Federal election results stand despite judge ruling fraud occured

Federal Judge Richard Mosley ruled Thursday that electoral fraud occurred in the last federal election but there is no evidence that that fraud affected the outcome of the six ridings, including Nipissing-Timiskaming, in question and therefore the results will not be overturned.

“I find that electoral fraud occurred during the 41st General Election but I am not satisfied that it has been established that the fraud affected the outcomes in the subject ridings and I decline to exercise my discretion to annul the results in those districts.”

“In reaching this conclusion, I make no finding that the Conservative Party of Canada or any CPC candidates or RMG and RackNine Inc., were directly involved in any campaign to mislead voters,” notes Mosley.

“I am satisfied, however, that the most likely source of the information used to make the misleading calls was the CIMS database maintained and controlled by the CPC, accessed for that purpose by a person or persons currently unknown to this court.”

Council of Canadians, who led the court challenge, says the court ruling is a very good decision that should disturb Canadians a great deal.

“We feel this is a very powerful statement and are pleased that the decision has come forward this way,” states Maude Barlow, national chair of the Council of Canadians.

“We would, of course, liked to have the individual ridings overturned, but I think the much more important point is the finding of fraud.”

Meanwhile the Conservatives are happy with the ruling and it is back to business for local MP Jay Aspin who is hosting a forum on business growth at Canadore College today.

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Council of Canadians
News Release

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The Federal Court has found in no uncertain terms that widespread election fraud took place during the 2011 federal election. The ruling clearly states that “there was an orchestrated effort to suppress votes during the 2011 election campaign by a person with access to the [Conservative Party’s] CIMS database.”

“This Federal Court decision is a major indictment of the Conservative Party of Canada,” says Garry Neil, Executive Director of the Council of Canadians. “Either senior leaders of the Conservative Party were directly involved in election fraud or they were astoundingly negligent in securing access to their voter database. Illegal or incompetent—just like in the Senate scandal.”

The Council of Canadians is calling on the Conservative Party to make public the list of everyone who had access to the national CIMS database and authority to make a decision to launch such a campaign, as well as turning the information over to the Commissioner of Elections and the RCMP. The Council argues that anything less at this point would be a cover-up.

“The use of the Conservative Party’s CIMS database to attack democracy and the deepening scandal around Nigel Wright, Mike Duffy and the PMO both reflect the determination of this regime to avoid accountability at all costs,” says Council of Canadians national chairperson Maude Barlow.

The Council of Canadians notes that the non-cooperation, obstructionism, and attempts to derail the Federal Court case by the Conservative Party makes it look like Prime Minister Harper has something to hide.

“The Prime Minister needs to answer some serious questions,” says Barlow. “Did Harper authorize the use of CIMS for voter suppression? If not who did? The Federal Court has found that CIMS was used for extensive election fraud. It’s now up to Conservative Party to tell Canadians who did it.”

The Council of Canadians is consulting with the applicants and lawyers as they consider an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. If these consultations conclude there is a chance the Supreme Court could overturn the Conservative MPs’ narrow victories, the Council would pay the necessary legal fees.

The organization is calling on Canadians to donate for that purpose at http://canadians.org/democracy247.

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