Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Consistently wrong since 2002

This fight is for everything.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

Joe Biden can go out like FDR, not by dying in office, but by crushing the fascists.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

If marriage is the equivalent of selling yourself into slavery, women with self respect should reject the offer.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

Republicans would impeach Biden if he bit into a whole Kit Kat rather than breaking the sections apart.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

It’s easier to kill a dangerous animal than a man who just happens to have different thoughts/values than one’s own.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Pierre Poutine in the Great White North

Pierre Poutine in the Great White North

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The Tory ratfucking robocall scandal in Canada is heating up:

A former chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper says last year’s election day robo-calls are of a scale he’s never seen before and warrant a “huge investigation.”

Ian Brodie, who was Mr. Harper’s chief of staff from 2006 to 2008, said revelations from an Elections Canada probe that has centred on the Southern Ontario riding of Guelph and its local Conservative campaign likely indicate “a very devious local effort that could well lead to charges against several campaign volunteers.”

But he didn’t dismiss the possibility of “a national effort at subterfuge.”

Elections Canada has found evidence of calls directing voters to fictitious polling places in 31 ridings across Canada, even though Tories have argued that they were the work of one operative in Guelph going by the name of “Pierre Poutine”. It sounds like Pierre wasn’t acting alone–Betty Beavertail, Bob Backbacon and Nancy Nanaimo-Bar must have been helping out. Any other ideas for unindicted co-conspirators?

Reader Interactions

54Comments

  1. 1.

    c u n d gulag

    Larry LaBatt, Mark Molson and his girlfriend, Mary Moosehead, were also in on it, I’d bet, eh?

  2. 2.

    PaulW

    Any other ideas for unindicted co-conspirators?

    Karl Rove?
    Nah, I kid. Even Canadians wouldn’t work with him.

    I still can’t get my head around the facts that 1) the Conservatives just had a government collapse on them over various scandals and STILL got re-elected to power, and 2) HRM The Queen hasn’t stepped in and said “dammit I know I’m not supposed to use my royal prerogatives but you Canadians can’t fix your own problems!” and cleaned out the crooks.

  6. 6.

    Davis X. Machina

    Emulation. Plain and simple. Part of the Conservative Party wakes up every day crying, because they left a dream where they’re Americans, and Republicans, and in power. And they wake up ot only one of those.

    I’m surprised Harper’s government didn’t try to invade someone, and campaign on the back of it.

    Aroostook County is big, mostly flattish, and lightly defended….

  8. 8.

    maya

    William Shatner must have had a hand in this. Along with Michael J. Fox, Neal Young, [those blasted libruls] Alex Trebek and ring-leader Pepe LePew.

  9. 9.

    RossInDetroit

    I’m going to try an get some more direct info on this. An ex-Gf worked for Duceppe and keeps in touch with the BQ/PQ. I’ll bet there’s more dirt once you start flipping over rocks.

  12. 12.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    @Linda Featheringill: From GOS, apparently Gingrich is claiming he’s as brilliant as a guy with Alzheimer’s.

    I’d buy that – especially since it’s a dead guy with Alzheimer’s.

  13. 13.

    smintheus

    Yesterday I was explaining to my neighbor how the Bush 2004 campaign called on Election Day and tried to send us to the wrong polling place…something that hundreds of others in our district reported happening as well. His wife, a supreme wingnut, began shouting “Do you have any idea how you sound? Just listen to yourself!”

    We still have a recording of this call. Even when confronted with blatant voter suppression, conservatives will cling to denial.

  14. 14.

    Splitting Image

    I don’t recall getting any robocalls, but when I went to vote last year a guy challenged my right to vote because I didn’t bring a photo ID. Same script, different actors.

  16. 16.

    Justin

    @PaulW: There’s a couple factors that explain it:

    1. The Conservatives have done well building a grassroots fundraising organization that brings in a lot of money. They’ve been really well-financed for the last few elections.
    2. The Liberals, the “natural governing party” of Canada, are in a slow state of collapse, and taking a long time dying. They have little money and few good candidates, but for historical reasons are taken much more seriously as the opponents of the Conservatives than….
    3. The NDP, who under Jack Layton built out the same organizational structure as the Conservatives and starting rolling in money and top-notch campaigning, and started presenting a viable alternative to the Liberals.

