More On The Right And Wrong Of Robocalls

I can't say that this comes as much of a surprise.

The Guelph Mercury has reported that Marty Burke has filed a complaint with Elections Canada over the robocalls made by Frank Valeriote around the same time as somebody was blatantly misleading the public.

Commissioner of Canada Elections                                                                                                                                                                        c/o
Elections Canada                                                                                          

Dear Commissioner, 

I wish to file an official complaint with your office concerning an incident that happened in the Guelph EDA during the 41st Federal Election.

On April 30, 2011 a recorded voice message was sent to an unknown number of Guelph residents. The actual transcript of the voice message:

“Hi, I’m Laurie MacDonald of Guelph.  I’m appalled by what I read in the Mercury today.  I’ve been an advocate for women’s rights for most of my life. Conservative candidate Marty Burke believes that under absolutely no circumstance should a woman have a right to choose.

Government should not be able to force their beliefs onto me.  We live in a multi-faith, multi-cultural society.  Let’s move forward and not back.

The race in Guelph is very close, vote strategically on Monday to protect our hard earned rights from the Conservatives and Marty’s extreme views.”

I believe this message violates Section 320 of the elections act in that it does not indicate “in or on the message that its transmission was authorized by the official agent of the candidate or by the registered agent of the party”. In other words, it was a deliberate attempt to sway voters away from the Conservative Party while remaining anonymous. 

Secondly, under the CRTC Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules (which are applicable in elections), such calls “shall display the originating telecommunications number or an alternate telecommunications number where the telecommunication originator can be reached”.  The number displayed 226-209-3758 had no call back capability and no other number was provided maintaining anonymity.  

Finally, the CRTC rules state such calls cannot be made on weekends after 6 p.m. There is some question as to whether some or all of the calls were made before or after this time but I believe it does bear investigation. 

 In early March, Guelph resident Greg Schirk, who received the message last April 30th, sent the original voice mail message to the Guelph Mercury newspaper. They subsequently published a story on this revelation.

Only after this event was made public did the local federal Liberal campaign admit that they had created and transmitted the message. 

The clear intent of this Liberal Party authorized message was to slur myself and the Conservative Party in the hopes of discouraging votes for the Conservative Party. This was done without indicating it was a Liberal Party message, with no call back ability to check the origin, and possibly outside the time period in which these types of calls are allowed.  The Liberal campaign also admitted the name “Laurie MacDonald” was fictitious- apparently another attempt to cover their tracks.

With these telephone calls, we are left to wonder how extensively they were sent and how much did they affect the Guelph election outcome. Their timing coming less than two days before the election, their content designed to inflame people, and their devious anonymity maximizes their impact.             

I respectfully request that your offices investigate to determine whether an offence or offences occurred under the Elections Canada Act or the CRTC rules attached to the act due to these recorded voice messages. 

I am available to assist in any way possible.  

Marty Burke

I want to be clear here especially in light of a conversation I just had with Cam Guthrie who, it should be noted, was good enough to take the time to respond where many wouldn't/haven't. If these calls are found to be illegal and he knew it, then Frank should absolutely be held to account for them to whatever extent the law allows. What's wrong is wrong, no matter who commits the act. But the key word here is if, and in every aspect of this there is at least some room for doubt. To this point it can't be said for certain when the calls were made, so a violation of CRTC time regulations isn't a slam dunk. And as for violations of the Elections Act, there's this, which seems to be getting overlooked.

Valeriote said the reason for the automated calls was both to correct what the Conservative party allegedly said about him, and to point out where Burke stood on the issue.

“This was an issue-based, legal voice blast to correct the lies from others that were said about my position on abortion,” Valeriote said, referring to calls and literature allegedly distributed by the Conservative party.

“People were coming into my office furious that they were saying I was pro abortion. I am not pro abortion,” he said, adding he believes women have the right to choose.

Since Friday, Valeriote has been criticized over not mentioning the calls were funded by his Liberal campaign.

“It was an oversight on our part to not name where the call had come from,” he said, adding however, he claimed it on his expenses for the political campaign and informed Elections Canada about the calls.

He said Elections Canada told him “they didn’t think it was a violation of the Elections Act.”

Elections Canada was not available on the weekend to confirm this.

I don't think I'm out of line based on our chat to say that Guthrie is in the camp that absolutely believes that a violation took place, but if I am he can feel free to correct me. He has his right to that opinion, and he may ultimately turn out to be correct. But if there's a hint that Elections Canada advised the Valeriote campaign that its actions were ok, I'm not willing to throw the guy under the bus. What he did might not have been the smartest thing especially with the benefit of hindsight, but stupid doesn't always equal illegal. Plus there's the matter of these calls being documented and reported, whereas the fake polling calls were not. Wrong is wrong, but there's still a huge matter of scale between Valeriote's campaign message and a deliberate attempt to manipulate election results by stripping rights away from the public. Personally, I'd rather wait for Elections Canada and the CRTC to make their decisions before I pronounce Frank Valeriote guilty of anything other than playing politics.

