#Harper’s 33 #cdnpoli Vulnerable #CPC #Tory Targets

33 Vulnerable Tory Targets

Dispersed, disorganized, and focused on mixed concerns, veterans make a weak political demographic. Due to the variety of challenges veterans face, and unlike the general public, are rarely politically apathetic.  The primary strength of veterans is a willingness to vote.  Most veterans that I have spoken to ensure they vote in federal and other elections but veterans cannot be labeled as politically powerful – unless we take advantage of the politically weak.

The current government has taken advantage of the fractured and disjointed nature of veterans.  With the exceptions of the SISIP and EQUITAS sponsored lawsuits the government has been very effective in blunting veteran concerns.  Using paid media spots and “Stakeholder” consultations to validate their choices, the government of the day has been successful at frustrating veteran efforts to bring about meaningful change. The Tory majority government has steamrolled over veteran concerns.

The shoe is now on the other foot.  The Hill Times has provided a list of 33 vulnerable Tory targets who won their riding by less than 10%.  The Tory majority is vulnerable and veterans need to take advantage of this opportunity.

Veterans do have powerful allies.  Matthew Good is concerned with suicides and PTSD.  Rick Mercer is unrelenting in his criticism of how veterans are “kicked to the curb”.  There are other high profile persons that support us.  Contact them and ask them to step forward and publicly chastise the government for their failures.

Our weakness of being geographically dispersed is a hidden strength: we can have our voices heard across the country – especially in the ridings of the vulnerable 33.  Active veterans can contribute to the political “death by a thousand cuts” of the Tory politicians. Simply put, inform the public of the variety of challenges that veterans face.  Individual veterans can (and should) make their voices heard in the both the traditional and non-traditional media throughout 2014.

Below, arranged alphabetically by last name, is a list of the 33 vulnerable.  Speak publically and make an appearance on radio or TV.  If you have a face made for radio and a voice designed for duck calls I suggest blogging, editorials, letter writing or “information pickets” outside the MPs office.

2014 is the time for individuals to put pressure on these 33 vulnerable Tories.

Targets up!

Eve Adams (Mississauga-Brampton South, ON.)

Chris Alexander (Ajax-Pickering, ON.)

Stella Ambler (Mississauga South, ON.)

Jay Aspin (Nipissing-Timiskaming, ON.)

Joyce Bateman (Winnipeg South Centre, MN.)

Kelly Block (Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, SK.)

Ray Boughen (Palliser, SK.)

Brad Butt (Mississauga-Streetsville, ON.)

Peter Braid (Kitchener-Waterloo, ON.)

John Carmichael (Don Valley West, ON.)

Corneliu Chisu (Pickering-Scarborough East, ON.)

Rob Clark (Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, SK.)

Joe Daniel (Don Valley East, ON.)

John Duncan (Vancouver Island North, BC)

Royal Galipeau (Ottawa-Orléans, ON.)

Robert Goguen (Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe, NB)

Bal Gosal (Bramalea-Gore-Malton, ON.)

Jacques Gourde (Lotbinière-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QU.)

Bryan Hayes (Sault Ste. Marie, ON.)

Roxanne James (Scarborough Centre, ON)

Gerald Keddy (South Shore-St. Margaret’s,NS)

Ryan Leef (YK)

Chungsen Leung (Willowdale, ON)

Wladyslaw Lizon (Mississauga East-Cooksville, ON)

James Lunney (Nanaimo-Alberni, BC)

Costas Menegakis (Richmond Hill, ON)

Joe Oliver (Eglinton-Lawrence, ON)

Ted Opitz (Etobicoke Centre, ON)

Lawrence Toet (Elmwood-Transcona, MN)

Susan Truppe (London North Centre, ON)

Bernard Trottier (Etobicoke Lakeshore, ON)

Bernard Valcourt (Madawaska-Restigouche, NB)
Wai Young (Vancouver South, BC)

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Originally posted on Veteran Watch by David T. MacLeod at Tuesday, 10 December 2013 at 12:26

“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to enquire. We know that the wages of secrecy are corruption. We know that in secrecy error, undetected, will flourish and subvert.” ~ Julius Robert Oppenheimer

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continue reading source: http://veteranwatch.blogspot.ca/2013/12/33-vulnerable-tory-targets.html

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Investigators strike information ‘gold’ in Elections Canada robocalls probe: source

By Stephen Maher and Glen McGregor
Postmedia News | Mar 15, 2012 7:46 PM ET | Last Updated: Mar 16, 2012 8:58 AM ET | More from Postmedia News

Protesters gathered and chanted at Toronto’s Yonge and Dundas Square, over the weekend in what they called the National Day of Action Against Election Fraud. Elections Canada has reviewed many reports of Canadians receiving robocalls.

