It appears that only sampling a few polls is okay with Election Canada's rules. It also appears to be legally valid for a Judge to rule when enough polls have been counted. So, everything was done according to the existing rules under Elections Canada. My question is who made that rule? Parliament or Elections Canada? Does Elections Canada have the ability to change the rules that political parties must operate under during an election? How impartial is Elections Canada if they are being taken to court by the Conservative Party.
This is not so much an issue about what the Judge did, as how confident are you in Elections Canada anymore. Just before the election was called, the Ethics Committee was dragging the Conservative Party through the mud that is the so called "in and out" scheme. Never mind that this issue is before the courts, they wanted dirt and they were determined to find it. The committee was taped and you can go watch both days of testimony here, July 15 and 16th.
For those of you who only want the interesting tidbits. Try watching these Youtube videos that summarize what happened in that committee.
For the other parts here are the links for you to watch at your leisure.
Ethics Committee Part 2
Ethics Committee Part 3
Ethics Committee Part 4
Ethics Committee Part 5
Remember Edmonton Center which Anne McLellan kept winning by very small margins? People were allowed to vote in her riding by registering their office address, even storage container addresses? Elections Canada only "fixed" that riding because of a formal complaint by Laurie Hawn.
Elections Canada probing registration irregularities in Edmonton Centre
Gordon Kent, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Friday, January 20 2006
EDMONTON - Elections Canada has sent out a team of troubleshooters from Ottawa to sort out irregularities with the Edmonton Centre voter registration list.
There could be hundreds of people on the revised voters list released last week whose addresses are offices, post boxes, storage yards, or don't exist at all, according to Conservative research.
"We need to tighten up the system. Those opportunities shouldn't be there," Tory candidate Laurie Hawn said Thursday.
Funny how she lost in that election by over 3000 votes. Laurie Hawn went on to win the riding by over 10,000 votes more the Liberals in 2008.
What all this does is call into question Elections Canada, their impartiality, and what their role should be in the future. Do we need a watchdog over the watchdog? How many watchdogs are needed to keep our democracy running as it should? One vote counted, ALL votes recounted. SIMPLE.