Not All Robocalls Are Created Equal, So Let's Stick To The Important Ones

I almost wrote this on Friday, but I wasn't quite in the right frame of mind. I did however take a bit of a strip off of Guelph provincial Conservative candidate Greg Schirk and strongly thought about tearing a similar one off of city councillor Cam Guthrie over Twitter because of it.

The issue at hand is what else, robocalls. Because of what's been going on around VC World HQ the last month and change I'm very much late to this party, but by now I'm sure most of you have at least a basic understanding of what's happening. If you don't, Google is your friend. Type in robocalls and Elections Canada investigation or some variation on that theme and you'll be caught up pretty quickly.

Now, why did I get so angry at Greg and Cam? To be fair, it isn't just them. They just happen to be two of the more conservative, right leaning people I follow on Twitter, so their comments were some of the first to catch my eye. To be clear, I hate the fact that I have to bring up their political leanings at all, because the robocall issue should not under any circumstances be a partisan one. But for some reason, there are Conservative supporters out there (these two seemingly among them) who appear bent on making it one.

I'll link to Cam's thoughts on the situation such as they are to illustrate my point. What about those Guelph Robo-calls?

Can somebody please tell me what exactly it is he's trying to get across here? At one moment he's saying what we all should be saying, that whoever is responsible for pretending to be Elections Canada and telling people to vote in the wrong place needs to be caught and dealt with swiftly. That's great. But he then goes on to say that left wing media are trying to group all robocalls into the same pile, and follows that up by taking a big dump all over the Liberals for making calls urging people not to vote for Marty Burke and to vote strategically. After all that, he winds things up by saying that those calls are annoying, but nothing to get bent out of shape over or contact the police about.

Um...yeah...ok?

He's right, they are nothing to get wound up over. They're campaign calls. they happen all the time, and depending on who you talk to they're totally within the bounds of Canadian election law. So the question is if that's the case, why mention them? If you can't paint them with the same brush, what purpose does any of this serve other than taking unnecessary shots at rivals and trying to deflect the issue for a few minutes?

And just who are these left wing media groups that are trying to lump all robocalls into the bad column? I've already admitted that I'm a little behind so perhaps I've missed something that will make me eat my words, but up to now the only people I've heard making these claims are those on the more conservative end of the spectrum, the group which looks to have the most to lose out of this whole affair. The rest of us are busy being rightfully outraged and looking for justice. Frank Valeriote being honest about doing what everybody else does isn't overly important to us when measured against what could very well be an organized voter suppression effort orchestrated by associates of the party that ultimately won the election.

I'm quite frankly disgusted that at such an important moment in Canada's history, there are still people wanting to protect one side over another and cause people to stray away from what's important. I should have known better than to expect better I know, but there are times like this when things effect every single one of us that you honestly do hope that the us against them mentality gets tossed out the window. We're neither us or them. We're we. And until we all figure that out, we're doing our democracy an extreme disservice.

Elections Ontario Accessible Voting Survey

Update: Blindies, you must take this survey either with NVDA or via phone. Part way through it becomes inaccessible if you're using JAWS. There's a place where you have to specify your knowledge level with various voting options...but there are no form fields I can see. At least it is more doable than I thought. You just have to put on ye old NVDA. But one question. Why put a graphical progress bar on a survey about accessibility?

Maybe I should have just waited before I tried to give Elections Ontario feedback. Apparently, now they have an online survey all about the accessible voting tools and stuff. Here's the scoop on it.

In the 2011 general election, Elections Ontario made it our mission to make voting easy and put voters first. We introduced new methods and features tohelp remove barriers for all eligible Ontarians.

In our efforts to improve our services, we are seeking feedback and views on the voting experience, particularly on new features such as accessibility tools at the voting locations, accessible voting locations and voting by Special Ballot.

I am writing to ask for your help in making the 2011 Elections Evaluation Survey available. We are partnering with Ipsos Reid, a leading global market research firm, to collect data that we will use to make future decisions.

This online survey should take about 20 minutes to complete. We hope to receive the responses by November 4th. All information provided will be kept STRICTLY confidential. Results will be reported in one combined summary so individual comments can not be identified.

I would greatly appreciate it if you can forward this information to voters with disabilities who can provide us with insights on their voting experience in the 2011 provincial general election. Any questions can be directed to Elizabeth Armstrong at Elections Ontario (Elizabeth.armstrong@elections.on.ca,
416 326 1757) or Michael Howell, Senior Research Manager, Ipsos Reid Michael.Howell@Ipsos.com,
416-572-4407).

To complete this online survey, participants should click on the following link: www.ipsosresearch.com/electionsontariosurvey.

Or they may call 1-888-999-9370 (TTY compatible). 

