HALIFAX – Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says it is “extremely worrisome” that there was a systematic approach to interfering in the right to vote in the robocall scandal.
Trudeau, who was glad-handing at a Halifax mall Friday, reacted to a Federal Court decision Thursday that found fraud was involved in the robocalls.
But Judge Richard Mosley concluded that the scale didn’t justify wiping out the results of voting in six federal ridings in the 2011 election.
The ruling cleared the Conservative party and its candidates of any effort to mislead voters, though it found the most likely source of information used to make the misleading calls was the party’s database.
READ MORE: Federal Court upholds 2011 election results in ‘robocall’ ridings
Trudeau said the court’s findings concern him.
“So the fact that there was a systematic approach to doing that is extremely, extremely worrisome,” he said. “The fact that it was tied in to the Conservative database as well is an indication of tremendous concern.”
The Conservatives issued a statement Thursday noting the ruling found no evidence of wrongdoing by the party or any of the candidates or campaign teams involved in the challenge. The statement also blasted the advocacy group that bankrolled the challenge.
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“The Council of Canadians court challenge was a transparent attempt to overturn certified election results simply because this activist group didn’t like them,” the statement said.
The council paid the legal bills of the eight voters who launched the challenge and took solace in the judge’s finding that fraud did occur.
“What we can do with that I think is to demonstrate that there was very shady business going on,” said executive director Garry Neil.
The six ridings in question are in British Columbia, Yukon, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.
Elections Canada is also probing fraudulent robocalls, stemming from complaints that have surfaced in 56 ridings across the country.
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