An unaccredited story in the National Post (which I called the biggest garbage story so far here) listed 57 ridings “targeted” by robocalls during the election has now been discredited after two ridings proved not to have had any dirty tricks being done.
This list was provided to the media by the Liberals and NDP but a Liberal candidate and a NDP party president both have come forward to say their two riding were clean:
“There’s just no way that I can add any fuel to this fire, if there is a fire,” said Wolfgang Ziemer, who was the NDP riding association president in South Shore – St. Margaret’s, N.S. during the campaign. “I have no idea how the riding got on (the list).”
The defeated Liberal candidate in Wellington – Halton Hills, Ont. also said the campaign in his riding was clean, despite the fact it was on the party’s robocall list.
Barry Peters said he doesn’t recall hearing about any suspicious calls either while out door-knocking nor back at the office. (see here)
Will the National Post now do a full retraction and apologize for taking information from opposition parties and running it as gospel? We will also need the name of the journo and editor involved so we can weigh past and future stories accordingly.
BC Blue: One BC Conservative's view on it all... 
March 1, 2012 at 5:49 PM
I’ve noticed a shift in slant since Don Coyne-yotey moved over to the Post.
(If you have to explain the joke… buut, he was tilting at windmills when he endorsed the liberals during the last election, like Don Quixote.)
It’s still a default read.
I just have to tune out the noise.
Meanwhile, over at Macleans, it’s become all Aaron all the time.
I hate that little puke almost as much as I pity Ian Capstick.
March 1, 2012 at 6:08 PM
Lost all respect for Wherry when I caught him writing 35 of 45 posts just on the Richard Colvin/Afghan detainees:
https://bcblue.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/aaron-wherry-macleans-richard-colvin-official-afghan-detainee-obsesser/
March 1, 2012 at 6:02 PM
This is just the start. Once the opposition, media, and those oppossition party supporters who claimed to have received misleading phonecalls has their bluff called, that being EC is taking the matter very seriously and asking for permission to look at complainants phone records to verify their claims, thsi faux scandal will leave them all looking for a rock to climb under.
I’m positive these illegal calls occurred in Guelph, and may have occurred in a handful of other ridings, but I think the majority of ridings that supposedly made claims will have to backtrack. The PM’s comments in QP are an indication he knows that the Conservative Party was not involved in “the greatest electoral fraud in Canadian history”.
March 1, 2012 at 6:22 PM
And since when does any party share their supporter list with another party?
March 1, 2012 at 6:22 PM
You should have seen CBC The National head story tonight on robocalls. They turned this all around showing Pat martin and Charlie Angus and a big clip of bob rae and a chopped clip of PM Harper saying the calls came from the Liberals themselves. Then Terry Mileski said….”Jason Kenny said the party didn’t use anyone in the US and Mildewski held up a paper and said…”They have Jason kenny spending 48 hundred in Arlington West Virginia.” Then they showed Liberals saying the story about the US co. being a Canadian co and a short clip with Dean del Mastro saying..”If we made a mistake were sorry” something like that with Frank Valeriote smirking. They showed Joe Volpe calling the conservatives liers. If he spent $25,000 and Karen redman spent $22,600 and the other ones what was it for? Lots of questions.
CBC fighting for the Liberals on The National. Wish they would be cut !00% not 10%.
March 1, 2012 at 6:34 PM
Milewski loves that “holding up a paper” trick. I’m am hoping he’ll respond to my challenge:
https://bcblue.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/will-cbcs-milewski-ujjal-dosanjh-now-say-liberals-support-terrorist/
March 1, 2012 at 6:59 PM
Andrew Coyne was against the Conservatives…here’s his ramble
Its pretty clear in Guelph it was the Conservatives.
Conservatives first instint is to lash out.
The Govt. gives no answers. May as well talk about milk.
The Conservatives have been pushing the envelope long enough & I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cons did this.
Guess Coyns is afraid AT ISSUE will be part of the CBC 10% cut and he will have to kiss someone else’s a$$
March 1, 2012 at 7:03 PM
Chantel was more fair. She said
There’s no evidence.
The call centre changed the script and instead of saying the conservative party they said it was EC calling.( Peter didn’t want to hear about that tit bit.)
March 1, 2012 at 7:11 PM
Peter Harper hating Mansbridge clearly against the Conservatives said
BUT what about those 100,000 of calls I got (Chantel called him on that. She said she wouldn’t put any presidence on that. I thought there was going to be a fight…she was MAD)She more or less said he was full of it.
Even if your winning in the riding you want to keep the other guys down because its more money for the party.(guess thats why Mug mansbridge want to keep the Conservatives down…more money for the CBC?)
Even Rex was against the Conservatives…he said
Harper is wearing his injured and “ANGRY” face. (Bob Rae, Pat martin, Charlie Angus, dennis Codere etc are priests I guess.)
The Tories are a nest of scorpions.
Interested third party at work…the CBC.
