EDMONTON – It’s the biggest fine ever levied against a political party by the CRTC for so-called “robocalls”.
Thursday, Global News revealed the Wildrose Party had been fined $90,000 for just that. Now, the Progressive Conservative party says there could have been election manipulation.
“We’re contrite, we’re embarrassed, and we’re not going to do it again,” said Wildrose party President David Yager in an interview with Global News Thursday.
He said the party paid the $90,000 fine on Wednesday.
“We’ve come clean, we’ve cooperated, we’ve been fined, and we’ve paid the fine. We know what we have to do going forward and rest assured, we will.”
However, that response isn’t satisfying the PCs.
PC Caucus Government Liason Doug Griffiths wants the Wildrose to call for the Chief Electoral Officer to investigate what he says could amount to election manipulation. He says, if they don’t, the PCs will.
“There were lots of ridings that were less than a hundred votes, or even a few dozen votes,” he says.
“How much of this tactic of manipulation affected the outcome of the election is something for the Chief Electoral Officer to investigate.”
Under CRTC rules, automated polling calls – or robocalls – must identify who is calling, what group they’re calling on behalf of, and provide a phone number and address.
The Wildrose stresses there’s no way it is the only guilty party.
“None of the calls I’ve ever received were ever compliant at all, so I believe virtually all political parties that use this tool, I believe that pretty well everybody is offside,” said Yager.
But Griffiths maintains the PC party is not being investigated.
However, a broader CRTC investigation into these types of calls could impact the way all political parties conduct polling in the future.
The Wildrose says it’s working with the CRTC to develop protocols for complying with the rules, but for many parties, identifying who they are is perceived to impact the effectiveness of the poll.
“Yes, that’s probably true,” says University of Alberta political scientist Jim Lightbody.
Lightbody suspects while the CRTC has rules in place, political parties will find a way around them.
“This fine is probably one step ahead of the parties, but within a week, I would be surprised if the parties weren’t two steps ahead of the CRTC,” he muses.
Both the CRTC and RackNine – the company hired to conduct polling for the Wildrose – declined to comment on this story to Global News.
With files from Vassy Kapelos
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