Thank you for your assistance in helping us improve voting in Ontario.

Sincerely,
Greg Essensa

So, maybe I was unfair to poor Elections Ontario. If you voted using any of their aids to make voting more accessible, please do give them feedback. It's good for all of us.

Thursday Sure Went Well

Just a quick note before I turn in for the night because this has been a pretty good day for a few reasons and it needs to be remembered.

1. The Leafs won their season opener by shutting out Montreal. What more need be said other than I hope the same damn thing happens to Ottawa on Saturday?

2. the Yankees lost to the Tigers at Yankee Stadium no less and are now eliminated from the playoffs! What more need be said other than I hope the same damn thing happens to the Phillies tomorrow?

3. Vince Russo appears to no longer be TNA's head writer. I've been waiting for this since the day they hired him. What more need be said other than I hope this is the first step towards shitcanning him completely?

4. We still have a Liberal government in Ontario. I voted NDP as I tend to do provincially, but a Liberal victory is completely fine with me. It looks like a Liberal minority that's going to end up one seat short of majority status, but hey, a win's a win, right? And minority governments don't have to be a bad thing. They can keep a scary government in check and make a decent government better. They can work if everybody involved wants to make them work, which I hope is the case here. The last thing the province or the country needs is yet another election before it's time. What more need be said than don't be tools, people we've elected? Please do right by all of us and make this work.

I think that's everything. It's time for head to hit pillow before it hits keyboard. So what more need be said than good night, and let's hope that tomorrow turns out as good as today?

Elections Ontario: We Make Voting Easy, But Giving Feedback Hard

We said yesterday that voting with the Assistive Voting Tech went relatively smoothly, aside from the machine inexplicably telling Steve he had selected the sip and puff device when he had decidedly not sipped and/or puffed into anything. So, I thought it would be nice to give them a little feedback, most of which was a big ol' woohoo, and a request that these suckers be in more polling locations. If only I knew how hard it would be to give feedback!

I went to the first place one would go to give feedback, that being the contact us link on the page. Yeah, contact, give feedback, you've got it. I found a customer service feedback form in PDF. I thought here we go.

I opened the PDF, and found that I could only get a few characters per line. Ug! That's painful. But I soldiered on. On the positive side, I did notice that the edit fields were editable and the radio buttons were checkable! Despite the difficulty in filling it out, I was happy that I could.

Then I went to save. It was at this point it warned me that I would only be saving a blank form, and all data would be lost! What the, who the, huh?

So, because I'm stubborn, I went back, and somehow found their accessible customer service policy, and found another feedback form about 12 pages inside that. Don't worry, I didn't sift through 12 pages of goo. They did have nice happy headings.

But even there, there were weird radio buttons or checkboxes that I could see were checkboxes, but couldn't manipulate them. I also emailed Elections Ontario.

While I was contemplating how I would extract that form from the giant document, the good folks at Elections Ontario responded, and told me where I should go to get a proper form. The feedback form specifically dealing with accessible customer service could only be found under accessibility overview, a link which I cannot find anywhere on the Elections Ontario homepage. Can you? It's a challenge. Prove me wrong. I can see the web accessibility link, but no accessibility overview.

Um, why not put a link to this form under contact us like the regular link? Sure, put one under accessibility overview, but put one under feedback. That would only make sense. And why go to such lengths to hhide the accessibility overview? They've made voting, and everything else, pretty easy I have to say. Why make this so hard?

So, if you would like to give feedback about your own voting experience, go at it. The form is there, in word and PDF. I think I have to say the hardest part of this whole experience was giving feedback!

The One Where I Tell You To Vote And Then Ramble About Other Things For A While

I'll warn you right off the top that this post might be even more disjointed and sucky than usual. I'm a bit distracted by the pain in my right foot and it's making me cranky. The thing hates me, but if I were it and I'd been injured so many times by me, I'd probably hate me too. I wish I'd kept a log from the first time I hurt it when I was 8 or 9 up to now so I could see exactly how much I've put it through. I think it would be a little bit fascinating. It's kind of scary that I've done so much to it that I can't remember it all off the top of my head, isn't it? Usually hurting something that effects you that much is memorable, but perhaps after a certain number you just stop counting and forget about it all because it's too much to remember and maybe even a little bit routine...at least until the next thing happens to it. It's anything but routine in the moment, I assure you.

So what sort of heinous and horrible things did I do to it today, you ask. Well...I walked on it. Seriously, that's all it takes some days. I like long walks but it doesn't, and there seems to be no room for agreeing to disagree. I often need to walk to get around, and since its entire purpose in life is to serve as my right leg, it has no choice but to come along every time. For now I can take it, but with each passing year it gets a little worse. Man, getting old is gonna blow.