March 1, 2012 at 7:16 PM
[…] by become the greatest attempted fraud in Canadian history by the opposition seeking a do-over? BC Blue has a new post up about a Liberal and NDP riding both stating they never received complaints of […]
March 1, 2012 at 7:21 PM
I just have a funny feeling that there’s a whole lot more to the story that will come back to bite the Liberals hard. Guelph was ground zero for the Vote Mob crap that popper up during the campaign and was also, if you recall, where we had the unauthorized advance poll at U of G and complaints of Liberal literature handed out at the polls. There were also numerous media reports of Liberal candidates in Toronto having their tires slashed and property vandalized during the campaign (repeated again in the provincial campaign). Does any of this smell like the Liberals are manufacturing a scandal by, oh, say, hacking into a robocall database and making crank calls? I’ve never been one prone to conspiracy theories, but I smell a Liberal rat here.
March 1, 2012 at 7:23 PM
I think the problem with this whole thing is that it simply is a bunch of unrelated accusations. EC will investigate the one REAL problem in Guelph — the rest is just “irritating phone calls”, etc. and EC has said it does not investigate these. So what are they still ranting about? The CBC is pretty disgusting in the way it is really trying to whip people in to a frenzy when there is NO new information — least as far as I can tell.
Globe and Mail did a ridiculous piece where they asked people to come forward if they changed their vote because of a robo-call. It was ridiculous stuff — like “Someone calling themselves a Liberal called after 9:00. I was so mad I almost voted for the NDP.” Clearly no one came forward with a story worth telling. Unless there is a new development, it is time for the media to drop this. But something tells me they won’t. I think it is time to start laughing at them.
March 1, 2012 at 7:29 PM
Yes, the media have ‘jumped the shark’ as of today and are being laughed at by many now.
March 1, 2012 at 7:59 PM
Just thinking outside the box: could all this hype about robocalling be perpetrated by NGO,s that have an axe to grind against the government and probably has nothing to do with the political parties. Why I say this, because of the interference by radical environmental groups in the pipeline hearings for Gateway and XL. You remember the grade 3 class in Brazil and Captain Jack Sparrow that signed up to appear and the commission hearings. Just asking.
March 1, 2012 at 8:03 PM
The 3rd party theory has been brought up. I think everything is still left to be found out as we really have no idea what has or hasn’t happened so far.
March 1, 2012 at 8:49 PM
Iggy was the biggest reason for the suppressed Liberal vote. All this other nonsense is to help divert attention from McGuinty in Ontario. His province is in shambles, and he gives you the impression he hasn’t a clue what to do about it.
March 1, 2012 at 9:02 PM
cbc news tonight had a photo of a man answering a phone with a strange number on the call display. And saying it was someone telling him his polling station had been changed. He didn’t believe it and went to vote. Did he video himself answering a phone. I saw the number but did not catch the date. Will watch the news again and pay more attention.
March 1, 2012 at 9:07 PM
I received a call a month ago from New Jersey, re our upcoming election. Googled the number and it was a scam number with lots of comments re the calls.
Anyone can say anything, and during any election there are many calls made to supporters. And you get calls on election day asking if you have voted or need a ride.
One of the At Issue panel (I think) made the stmt that the next election the conservatives will have to defend and explain themselves and this ringy thingy will come back.
March 1, 2012 at 10:01 PM
It’s time to call their bluff. What do they want? There’s an investigation underway. What do they want the CPC to do? I say let’s have a national do-over and consolidate our majority.
March 2, 2012 at 8:18 AM
I hate the liberal hubris in assuming that if someone chooses not to vote for a big statist government it somehow means she is a victim of a “hellish campaign of distortion and misinformation.”
Liberals talk loudly about how they represent the common people, but when the common people render a verdict against them it can’t be that the liberal’s conception of themselves is wrong, it must be that the poor, stupid, credulous masses were misinformed and “tricked” by the big corporate CPC PR machine.
This left liberal notion is both elitist and wrong and one of the chief reasons that the Conservative Party of Canada was given a majority by the PEOPLE of Canada.
Pathetic attempts at “Do-Overs”, to undo the will of ALL Canadian, like the failed separatist/socialist Coalition, personify the dangerous group psychosis of the institutional establishment left in this country.
Lastly I think it is fair to say that it has become abundantly clear that Mr. Andrew Coyne is in fact a biased liberal doing the bidding of the establishment left while hiding behind the skirt of protection of the fourth estate rather than being an actual “objective” journalist concerned with the dissemination of actual FACTS instead of his wild, hopelessly biased conjecture designed to weave shallow plausibility into vicious partisan screeds.
It appears the Post Media brand under new owner Paul Godfrey, a LONG time Liberal, has rapidly deteriorated to something more akin to ‘Globe/Star/CBC Lite’.
God help Canada.
March 2, 2012 at 8:39 AM
Very well said!
March 2, 2012 at 9:06 AM
Never underestimate the power of the opposition to ask the wrong question; especially when human error is involved.
March 2, 2012 at 9:20 AM
One good thing the media is very good at is leaving impressions without actually stating anything exactly