The key question in the investigation into alleged overspending by the Dean Del Mastro 2008 election campaign has been the amount of campaign-related work performed by a company called Holinshed Research. Del Mastro has always claimed that the firm did a small amount of telephone work early in the campaign
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Peace, order and good government, eh?: Campaign capers: Be careful what you wish for, Dean
A few months ago, Dean Del Mastro expressed his impatience with the Elections Canada investigation into his campaign spending. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s parliamentary secretary is demanding that Elections Canada put its cards on the table after more than a year of unresolved allegations concerning his 2008 campaign expenses. I
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Campaign Capers: Peter, Paul and Provincial Airlines
Two months ago I added Peter Penashue, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, to the list of people I was keeping an eye on for this series of posts. He finally surfaced again this week. Before we get into the details of Penashue’s campaign spending during last year’s federal election, let’s get
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Campaign Capers: I got nothin’
Seriously, I haven’t seen any developments on any of the stories that have been the subject of these posts. I’m thinking that the Supreme Court and Elections Canada are all hanging out at Dean Del Mastro’s cottage taking some time off. Now watch. As soon as I publish this a
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Campaign Capers: The condensed version
Since I’m on the run today and there’s not really much to report, I’m going to do a briefer than usual summary and leave the links with you. And to get it out of the way: there is still no word on when we can expect a ruling on Etobicoke
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Campaign Capers: Slim pickings
The Council of Canadians and the seven ridings There was a hearing on Tuesday to consider a motion by the Conservatives that would compel the applicants to put up more than $250,000 as a form of security deposit against the possibility that they lose and are forced to pay costs.
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Campaign Capers: Too much of nothing
The Council of Canadians and the seven ridings When it was first reported that the applicants in this case were requesting information from Elections Canada, it was suggested that EC was going to defer to the court and the matter would be considered at the hearing scheduled for next month.
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Campaign Capers: The week in review
The search for Pierre Poutine Even among those who are fervently hoping that the perpetrator of all those fraudulent phone calls in Guelph is found, I can imagine two distinctly different reactions to the news that the RCMP is now directly involved in the investigation. The first is: what the
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday morning Elections Monitoring Right Here In Canada blogging
Now with subtitles. The Del Mastro campaign contributions Justice Minister Rob Nicholson is staying out of Dean Del Mastro’s business. Nicholson’s response to a request from NDP MP Charlie Angus to refer the investigation into alleged attempts to circumvent campaign donation limits to the Direct of Public Prosecutions was unequivocal.
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday afternoon Elections Canada blogging
Elections Canada, Dean Del Mastro and the Supreme Court of Canada have all been very quiet as far as the stories I’ve been tracking in these regular Friday posts are concerned. In fact, there are only two parties who have anything to say. The first is Steven Shrybman, the lawyer
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday morning Scrutinizing the Scrutineers blogging
The two major media pieces on the stories I’ve been following in these Friday morning posts were both more about Elections Canada itself than about the events EC has been investigating. (Interestingly enough, neither actually involves robocalls.) Borys Wrzesnewskyj, the Liberal who was defeated in Etobicoke Centre last year and
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday morning Robocon blogging
The legal challenge sponsored by the Council of Canadians to the federal election results in seven ridings is still alive. The Conservatives had argued that the suit should be dismissed before it really started and on three different counts. Federal prothonotary Martha Milczynski ruled differently yesterday on two of those
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday morning Electoral Hanky-panky blogging
Apparently Dean Del Mastro has had a change of heart. With regards to the investigation into his 2008 campaign spending, the MP had insisted repeatedly that he wasn’t prepared to meet with Elections Canada on their terms. But it was reported last Friday afternoon that he’s now prepared to do
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday morning Baseless Smears and Allegations blogging
Remember Guelph? That was the original focus of the Elections Canada investigation into fraudulent phone calls but it seems like such a long time ago it may be difficult to remember. So here’s a reminder. Kornelis Klevering knows it will have little impact on his own numbers, but the local
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday morning Dude, Where’s My Democracy? blogging
If there’s been any news on the original Elections Canada investigation into fraudulent robocalls, I’ve missed it. But once again, there have been developments on related fronts. There was a preliminary hearing this past week in the matter of the seven ridings whose outcome is being challenged by voters with
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday morning Adventures with Elections Canada blogging
I guess I should thank McGregor and Maher for breaking some stories over the last couple of days so I’d have something to write about. The big news involving the main robocon story is the retirement of Commissioner of Canada Elections William Corbett, the official who directly oversees Elections Canada
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Journamalism: Leave poor Dean alooooooone!
Tory MP Del Mastro hounded on the Hill OTTAWA – Election spending questions are hounding a Tory MP on Parliament Hill. The Liberals are calling on Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro to appear before a the ethics committee to explain news reports alleging that he signed a $21,000 personal cheque
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday morning Robocon etc. blogging
About three weeks ago the Conservative Party presented a Federal Court with a 690 page affidavit designed to demonstrate that the Council of Canadians has been mean to Conservatives. And since that nasty Maude Barlow and her union-elite-loving lawyer actually have opinions about things, they should be disqualified from sponsoring
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Is that really your final answer, Dean?
Another day, another Dean Del Mastro story. Today it was the prime minister himself who stood up in the House of Commons to assure us all that there’s nothing to the suggestion that his parliamentary secretary violated election law in the 2008 campaign. And where Del Mastro had originally promised
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: A bit of Friday Robocon blogging
I usually do this in the morning. It would be neat if the reason I’m behind schedule is because there’s so much news regarding the case of the fraudulent phone calls but, sadly, no. All we’ve heard is news about the money Elections Canada is forecasting that they’ll be spending
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