It's a beautiful sunny day here in lovely Guelph. A perfect day to get out and vote in the Ontario election if you haven't already done so. Carin and I did that this morning so that we could take advantage of the audio voting system that she's posted about here. If you want all of the info on that stuff, check the elections tag. Everything you need should be there. If you want to audio vote or sip and puff or any of the other options they have, you only have until the end of tomorrow to do it. For reasons nobody will ever get me to understand, these things are not available on election day proper, nor were they around for the regular advanced polls. You have to find your returning office and vote there. I'd love to see them try pulling that stunt with pencils. If you're in Guelph, the address is 292 Speedvale Avenue West, unit 1. It's in the plaza near the Speedvale and Silvercreek intersection. If you're anywhere else, the Elections Ontario site or 1-888-ONT-VOTE can help you find where you're supposed to go. Please, go there and use this stuff if you need it. I can tell you with certainty that they're keeping track of how well used it is. Every vote cast using these machines really is a vote for justifying their existence. It shouldn't have to be that way (see pencils, pulling that stunt with), but until a whole lot of attitudes change for the better, that's how it's going to be.

Carin and I had a very nice trip to Ottawa this weekend. I could have done without spending the better part of Friday and Sunday on buses since I really don't travel well, but the between time was great. We got to catch up with some old friends and even meet a couple of online ones in person. I'm not sure what's wrong with the folks in the latter camp, but for some reason they liked us enough to not let us pay for breakfast. Thanks again, guys. We'll be happy to return the favour any time. And thanks to the old friends for everything. Twas a great weekend, and trust me, never again will I make the mistake of calling your apple cinnamon coffee bread cinnamon coffee bread. I meant neither to underestimate or offend it. It was a lovely creation, and I deeply apologize to it.

For those of you who care about such things, I'm still tied for the lead in the PWInsider pay-per-view pick 'em contest. I'm tied with a different person, but still tied. I can't seem to get first place all to myself, but honestly I'm just happy I'm a contender with only 3 shows to go.

Since I'm insane, I'm thinking about signing up for the TNA/ROH version they're going to run. Yes, you read that correctly. These people are going to try to make figuring out TNA a thing. I figure what can it hurt? If I'm going to watch the shit anyway I might as well try getting some found money out of it.

On the subject of wrestling since I don't talk much about it anymore, Mark Henry is awesome lately. Somehow, after 15 years, WWE has finally figured out how to present him. Slowly but surely they're turning him into one of the only believable characters in the company. The more they let him mow through people and bust things up, the more it feels like indeed, this fellow could and would kick the living hell out of me if given the chance. Wrestling needs more of that sort of thing if it wants to keep people interested and paying.

One more thing before I get out of here. I think I may have mentioned this on one of the recent audios we did, but why are we in such a hurry to get rid of summer and bring on Christmas this year? Seriously, we didn't even make it through Labour Day before people were putting summer in the ground and talking about how there were only a hundred and whatever days to Christmas. Listen, people. I'm going to say this as nicely as I can. Fuck the fuck off with that, you irritating sonsofbitches! We shouldn't be hearing a peep about Christmas from absolutely anyone until the staying type of snow is on the ground or December starts, whichever comes first. Feel free to start your shopping before then if you'd like, that's fine. It never hurts to beat the crowds and it's nice to not have to do it all at once. But please, keep it to yourself. Some of us really can't stand winter and are beginning to feel similarly about Christmas, and you're not helping.

I hate to end things on kind of a downer, so I'll leave you with this instead.

What's the difference between a bad golfer and a bad skydiver?
Bad golfer: *Whack* "Aww shit!
Bad skydiver: "Aww shit!" *Whack*

Ahh, much better.

Enjoy today's baseball if that's your thing. I personally can't wait to watch what I hope will be the first round end of the Yankees. Between that and Boston not making it at all, there might be enough happiness to make me like Christmas again.

More Elections Ontario Accessibility Scoop

Alrighty, here's the updated updated Elections Ontario accessibility scoop. Isn't this so much fun?

I have found our returning office, and it's in a pretty sweet location all things considered. The address is 292 Speedvale Avenue West, and it's in Unit 1 in that plaza at the very least. I have heard reports that they have units 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, and we saw signs on at least 3 doors saying Elections Ontario, but the woman who answered the phone there said that they at least had Unit 1. If you're still looking at me with confused eyes, have some more info. It's in a little plaza with Ample Annie's roadhouse near the intersection of Speedvale Avenue West and Silvercreek Parkway North. It is also on the 22 Conestoga bus route. Still confused? Give them a call at 1-866-271-6877 and ask 'em more questions. Note: that number is only for the Guelph office.

It'll be a little bit of a jaunt for me, but I don't care. I'm going there to vote because I will be able to vote independently. Plus I want to at least know that the machine got used once.

And big props to the lady at the returning office. When I called her and asked what the starting date was for the assistive tech being available, she didn't know what I meant and said they hadn't received such tech. But she went and looked it up and confirmed that yes, it would be available after September 21.

Now, I'm going to do a little test before I write this next part.

