General

Robocall fallout haunts Tories

Allegations of electoral hijinks and possible fraud dogged Conservatives Thursday even as the party tried to distance itself from an explosive report on the party’s use of robocalls in the last election.

Sun Media, citing party sources, says a Conservative staffer is being investigated in the case, which saw calls claiming to originate from Elections Canada go out to voters in several swing ridings.

Speaking in Iqaliut, Prime Minister Stephen Harper denied his party had any knowledge of the tactics. But writing in the Globe, John Ibbitson wondered if the Conservatives’ permanent warfare approach was at least indirectly to blame:

(T)hey may have instilled such an intensely partisan anything-you-can-get-away-with mentality among their campaign workers that one or more of them concluded it would be okay to cross the line of legality.

Political parties can’t be held responsible for the actions of rogue supporters. But they can he held accountable for creating environments that produce those rogues.

This is a mirror into which Stephen Harper and everyone who works for him should be looking.

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