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An Elections Canada investigation into allegations of election fraud has been ongoing for more than a year. The intention was to finish that investigation by March 31 and then submit a “compliance and enforcement mechanisms” report to Parliament shortly after. However, Elections Canada spokeswoman Diane Benson has now said the agency has decided not to report until after the next election.

“In light of the government’s announcement in the fall that it would introduce comprehensive legislative reform, Elections Canada decided to postpone the general enforcement report until after the next general election,” she said. “This was necessary not only to focus our attention and resources on the announced reform, but also of the difficulty of engaging stakeholders simultaneously on a parallel initiative.”

Last year a federal court judge ruled that electoral fraud occurred during the last federal election. Federal Court Judge Richard Mosley ruled that the fraudulent phone calls “struck at the integrity of the electoral process by attempting to dissuade voters from casting ballots for their preferred candidates.” However Judge Mosley ridiculously did not overturn the election results. He wrote there was “a concerted campaign by persons who had access to a database of voter information maintained by a political party,” but apparently felt that this was acceptable because there was no evidence of direct involvement by a candidate and the outcome of the election could not be definitively proven to have been affected by the fraud.

With confirmation of election fraud, but a lack of action from the courts, Elections Canada’s report is vital information for the voting public to digest before the next election. The courts have failed to correct this assault on democracy, and now Elections Canada seem to be failing too.

Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians comments: “This is appalling. In a disturbing parallel to the 1972 break-in at the Watergate office complex, Harper is trying to break into our democratic system with this legislation to cover-up the truth about what happened during the 2011 election from ever coming out. And so far it’s working … With this Election Fraud Cover-up Act, this Votergate, Harper has lost the right to govern. This is outrageous and there should be an immediate election over it. Any Conservative MP supporting this bill should take a long look in the mirror.”

Of course, the government’s proposed “Fair Elections Act” is worthy of focus. It is anti-democratic in multiple ways, but for Elections Canada to choose to focus on that instead of the election fraud is unacceptable. The two issues are one in the same, and Elections Canada should release their report before the next election regardless of what new laws are being proposed. The “Fair Elections Act” seeks to limit Elections Canada’s investigative powers and make it accountable to the government rather than Parliament as it is now, it is a direct response to the fraud investigation. The Conservatives have been caught cheating, and now they are changing the rules to ensure they can keep cheating. Canadians deserve to know what Elections Canada has found before they decide their next government.

Written by Alternative Free Press

Elections Canada Postpones Election Fraud Report Until After Next Election by AlternativeFreePress.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Sources for this article:

1. Former campaign worker granted immunity after he gives evidence in ‘Pierre Poutine’ robocalls case http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/04/03/former-campaign-worker-granted-immunity-after-he-gives-evidence-in-pierre-poutine-robocalls-case/

2. Andrew Coyne: What problems are the Conservatives really trying to solve with bizarre Fair Elections Act? http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/02/07/andrew-coyne-what-problems-are-the-conservatives-really-trying-to-solve-with-bizarre-fair-elections-act/

3. Elections Canada may never release fraud report because of “Unfair” Elections Act http://www.canadians.org/media/elections-canada-may-never-release-fraud-report-because-unfair-elections-act

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