Great Caesar's Ghost! It works! I guess I don't have to talk about that whole info being in an image thing. It's so not in an image anymore. But I do have to chuckle that they didn't mention anything about returning offices or officers until the writ was dropped...even though the returning offices had phone numbers, locations and signs. I guess you have to be uber technical about things. And even if that's the case, why not put a message up saying that specific info would not be available until after September 7. Don't keep me guessing! But the info is up now, so that's all that matters.

I'm sure the elections folk thought I was a little too much of a keener, calling yesterday looking for info, but I have to plan for stuff. If the office is difficult to get to, I have to learn how to get there. I'm determined to use that machine goddamn it and I want to make sure all the ducks are in a row to use it.

And one more thing. If you want to use the machine, I have heard mixed things about whether or not an appointment is necessary. So, find out where your returning office and/or satelite returning office is and find out whether you need to book an appointment. Mine said don't worry about it.

The machines will be available starting September 21 until October 5. For anyone who might benefit from them, pleeease use them! I probably seem overly dramatic about this, but if we don't use them, they won't think the demand is there. And please spread the word to others who might also benefit from them.

So that's the latest and greatest of what I know. Probably the next thing I write on this topic will be all about using the machine and how it goes. Happy voting when the time comes.

Pre-Election Antics Deja Vu

Honestly, are the Ontario liberals trying to emulate the behaviour of the federal Conservatives? I know they won, but still...

Last week, an announcement went out saying that Anybody from the Conservative or NDP parties were banned from attending campaigning events by the Liberals. Um, what? Apparently this has not happened in years, and relations between the parties have been quite civil. I know the Liberals are scared, and frankly so am I, but I think this does more to work against them than for them.

I'm not looking forward to the end of October 6, that's for sure.

Long Weekend Audio: Making Laytons

We said we weren't done with audio. Here comes some more.

A little while ago, I mentioned that Jack Layton had died. So, later, I learned that someone had created a drink in his honour. So, Steve made one of these, and we talked about it. Believe it or not we talked about it for 27 minutes. It, and other stuff, but hey, that comes with the territory, doesn't it? Hope you enjoy. It looks like Steve's diggin' the Layton.

Latest Elections Ontario Accessibility Scoop

When I posted the thing about the home visits option for voting in the provincial election, I had some questions. At this home visit, would you be able to use the assistive voting devices? What kind of assistance was offered?

I figured I'd phone Elections Ontario and ask. And here's what I found out.

If you select a home visit, you will not get the assistive voting device. It's just someone coming to your hone because for whatever reason you find it hard to get to the polling station. So, if you can't get to the polling station because you have vision troubles and have trouble navigating to where it is, or you have another impairment that may make it necessary for you to use sip and puff or the paddles that come with the device, and you choose a home visit, be aware that you'll just have to use the "braille template" or the printed ballot and get assistance, and take the same gamble as I've talked about when voting before the audio voting came along.

Also, I finally confirmed that yes, in fact, the assistive voting devices will only be at returning offices, not even advance polls. But unlike in the federal election, you can vote at your returning office up to the day before election day. So, if the returning office is in an accessible and convenient location, it does provide more flexibility in terms of opportunities to vote. Would be nice if the option was available at advance polls and election day though. Yes, I know the machine is huge, but if the city of Guelph can make audio voting machines be available at all advance polling stations as well as at election day, what's holding back an entire province?

I saw one of these suckers, and they are suuuper cool. Not only can you vote using audio and pressing buttons on what looks like the biggest game controler you've ever seen, you can use paddles to vote if you can't use your hands I guess, and you can also use sip and puff, where you blow into a straw-like thing to make your selections. Isn't that just awesome?

So if you could benefit from any of these features, make the trek to your returning office and make use of the machine. Also, if enough people use the machine, they will note the demand.

On the subject of home visits, here's the killer. You have to book a home visit by August 30. But they don't tell you where your returning office is until the first week of September. For me, I will vote independently if I can at all. But if I find out that my returning office is on a dangerous part of Woodlawn Road where there is no sidewalk, for example, I may think gee I could have benefitted from a home visit, even though it would suck to have someone come to my home only to carry out an inaccessible voting process. It's the same killer as holding major debates after advance polls are finished.

Believe me, I know how hard it is to juggle deadlines, and they have to lease all these temporary buildings across the province and assess each location for parking/wheelchair/other stuff accessibility. But there's something a little wrong with not knowing all your options before making a choice.

Two things I have to mention about calling Elections Ontario. I guess you get this anywhere, but the variance in amount of knowledge between reps is staggering. The first rep I got, as soon as I started asking accessibility questions, started telling me to email Elections Ontario's info address. But I decided goddamn it, people who phone about accessibility concerns don't always have email, I'm going to squeeze the response out of them by phone. When I eventually mentioned to her that I was surprised at how little training Elections Ontario was giving their general reps, considering they were unveiling this great big accessibility platform, she told me I should have asked to be transferred to their accessibility team.