An investigation that began with one former Mountie methodically following a fuzzy electronic trail has broadened and intensified since the robocalls story broke last month, sparking more than 700 members of the public to complain to Elections Canada.

On Thursday, Marc Mayrand, the chief electoral officer, issued a statement promising to get to the bottom of allegations of “fraudulent or improper calls.”

“Over 700 Canadians from across the country have informed us of specific circumstances where they believe similar wrongdoing took place,” the statement said. “I appreciate the interest that Canadians have shown in this matter and thank them for their continued collaboration.”

Mayrand also warned against “drawing conclusions based on possibly inaccurate and incomplete information,” and offered to appear before a parliamentary committee to discuss the investigation.

Related

• Pierre Poutine robocall mystery deepens as ex-Tory staffer denies he’s confessed
• Pierre Poutine’s identity might not be known until end of ‘robocalls’ election probe

On March 2, Elections Canada said that it had already received 31,000 submissions. It later stated that the majority of those “contacts” were the result of an online petition calling for a public inquiry.

But some of the information provided to the agency is “gold,” according to a source close to the investigation, and some complainants have reported followup calls from investigators.

At least one other Elections Canada investigator, Tim Charbonneau, has joined former RCMP inspector Al Mathews, who is leading the probe. They have interviewed witnesses beyond Guelph, which suggests they are taking seriously reports of telephone mischief in other communities.

According to a CBC investigation voters who revealed they would not be voting Conservative received robocalls sending them to fake polling stations.

The report suggests the misleading phone calls relied on data gathered by the Conservative Party.

Tim McCoy of the riding of Ottawa-Vanier complained to Elections Canada after he received a phoney robocall pretending to be from Elections Canada. But he told the CBC he also had two previous calls from the Conservatives and declined to pledge his vote to the party.

After the story broke last month, Elections Canada set up an online complaint-submission form and hired about a dozen “administrative” workers to sift through the electronic submissions, call complainants and send them on to the office of the Commissioner of Elections, where the small group of experienced investigators can follow them up.

Still unclear is how many people actually received the faux Elections Canada robocalls that directed voters to the wrong polling stations. Court documents filed by Mathews in September said call logs showed 281 people called the prepaid “burner” cellphone used to launch the fraudulent Guelph calls on May 2 after the number appeared on their caller ID screens.

Mathews said a voice-broadcasting expert told him that robocalls typically solicit a one per cent callback rate. “On that basis, he was of the view that the Elections Day calls to electors must have numbered in the thousands, even assuming a significantly higher call back rate by upset electors,” Mathews said.

Investigators have obtained records from the Edmonton voice-broadcasting company that are believed to show exactly who got the calls and where they lived, as well as payment information that is helping trace the origin of the suspect known as “Pierre Poutine.”

Ever since the scandal broke last month, Conservative politicians and spokespeople have acknowledged that something strange seems to have happened in Guelph, but pushed back hard at suggestions that there is a pattern of deceptive vote-suppression calls in other ridings.

The agency has followed up on at least two reports of recorded messages, like the robocalls received by voters on Guelph on election day, that purported to be from Elections Canada and told voters their polling station had moved.

Eduardo Harari, a volunteer on Ken Dryden’s Liberal campaign in York Centre, has told Elections Canada that he received eight bilingual fake Elections Canada robocalls telling him his polling station had moved: the first on April 21, the last on May 2, election day.

“It just said that due to the large amount of people that have been voting at my current location, my voting location had been changed, to 3500 Dufferin, unit 101,” he said.

Harari reported the calls to Elections Canada during the election, and then again after the story broke, after which he was interviewed by Elections Canada investigator Tim Charbonneau.

Charbonneau has also interviewed Peggy Walsh Craig, who recently told the Toronto Star that she received a similar fake Elections Canada robocall in the northern Ontario riding of Nipissing-Timiskaming. Both Harari and Craig say they received voter-identification calls earlier in the campaign, purportedly from the Conservative Party, and told them they would not be voting Conservative.

There is no evidence in either riding that the apparent effort to confuse voters was successful. A spokesman for a real estate agency at the address where Harari was directed to vote said Wednesday that they couldn’t recall any voters showing up there on election day.

With files from the National Post

continue reading source: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/15/investigators-striking-information-gold-in-elections-canada-robocalls-probe-source/

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