    The last election was really about the NDP replacing the Liberals as the left-wing party. They reached an historic high in the House of Commons, and became the official opposition for the first time in history. The cost of that was allowing the Conservatives to form a majority by splitting the left-wing vote, but hey, we survived two terms of Brian Mulroney’s patronage machine in the 80s. We’ll survive Harper and his dead, dead eyes.

    Tragically, Jack Layton’s death by cancer cut short the arc of a man who likely would have been PM in a couple years. His transformation of the NDP was amazing. Hopefully, Thomas Mulcair wins the leadership and carries on in the same vein.

  17. 17.

    Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water

    I got lots of calls, but about issues, not misdirecting me to the wrong place to vote. That was a waste of time, since my riding is very solidly liberal. That is sort of strange, since our MP was parachuted in a few years ago and doesn’t live anywhere close to us

  19. 19.

    Svensker

    But I heard a Conservative on local radio say “both sides do it!” and “this was a Liberal impersonating a Conservative doing it to make the Tories look bad!”

    These guys all get the same script apparently.

  22. 22.

    Splitting Image

    @Geeno:

    I can’t believe that no one has offered up Tim Horton yet.

    Tim Horton played defense for the Toronto Maple Leafs. No one would believe a Toronto player was shilling for the Conservatives. Unless he was right-wing, of course.

  28. 28.

    GregB

    @Justin:

    I generally try not to make fun of appearances, but I have to agree with you that Harper’s eyes have the creepiest shark like quality I have ever seen in a public figure.

  30. 30.

    ppcli

    Of course, explaining a joke ruins the joke, but I like this one so:

    The Québec lieutenant

    Jermaine Câllis

    (With French pronunciation, this approximates “Je m’en câlisse” – French Canadian expression approximately equal to the English “I don’t give a shit”).

  31. 31.

    giltay

    I live in Jack Layton’s old riding (electoral district). We’re finally having a by-election on Monday. I got a letter in the mail yesterday from Elections Canada telling me that the polling station has moved. I had a little freakout, but was able to confirm that the letter was legit.

    This whole business has me really steamed. When you get down to it, voter suppression is tantamount to treason. I’m ready to say let’s bring back hanging.

  32. 32.

    RedKitten

    The whole thing just irks me, because if we still had Michaele Jean as GG, she would have likely asserted her authoritah by this point. But this new GG was recommended by Ol’ Shark-Eyes, so he’s just been sitting back and not saying a damn word.

    I really hope they nail that fucker to the wall. Ever since he got his majority, he’s been cutting programs and staff all over the place. He’s now looking at cutting the habitat protection provision out of the Fisheries Act. I ask you, do you think it’s really possible to protect fish when you’re giving carte blanche for oil pipelines to run straight through their habitat?

    I wish the Liberals would smarten the fuck up and find themselves a good leader! Stephane Dion, bless his heart, was a joke. And Ignatieff was like the John Kerry of Canada.

  34. 34.

    RedKitten

    I would love to see Bill Casey leading the Conservatives instead, but I know he has no desire to do that. And sadly, I don’t think we’ll EVER see an Atlantic Canadian PM>.

  35. 35.

    ppcli

    I was just talking to my dad on the phone. He and my mom live in a riding that elected a Conservative over a well-liked Liberal incumbent by a whole 18 votes. My Dad’s a Conservative, but he liked the incumbent a lot, as did many of his Conservative friends. Also he tells me that he and many of the Conservatives he knows thought the Conservative candidate was a dishonest jerk, and I’m pretty sure he voted for the Liberal. First time in decades he’s done that, I imagine. So people were quite stunned when the Conservative lost.

    Turns out that a lot of people in the riding – including a bunch my Dad knows well – got these robocalls.

  44. 44.

    JWL

    I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the sooner the U.S. invades and conquers Canada, the better off the North American continent will be.

  46. 46.

    Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937

    Someone with the last name Des Jardins who has been the goalie for every hockey team ever, at least once.

  47. 47.