I beg your pardon? I, the customer, am supposed to tell her, the person with all the knowledge and training, what I have to do to get the answers I'm seeking? And if all us folks with accessibility concerns are supposed to go to the accessibility team, why isn't that an option on the automated menu?

But another friend said she called Elections Ontario, and the first person she talked to gave her all the answers she needed without any trouble at all.

When I did get someone from accessibility, she did do quite a thorough job. I think she learned a thing or 2 as well. I liked the fact that she actually took the time to verify things. For instance, she thought the Braille templates had a list of the candidates brailled so you could cast your vote independently by lining up the hole with the candidate. But when I asked her to confirm that, she came back and said no they didn't. It was the news I was expecting, but at least she didn't set me up for a massive disappointment.

She also gave me a link to a far more accessible version of the "More Days More Ways" catalogue. The first copy I saw was a hideously inaccessible PDF version. This one I could actually read.

So, that's the latest on what I know about how this here election is going to work. Oh, and in searching through our elections tag, all I have to say is what happened?

Also, after you vote, there is supposed to be a feedback form. If you have things to say about your experience, speak. The only way they'll know different viewpoints is if people speak. She laughed at me because I said I can't really try out every voting method and give feedback, ya know, electoral rules kinda frown on that. But it's true. Everybody who does the home visits, the advance polls, the voting by returning office, provide them with feedback. It's the only way they can learn and grow.

Happy voting when it comes time, everybody. We can pray for maybe things turning out better than they appear.

Jack Layton Lost His War With Cancer

Really, I was having such a nice weekend with friends. Why did yesterday have to be filled with so much death and destruction?

And one death is the focus of this post. I found out that early yesterday morning, Jack Layton, the federal NDP leader, lost his battle with cancer. He was 61.

He has been such a fighter. Through a broken hip, one battle with cancer, and other things which I'm sure I've forgotten, he just kept going. Through it all, he managed to lead his party to a pretty amazing place for them, official opposition status. This for a party who got snickered at not too long ago.

Then, after the election, he made an announcement saying he had to step aside and focus on fighting cancer. I remember listening to his speech and thinking he did not sound like himself at all. I hoped he would make it, but a small part of me was afraid it was all over, even though that's not what I wanted to think. And goddamn it, that small part of me was proven right.

Even though we have lost him, we can hope that his party will remember his spirit and it will inspire them to keep up the momentum. Hopefully this letter he wrote a couple of days before his death might help. I can't imagine writing something like that. But he did.

I remember when I met him with a few friends in a random restaurant years ago. Although it was just a conversation about whether or not we had a good meal, and I was reduced to sounding like Porky Pig when he introduced himself, I do think that it was pretty cool that the leader of a party would walk up to a bunch of folks and just start talking to them. I know they do that when campaigning, but this was just some random night at a random restaurant.

If anyone in Guelph wants to send condolences to Jack Layton's family, Our MP, Frank Valeriote, has a book of condolences at his office located at 40 Cork Street East that you can sign.

Rest in peace, Jack. What a shame that cancer had to go and do what it does best, bring lives to an end way too soon.

This Provincial Election, Home Visits Are Available

I just saw this in the Election Connection newsletter. Pretty cool if you need it.

Elections Ontario is offering home visits for those who can't make it to their returning office. You can apparently arrange for the visit to happen up to the day before election day, so that's pretty cool.

If you need one of these, call before August 30 to book it.

I'll definitely say there are more options for voting for folks with disabilities this provincial election. Hopefully this one's getting publicized widely.

And Now, A Few Words From Boohoo Burke

Last week, when the election was over, the news was filled as it always is with reactions from winners and losers. Reporters caught up with various candidates to hear about what went right, what went wrong and what the future may hold. All of Guelph's major candidates and even some of the fringe ones got their moment in the spotlight the next day...all, I should say, save one. And if you've been paying attention, you already know which one.

On election night, nobody had heard from Marty Burke. the Mercury tried repeatedly to contact him then, the next day, the next day and probably the next. I'm a little behind since I've been busy and away, so they could still be trying to locate him now for all I know.

But amazingly, Burke wasn't completely silent. He may have shafted the big newspaper, but the Tribune found him, or perhaps he found them. At any rate, they published portions of an email he sent in, and boy oh boy. For a guy who claimed to have wanted the job of MP and used to serve in the military, he sure comes off, for lack of a better term, like a complete pissy pants whiney baby.

:Burke says city worse off without him" says the headline, so right away we're not starting off on a good note. And shock of all shocks, it only gets worse from there.

While local Conservative candidate Marty Burke is pleased with the overall results of Monday’s general election, he’s feeling sorry for Guelph and the choice its voters made.

