Robocalls spin unsettling

Guelph Mercury
Editorial
Fri Mar 09 2012


Robocalls spin unsettling

The federal Conservatives are sending troubling messages to the public in their communications on the robocalls file.

The government’s recent comments in the House of Commons on this subject suggest it doesn’t regard this seriously enough.

The government has adopted a spin position that this issue is only a partisan “smear campaign.”

It has also rolled out a variety of different attack-responses on this subject. Among those have been assertions that the robocalls might have been a result of Elections Canada errors or of Liberals phoning their own supporters to harass them. It has also made these while stating both that the Conservative Party of Canada is conducting an internal investigation into the robocalling and that it is not investigating this matter. And it should not be forgotten that the party has also floated the idea that this episode might be the work of a “rogue” operative of the party.

The government is under fire about this matter. But it does itself no political favours and it undermines public confidence in it by offering ever-changing, seemingly evidence-free allegations about alternative theories of culpability for the robocalls that are only consistent in that they suggest the Conservative party is not guilty in this affair. It also sends an unsettling message by characterizing this as a smear campaign as opposed to a terrifically troubling unresolved attack on Canada’s electoral process.

People are rallying about this matter across Canada because they regard it as illegal voter suppression and an attack on our democratic system.

The federal Conservatives’ seem not to share that sentiment.

If they did, they would communicate clearly and consistently that they see this matter as one of national importance, that they will support the Elections Canada and RCMP probes in any manner those agencies deem necessary, and that they look forward to these investigations uncovering who was responsible for the robocalls.