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Conservatives Fraud Robocalls Prosecution Fund

Democracy Watch is taking the Conservatives to court for 2011 election fraud robocalls because government lawyers won’t.

Please help by making your donation now to the Conservatives Fraud Robocalls Prosecution Fund.

Incredibly, the Commissioner of Canada Elections investigated and found that the Conservative Party deliberately made robocalls in many ridings across Canada during the 2011 federal election that misled voters about the location of polling stations (which is a clear violation of the Canada Elections Act), but he didn’t even recommend prosecuting the Conservatives.

Federal government lawyers have refused to take the Conservatives to court for their misleading robocalls, even though Conservative staffer Michael Sona was charged, prosecuted and found guilty of making fraud robocalls in one riding in Ontario based on relatively weak evidence (and even though the Sona case was the first prosecution for misleading voters in the history of the law).

Democracy Watch needs to raise $35,000 to cover the costs of prosecuting everyone involved in booking the election fraud robocalls, and continuing the campaign to ensure they are all held accountable.

You can help hold these Harper Conservatives accountable for their wrongdoing by donating now!

Thank you for your support,
Duff, Tyler, Josephine, Brad
and the entire Democracy Watch team

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Latest News on the Case and Campaign

News release – Group plans private prosecution of Conservative Party officials for 2011 election fraud robocalls because government lawyers won’t prosecute

Background

Democracy Watch was the first to notice the huge number of complaints from voters about the 2011 election and it called for transparency from Elections Canada about what they were doing with the complaints (and complaints back to the 1997 election) in a November 2011 news release.

Under pressure from Democracy Watch, including many media appearances, op-eds and news releases like its April 2012 release, the Commissioner of Canada Elections (who enforces the Canada Elections Act) finally disclosed details about its election fraud robocalls investigation in early 2012.

Democracy Watch launched a national letter-writing campaign and petition drive calling proper enforcement of the federal election law, and for key changes to ensure fraud robocalls would be effectively stopped, a campaign that continued through to June 2014 pushing for changes to the Conservatives’ unfair so-called “Fair Elections Act.”

Not only did the Commissioner keep rulings on past complaints secret, he also refused to clarify a clearly flawed ruling he made on a complaint filed by a voter about a clear violation of the law during the 2011 election, and an audit of the 2011 election found other enforcement problems.

Democracy Watch also filed a complaint with the federal Information Commissioner about the refusal of the Commissioner to disclose his rulings on past election complaints (he refused because some of the rulings might make him look bad).

The Commissioner of Canada Elections finally ruled on the fraud robocalls scandal in April 2014, letting the Conservative Party off the hook even though the Commissioner found that deliberately made robocalls in many ridings across Canada during the 2011 federal election that misled voters about the location of polling stations (which is a clear violation of the Canada Elections Act).

Democracy Watch criticized the Commissioner’s ruling announced that it would launch a private prosecution of the Conservatives if government lawyers didn’t overturn the ruling and launch a prosecution.

Since then, former Conservative staffer Michael Sona has been prosecuted and found guilty and sentenced to 9 months in jail for misleading voters during the 2011 election with fraud robocalls in a Guelph, Ontario riding – even though the evidence that he was involved was much less clear than the evidence that the Conservative Party booked robocalls that misled voters in many ridings across Canada.

The Criminal Code allows anyone to launch a private prosecution for certain offences, and Democracy Watch continues to gather evidence and legal support to take those Conservatives responsible for the 2011 election fraud robocalls to court — because government lawyers won’t.

Please help hold these Harper Conservatives accountable for their wrongdoing by making your donation now to the Conservatives Fraud Robocalls Prosecution Fund.