“The pity for Guelphites, unfortunately, is that their already weak voice has been diminished further in Parliament. Backbench MPs in last place parties have difficulty getting glasses of water, let alone getting things done for their riding,” said Burke in a statement emailed to the Tribune on Tuesday.

“Canada’s so-called natural governing party has been reduced to a small rump – dead last in the parliamentary pecking order,” he said of incumbent opponent and victor Frank Valeriote’s Liberal Party.

He also went on to blame the Green Party's drop in the polls here for screwing him out of a win, completely glossing over the apparent failure of the not showing up and campaigning while sounding like a douchey scripted guy when he did speak strategy he'd been using.

Again I must say, good for you, Guelph. We might be represented by a 3rd party backbencher, but at least he's a 3rd party backbencher that has represented us well, had the guts to show his face and take questions, and probably would have taken defeat with head held high instead of like a sobbing child.

It's nice that Marty Burke feels sorry for Guelph, but we don't need his pitty. He didn't win, so we'll be just fine.

Voters Turn Out, Ignatieff And Duceppe Turn In

Yes, more election things.

I'm happy to say that it looks like the voter turnout went up. It didn't go up by much, but at least it went in the right direction instead of setting a new record low like happened in 2008. That year, only 59.1% of voters bothered, but this year the numbers indicate that it'll come in around 61.4%. That's better, but it can still improve.

Here in Guelph, turnout was pegged at 64.8%, which is pretty good. I wonder how much of that had to do with the vote mobs. Whatever brought people out, good for it.

And while we're in Guelph, have the vote totals for each candidate.

Frank Valeriote crushed Marty Burke pretty nicely. He took 43.4% of the votes winding up with 25,574, while Burke pulled in 19,252 votes, good for 32.7%. Last time out Guelph was a very close riding, with less than a couple thousand votes separating Liberals and Conservatives. But back then we had a candidate that people heard from regularly since she was and still is a well known city councillor, while this time we had Burke, who would have been better off plastering his face on milk cartons since at least that way somebody might have seen him once or twice.

I'm proud of you, Guelph. Not only did you turn out in respectable numbers, but many of you also made a good choice when you got there.

One more quick note: When I said that Michael Ignatieff and Gilles Duceppe were likely done as leaders, I had no idea it would come this quickly. Both stepped down this morning.

Duceppe is no huge loss since the entire goal of his party is to mess with Canada's national unity for the sake of a single province, but I think that Ignatieff, even though he had to go, could have had more to offer the world of politics eventually. Maybe he'll be back one day somewhere, but for now it sounds like his career is over just a few years after it began.

Another Satisfied Customer

the subject of bad voting experiences for those with disabilities has come up before, and it's about to come up again.

Brad went out and voted yesterday like you all should have, and as happens so many times when you've got something the matter with your eyes or anything else, it didn't go well. Nobody argued with him over what Braille is, but this is still completely unacceptable and should not be happening in a time where things are moving towards ease and accessibility for everyone.

Here's what he wrote about his experience. I think a version of this is going to wind up as a letter to the editor of his local newspaper, and so it should. More people need to know how horrible the act of voting with a disability can be. That's the only way it might ever get better.

As a rule, I am not the first person to make a huge deal about whether or not something is accessible for everyone, but this is about to change.

Like many other Canadians, I went out and did my part by voting. Even though many of my fellow Canadians learned very little from the last government when it held a minority, we now have a Conservative majority. This is by no means any fault of mine. Might as well take down the border between Canada and the U.S, we’ll be clones soon enough now. But, let’s save that for another time.

All went relatively smoothely until my turn to go in behind the box and vote. Then, what to my nearly sightless eyes should appear? Well, you guessed it, nothing. No tactile overlay with holes, no Braille overlay so I could tell whose box to X. Nothing at all.

Wouldn’t you think that in Brantford, a city likely having the most blind citizens per capita in Ontario, that something would have been done to make it possible for a visually impaired person to mark their own balett?

When I was first old enough to vote, I lived in Tavistock, a small town near Stratford. They had the tactile overlay. One of the ladies working there took me behind the box and explained which hole was who, then left while I marked. That was fine. What happened this year was not.

Luckily for myself and the people at the Polling Station especially, I had come with my neighbor. They got him to help me; actually, they got him to X my balett “on my behalf.” Is that even legal? Does anyone else see a problem with this? I don’t see much, but that was obviously not the thing to be doing. Everything is supposed to be super-private, and you make me vote like this? What happened to the whole privacy thing?

I know for a fact that we were both voting the same as we discussed it on the way to the Polling Station, but what if we weren’t? What if he was not the type of person to mark who I said I wanted? What if I had gone alone? We’ll never know because after being marked, the balett was folded, and suddenly an object of secrecy, as it should have been all along.

I wish I had spoken up at the time and made a complaint, but there were others waiting to vote and I didn’t want to hold up the line. But, rest assured, next time, I will say something. I don’t know whether or not any other blind people in Brantford had this problem, or if it was just my particular Poling Station. But, if a small town like Tavistock can make voting accessible to all, why can’t a large city such as Brantford follow suit?

