General

As the robocall scandal drifts into another week, new allegations of misdirection surface

Workers at a call centre hired by the Conservative Party say they were given scripts that directed voters to the wrong polling stations in the lead up to the 2011 election.

From the Toronto Star:

In a new twist on new growing allegations of political “dirty tricks,” three former employees of RMG — Responsive Marketing Group Inc.’s call centre in Thunder Bay — told the Star about the scripts.

A fourth remembered directing people to voting stations but did not remember passing on any message that a voting station had changed.

However, one employee was so concerned that something was amiss she says she reported it to her supervisor at the RMG site, to the RCMP office in Thunder Bay and to a toll-free Elections Canada number at the time.

With the House set to resume Monday, the voter-surpression scandal threatens to dominate debate in Ottawa. Over the weekend, Defence Minister Peter MacKay told the CBC he believes the any misdirection was isolated. The Liberals and the NDP, however, say as many as 34 ridings may have been targeted.

In the Globe, John Ibbitson writes that Harper likely “knew nothing about what was going on in Guelph or elsewhere.” But he is now scrambling to find out exactly what went on. In the Citizen, meanwhile, Michael Den Tandt notes that the Gomery Inquiry all but destroyed the Liberal Party then helpfully suggests Harper call a similar probe into the robocall allegations.

For the latest in on this story, follow Aaron Wherry’s Beyond The Commons blog.

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