[Newsbot]

Title: CRTC slaps Guelph Liberals with $4,900 fine for breaking robocall rules
Category: Political
Posted By: OnTheIce
Date: 2012-08-24 14:26:10
Canadian

[OnTheIce]

Lots of crow eating tonight!

[SteveK]

Not quite..

$1:

The violations involved a pre-recorded message sent by the association that failed to identify on whose behalf the call was made; provide necessary call-back information; and display the originating telephone number or an alternate number where the originator could be reached

This incident isn't anything like the "Pierre Poutine" robocall scandal. Looks more like an honest mistake to me since they just left out certain identifying information (which was irrelevant considering the message was about strategic voting).
The Pierre Poutine incidents had malicious intent and could've illegally affected election results... big difference.

[Freakinoldguy]

SteveK SteveK:

Not quite..

$1:

The violations involved a pre-recorded message sent by the association that failed to identify on whose behalf the call was made; provide necessary call-back information; and display the originating telephone number or an alternate number where the originator could be reached

This incident isn't anything like the "Pierre Poutine" robocall scandal. Looks more like an honest mistake to me since they just left out certain identifying information (which was irrelevant considering the message was about strategic voting).
The Pierre Poutine incidents had malicious intent and could've illegally affected election results... big difference.

There is no such thing as an "honest mistake" in politics.

[raydan]

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

There is no such thing as "honest" in politics.

Fixed.

[EyeBrock]

Who cares? This is all so very high school. "We caught you!" vs "We caught you too!"

Pathetic.

[Lemmy]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

Who cares? This is all so very high school. "We caught you!" vs "We caught you too!"

Pathetic.

Yup. The value of the fine reflects the importance of this story. $5,000. Wow. Pretty serious.

[OnTheIce]

SteveK SteveK:

This incident isn't anything like the "Pierre Poutine" robocall scandal. Looks more like an honest mistake to me since they just left out certain identifying information (which was irrelevant considering the message was about strategic voting).
The Pierre Poutine incidents had malicious intent and could've illegally affected election results... big difference.

It isn't anything like the "scandal" that has no evidence or charges? Let's discuss that if anything comes to the surface and hang those accordingly.

Eyebrock Eyebrock:

Who cares? This is all so very high school. "We caught you!" vs "We caught you too!"

Pathetic.

There are some of us who are tired of the bush league politics on either side of the spectrum. Perhaps you don't mind the tactics heading straight into the gutter, but some of us do.

[redhatmamma]

I think some would care a lot more if it had been a conservative candidate as they tend to whitewash this infraction.

Where are the calls for a by-election, how far up the Liberal command post did this go, how many voters were swayed I want a by-election now..

[Curtman]

Two threads on this topic? The reformacons around here sure get excited when they think someone else was finally in a scandal.

Heavens no! Delivering factual information about the reformacon's anti abortion crusade without a phone number AND address in the message! Directly to the gutter indeed.

[2Cdo]

Curtman Curtman:

Two threads on this topic? The reformacons around here sure get excited when they think someone else was finally in a scandal.

Heavens no! Delivering factual information about the reformacon's anti abortion crusade without a phone number AND address in the message! Directly to the gutter indeed.

Factual?

They lied through omission Curt, why can't you just man up and admit when your guys drop the ball?

[Curtman]

From the other thread:

Curtman Curtman:

That's awesome! If they dole out a punishment like that for calling about factual information, imagine what they'll do for misleading voters about voting locations in ridings with less than 200 votes deciding!

$1:

The automated calls warned against Conservative candidate Marty Burke's views on abortion after media reports that said he'd been endorsed by the Campaign Life Coalition.
The Guelph Mercury reported that Burke won the endorsement after responding "no" to a coalition survey that asked, "Are there any circumstances under which you believe a woman should have access to abortion?"
"The race in Guelph is very close," said the message, recorded in a woman's voice. "Vote strategically on Monday to protect our hard-earned rights from the Conservatives and Marty’s extreme views."
Valeriote won the contest by a comfortable margin.

This loser was exposed as an extremist. Totally worth the $5K.

[SteveK]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

SteveK SteveK:

This incident isn't anything like the "Pierre Poutine" robocall scandal. Looks more like an honest mistake to me since they just left out certain identifying information (which was irrelevant considering the message was about strategic voting).
The Pierre Poutine incidents had malicious intent and could've illegally affected election results... big difference.

It isn't anything like the "scandal" that has no evidence or charges? Let's discuss that if anything comes to the surface and hang those accordingly.

There is evidence that a crime was committed, but there are no charges simply because it's not clear who exactly did it. The Liberals cooperated with EC so this was resolved rather quickly, whereas there were many measures taken to cover-up the identity of Pierre Poutine (the different IPs, disposable cellphone, etc.). Which, once again, shows there was malicious intent involved.

My hesitation in calling this a scandal is that I don't see much of an added benefit in leaving out some contact information and there wasn't any cover-up. Unless you guys are reading something I'm not.

[Curtman]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/08/24/pol-robocalls-valeriote-election-violation.html

$1:

"I take full responsibility and apologize for the infringement," Valeriote said. "This has been an important learning experience, not just for me, but for all MPs and future candidates."

Speaking to CBC News, Valeriote portrayed the calls as a mistake that can be made in the heat of a hard-fought campaign.

"We were under constant attack by particularly the Conservative Party. You'll recall they tried to steal a ballot box, they tried to slow down votes at an advance poll, they were making late-night calls," he said. "Other than making sure that we had put in the proper tag lines and complied with the CRTC rules with respect to this call, I don't think I would have done anything differently."

Valeriote said that the calls were made on the Saturday two days before the May 2 election, when then-Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff had visited the riding. He and his team were "working under a lot of pressure" that day, he said, and wanted to respond to campaign literature distributed by his opponents which incorrectly said he was "pro-abortion."

"The commission's findings are fair," the Liberal MP said. "I actually reported myself to Elections Canada before Marty Burke may have been aware of the call or contacted Elections Canada. At my first opportunity I spoke to them to indicate the errors that were made."

What's that about the gutter again OTI?

[OnTheIce]

Curtman Curtman:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/08/24/pol-robocalls-valeriote-election-violation.html

$1:

"I take full responsibility and apologize for the infringement," Valeriote said. "This has been an important learning experience, not just for me, but for all MPs and future candidates."

Speaking to CBC News, Valeriote portrayed the calls as a mistake that can be made in the heat of a hard-fought campaign.

"We were under constant attack by particularly the Conservative Party. You'll recall they tried to steal a ballot box, they tried to slow down votes at an advance poll, they were making late-night calls," he said. "Other than making sure that we had put in the proper tag lines and complied with the CRTC rules with respect to this call, I don't think I would have done anything differently."

Valeriote said that the calls were made on the Saturday two days before the May 2 election, when then-Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff had visited the riding. He and his team were "working under a lot of pressure" that day, he said, and wanted to respond to campaign literature distributed by his opponents which incorrectly said he was "pro-abortion."

"The commission's findings are fair," the Liberal MP said. "I actually reported myself to Elections Canada before Marty Burke may have been aware of the call or contacted Elections Canada. At my first opportunity I spoke to them to indicate the errors that were made."

What's that about the gutter again OTI?

So you support gutter politics, as long as it's committed by a party you support?

The difference is, I don't support it from either side. Perhaps you should do the same and expect more from these men and women.

Well worth the 5k? Shows exactly where your standards lie.