And not to defend Jason Cherniak's recent post, but still a lot of people are responding to Jason's election fraud post, which has caused such a kerfuffle, as though no one had ever mentioned any irregularities in Olivia Chow's riding until Jason brought it up last week (and many have implied that Jason is just making up the "prominent rumour" explanation to cover himself).
So, just for the record, here's a quote from the June 26th, 2006 Hill Times:
"With the recent controversy in NDP MP Olivia Chow's Trinity-Spadina, Ont., riding, where more than 10,000 people registered to vote at the last minute on the Jan. 23 election day, MPs on the committee urged that photo ID with an address be required before being allowed to vote. Mr. Kingsley said he will conduct an investigation into the riding."
So not only were "rumours" circulating long before Cherniak's post, but the controversy was discussed in the Hill Times, and Elections Canada said they would be conducting an investigation into the riding.
Now, I'd guess nothing untoward really happened, especially as I admire Olivia Chow. And CERTAINLY if anything strange happened, I'm sure Ms. Chow had nothing to do with it. Nevertheless, while maybe it can still be classified a "rumour", once it's been discussed in the Hill Times, and the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada announces an investigation into the riding, surely the topic is fair game for a blogger.
On a side note, I couldn't find much more on the Elections Canada investigation. Does anyone have any more info. on this?
UPDATE: The National Post had this story back in June stating that the audit of the over 10,000 votes in Trinity-Spadina cast by voters who registered at the last minute on Election Day was going ahead. I still can't find any mention of what the audit found though (if it's been completed) so I'd be interested to hear, if anyone knows.
Upperdate: Just FYI, I mistakenly put June 26th 2007 as the date of the Hill Times Story in my original post, not 2006. Rest assured I have no time machine... I've just gotten used to typing 2007! Also, just FYI, I also found stories on the Trinity-Spadina controversy in the Ottawa Sun, and the U of T News (a lot of U of T students vote in Trinity-Spadina). Still can't find any info on the results of the Elections Canada Audit though, so please let me know if you know anything!
Monday, March 26, 2007
Lest I be accused of "spreading rumours"...
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12 comments:
Good post. You did the research that most of us neglected.
With an election looming on the horizon, Jason's timing is to questioned. It stinks of American style muck-raking in order to slag our oponent.
So LKO is determined to keep the smear going; also psychols, who argues that Cherniak is just a misguided you man.
How long do you imagine such an audit would take? Do you think the National Post would bother to report it if such an audit found no irregularities?
LKO:
So, just for the record, here's a quote from the June 26th, 2007 Hill Times:
Psychols said...
Good post. You did the research that most of us neglected.
12:30 PM
I guess it didn't occur to anyone else to research the future...
GAB
Well, I don't really want to keep any "smear" going, I'm more interested, if anything, in establishing that this wasn't Cherniak's "smear" at all. It was a reasonably well-reported controversy, with official complaints, and a planned audit by Elections Canada.
I do suppose that SOMEONE would report if the audit found no irregularities, and maybe someone has. I can't find anything about it though, so I'd love to be enlightened by someone who knows. Was the audit done? What did it find? Also, the Liberal Party complained about more than the (to them I guess) unusually high number of election day reistrations, but that the high registration activity on election day led to their scrutineers being unable to do their jobs. Does anyone know if THAT aspect was looked into, or if anything was found?
Another thing I'm curious about, is if anyone knows if 10,000 election day registrations in a riding the size of Trinity-Spadina is at all unusual. I confess to having no idea. Over 10,000 voters sounds kinda high (it's roughly 1 in 6) but I wonder if it is or not?
Anyone?
(oh and sorry Aunt Bertha, clearly the Hill Times report was from last year, 2006. I'll fix that right away)
The audit is not complete yet. They are currently visiting the homes of people who signed up at the last minute to see whether they do or did live there.
Unfortunately, I feel like I cannot comment on this further even if there is something worth reporting.
I hope you realise that I was just having a little poke at you. When the door is opened that wide (with the perfect complimentary comment), I just have to walk through. I probably should have stuck a tongue out or something.
GAB
I'm not a fan of Olivia Chow - far from it. But to be fair:
1) I live in Olivia Chow's riding.
2) I registered at the last minute, on voting day.
3) I didn't vote for her.
So I wouldn't rush to pre-judge this situation. The riding has lots of people who move around a lot, along with many young professionals who simply weren't around to be enumerated. It's among the most urban ridings in the country. I'd like to see it compared to similar ridings.
Yeah, I'd like to see a comparison to similar riding too. I have no idea if 10,000 is a lot for a riding this size or not. Does look like a big number, but who knows.
And Auntie Bertha, I did realize your comment wasn't SOOOO serious. Good to have it fixed though. I seem to be getting attacked quite a bit over at the diaries of PBers, so I'd better keep things hyper accurate if I'm to avoid an onslaught here.
I seem to be getting attacked quite a bit over at the diaries of PBers, so I'd better keep things hyper accurate if I'm to avoid an onslaught here.
Makes sense. Afer all, why tolerate logic when it is easier to question the intent of the indivual seeking to inject some objectivity into the discussion.
I don't understand why the person who asked an easily answered question is so incapable of taking the obvious next step, which is to write to Elections Canada.
Write, already. You expect someone else to do it for you?
I have written skdadl.
I'll let everyone know when I receive a reply.
I'll also continue to ask questions of my fellow bloggers when I don't have answers, no matter how annoyed skdadl gets.
Get a grip skdadl. It's no high crime to ask one's fellow bloggers a question.
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