Demanding Answers
Posted Mar 11, 2012 06:33:01 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Thousands gathered in 27 cities from as far west as Yellowknife to as far east as St. John’s, in a wave of protests across Canada in response to the widening “Robocall” election fraud scandal. The rallies demanded a full public inquiry into the scandal, as well as new elections where illegal voter suppression and fraud may have influenced the outcome of the last Federal election.
On Saturday afternoon protestors in Kitchener waved large Canadian flags with “Stop Harper” on them, and got honks of approval from cars passing by. Louisette was one of those people holding a flag, “Even though they had already voted at an early poll, and they drove by the polling station and saw that it was open on election day, ” said Louisette referring to an experience her parents had during last May’s election.
The protestors varied in age. Zack is 17 and not old enough to vote, but was there showing support, “When I get to be 18, I want my vote to actually count and be in the election.”
Some people at the rally felt the scandal is just another example of a government abusing its power. Luke Greatrex helped organize the rally in Kitchener, “The robocall scandal is just a symptom of the larger democratic deficit in our country. The lack of political knowledge, political effectiveness and just our declining institutions in general.”
Elections Canada has been getting flooded with complaints of misleading phone calls, and most people at the rally want a full public inquiry as well as a criminal investigation. Samir was there holding a sign that read, “32,000 complaints, what is next?”. He says people need to wake up, “To be honest with you I’m surprised with the numbers that are here right now, which is a good sign. I think all that we need is just to raise awareness. They’ve (citizens) been sleeping for a long time and that’s the problem. People need to know.”
So far Elections Canada has received about 32,000 complaints from citizens who say they were lead to the wrong polling station during the last Federal election.
