of the Canada Elections Act will increase party spending and decrease voting among some groups, all the while failing to provide the investigative powers needed to get to the bottom of election fraud, Marc Mayrand told a House of Commons committee Thursday.
Other points raised by Mayrand were:
Other points raised by Mayrand were:
— By ending the practice of "vouching," the bill would disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters who are unable to provide identification with an address, mostly students, the elderly, natives and the poor.
— The bill would muzzle both Mayrand and the elections commissioner, who investigates violations and enforces the Canada Elections Act.
"I'm concerned that during an election we could not issue a press release alerting electors to certain practices that may happen that they should be aware of," said Mayrand, who pointed to events in the 2011 election as an example.
— The bill fails to give investigators the power to demand receipts from parties, who got $33 million in public rebates after the last election without providing documented evidence of expenses.
"It is striking when looking at provincial regimes that we remain the only jurisdiction in Canada where political parties are not required to produce supporting documentation for their reported expenses," Mayrand said.
— The bill creates some new offences and increases penalties, but fails to give elections investigators the powers they need to compel testimony or evidence.
See the full story at: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/tories-deliberately-disrupting-scheduled-testimony-elections-watchdog-ndp-165435029.html .
*Emphasis mine.
*Emphasis mine.
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