    PIGL

    @Justin: Thomas Mulcair is our very own Tony Blair, endorsed by the Globe and Mail and other establishment power centers as a safe leader for the NDP to ensure that, in the event they should ever take power, Conservative policies can continue uninterrupted.

  48. 48.

    jl

    This post brings to my mind the outrageous fact that I can find really good peanuts more easily in Canada that in the US. I will be in Georgia a few times later this year, so will have an opportunity to investigate.

    I gorged on the the best dang vinegar and sea salt peanuts last time I was in Canada. Can’t find anything like them here, in the US, where they are grown.

    It is a scandal, IMHO.

  49. 49.

    MacKenna

    @PaulW:

    You are so wrong about our Tories. They would indeed team with Karl Rove. If Harper was an American he’d be the Republican front runner right now.

  51. 51.

    Justin

    @PIGL: I recall the same comment being made about Jack, but at the end of the day, the NDP are where they are because of the organization he built and the policies he pursued. If you’d prefer one of the strings of losers the NDP have had since Broadbent, that’s up to you. I’d rather the NDP actually win–and if they do it by using a shovel on the head of the federal Liberals, so much the better.

  52. 52.

    The Tragically Flip

    @RedKitten:

    The whole thing just irks me, because if we still had Michaele Jean as GG, she would have likely asserted her authoritah by this point.

    Oh god no. The last thing we need is another King/Byng or a Whitlam/Kerr.

    GGs are supposed to be figureheads. I don’t want them dismissing Governments on their own say-so. Elections Canada has a theoretically unlimited budget to investigate election fraud, and the ability to force by-elections in ridings where they determine significant fraud may have affected the outcome. Here’s my fantasy outcome:

    EC investigates and determines massive scale national fraud
    EC picks 40-50 ridings for by-elections
    Cons get trounced in mass by-elections, lose majority
    Minority Cons defeated in confidence vote
    New General election called

    If EC announced mass by-elections, and the Conservatives moved rapid legislation to block them and dismiss the head of EC (a sort of Saturday Night Massacre), then I would support the GG using “reserve” powers to dismiss. But we’d better be in full bore Constitutional Crisis mode, not just “there is evidence of a scandal, and independent authorities with the power to resolve the issue are investigating.”

    And as for Michelle Jean, I think her decision to Prorogue on Harper’s 2008 request was one of the worst constitutional decisions a GG has ever made. She had in her hand a letter signed by a majority of parliament expressing non-confidence in the government, she had a duty to allow Parliament to hold its non-confidence vote before allowing Harper to exercise powers of a Prime Minister who has the confidence of Parliament (such as proroguation). I really doubt she would dismiss Harper now even if she was still in office.

  53. 53.

    The Tragically Flip

    @Justin:

    I recall the same comment being made about Jack, but at the end of the day, the NDP are where they are because of the organization he built and the policies he pursued.

    Yes, and also because Jack Layton moved the NDP right. Remember cap & trade? Freeing his caucus on the gun registry? There’s a reason an NDP leadership candidate can credibly talk about deals with the Liberals, and there were even high level talks (Chretien/Broadbent) about a real merger: The parties are now mostly occupying the same policy space.

    This is exactly what happened to Labour in the UK after it overtook the Liberals. Displace the centre-left alternative, and become them.

    I’ll probably vote NDP in the next General election, but I have no illusions that an NDP government will be vastly different from a Liberal government.

    I don’t even have to rely on the UK experience for this, it’s what happened in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where the NDP are the left-alternative to Conservatives. At the end of the day, “NDP” is just a label for a coalition. To govern, the NDP will need reams of Liberal voters, and to get/keep them, they will move right. How far is a fair question of debate, but I see no magic formula in the NDP to maintain purity when confronted with the same pressures that pulled the Liberals, UK Labour, Aussie Labor and Democrats to the right in the neoliberal era.

  54. 54.

    Justin

    @The Tragically Flip: You’re right, the NDP are moving right, relatively. I lived through the NDP in Saskatchewan under Blakeny and then Romanow, and they’re what made me a staunch NDP supporter. Both governments found a balance between the health of the public purse and accomplishing something progressive. When they get their shit together and win elections, they actually get something done.

    No, they don’t remain pure. I’d rather have effect than purity.

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