April 24, 2014 - 12:48 PM
OTTAWA - Five things to know about the robocalls report released Friday by the commissioner of Canada elections:
— Of the more than 40,000 communications about election robocalls sent to Elections Canada, 39,350 came via an online form sponsored by the activist organization Leadnow.
— Elections Canada said 96 per cent of those messages were from people angry about robocalls, but provided no information on a specific complaint.
—The bulk of the messages began to arrive after Feb. 23, 2013, following news reports about a robocall investigation in Guelph. The coverage "seemingly acted as a catalyst for complaints," the report says.
— Even if people were given the wrong poll information, "to transmit false or mistaken information without the requisite intent, however objectionable it may be, is not, in itself, an offence under the (Elections) Act."
— The Guelph electoral district produced 379 complainants, while the riding with next most complainants had just 34 and in three quarters of ridings there were five complaints or fewer. "It tends to show that the evidence gathered in the investigation does not lend support to the existence of a conspiracy or conspiracies to interfere with the voting process."
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014