Brad Wettlaufer

If you had a similar experience, let people know. Write your newspapers, write your MP, hell, send it to me and perhaps I'll put it up here. And if you want to let Elections Canada know how you're feeling, fill out this form and send it in. There's no good reason why the government can't do better.

Can't Say I'm A Fan Of A Majority Of What Happened Here

Last night, Canada sent a message. It's quite the confusing message, but one was most definitely sent.

I'm not even sure where to start, but I guess starting at the top would make sense.

Stephen Harper and the Conservatives won a majority. What the...how the...why the...who are you people!? I wish I could get inside the head of the Canadian voter, because I honestly don't get it. Burning through a sizable budget surplus that the Liberals created, then turning around and saying that the Cons are the best choice to manage the economy and reduce the national debt? Ok, we'll buy that, have an X! Being the first party ever to be found in contempt of Parliament? Who cares!? A slate of candidates who don't show up for debates, aren't allowed or don't want to answer questions (Harper included) and seem to have no interest in being open? No problem! Running a campaign based on fear, American style attack politics and misleading information about legal constitutional processes? Long live the Conservative Party of Canada! And on and on it goes...and on and on it will go for the next 4 years. Thanks, country. Nice work.

Going in I pretty much expected a Conservative win, but I was thinking another minority with a more interesting battle for second place. The battle for second was interesting for sure, but the majority thing caught me completely by surprise, especially the size of it. the Conservatives won 167 seats, well above the 155 they needed. Harper has always talked about what he'd do with a stable majority, and I guess we're about to find out. If his old ideas survive, I expect a good bit of it to suck. More people being sent to prison rather than getting the help they need, money wasted on fighter planes that even some military people agree aren't a good fit for us, gun registries being scrapped against the wishes of the police, possible funding cuts for programs that are seen as unimportant or not lining up with Conservative values, more tax cuts for the rich corporate types and lord knows what else. None of this is to say that I want Harper to fail. I'm not happy he won, but I do wish him the best. If he does well, we all do well. If he bombs, we all go down with him. Like it or not, for the next 4 years, he's our guy. All we can do now is hope that his words last night about needing to be a respectful government that represents the wishes of all Canadians are more than just hollow tripe. His past record suggests we not hold our breath, but we have no choice but to hope.

For the first time ever, the NDP became the Official Opposition. They won 102 seats, which is just friggin insane. I don't think even they expected that, and I imagine right now there are a lot of young candidates thinking to themselves oh shit, I won, what happens now? A number of the people they ran have little to no political experience, so it's going to be interesting to watch how they develop as time passes. I have no idea what the NDP doing so well means, because it could be a lot of things. It could be more young people voting. It could be that people don't like being told by the bigger parties that they only have 2 choices. It could be people sending a message to the Cons and Libs that they want something different, a party that hasn't had the scandal trouble through the years that they both have. It could be an indication of how split down the middle Canadians have become values wize. It could be all of the above. but whatever it is, it's probably the biggest story of the election. You're not going to find 2 parties more opposite than the Conservatives and the New Democrats, and depending on how well each side does in its role, the next election could be even more historic.

Speaking of history, the Green Party won its first seat! Elizabeth May is now a member of Parliament! Who knows if they'll ever form a government, but this is a giant step for a party that's been on the fringes forever. this and the NDP are definite signs that a good bit of the voting public does want change. The Greens have been growing steadily and now that they have a seat in the house and can't be excluded from TV debates anymore, I see no reason why that growth won't continue.

Amazingly the Green Party's 1 seat makes them only 3 times smaller than the Bloc Québécois, who got absolutely crushed. They're down to 4 seats, losing official party status in the House (you need 12 to have it). Remember when they were the Opposition? Not sure if this means the separatist movement is finally dying, but it's a big story for Quebec and for Canada. Not even Gilles Duceppe survived, and I have to think his leading days are done.

Speaking of leading days being done, poor Michael Ignatieff. I knew he wasn't the guy to bring the Liberals back to power at least not yet, but I had no idea he'd show worse than Stéphane Dionn. Only 34 seats, and his isn't one of them. A little sad since I think he was just starting to find himself as a leader, but for whatever reason, a lot of people seem to disagree. Where all of this leaves the Liberals is yet another interesting story. There will almost certainly be a new leader elected...again. For their sake I hope they can finally find the one, the person they can count on as a stable leader for more than a couple of years. They haven't had that person since Jean Chrétien retired in 2003. Chrétien isn't somebody you just go out and replace, but the next best thing had better be waiting around the corner or things could get even worse before they get better. If I had to guess right now Bob Rae will be the next in line, but that could present problems in Ontario if people don't look back fondly on his days as Premier, and there are a lot of people who don't. Buckle up Liberals, it could be a bumpy ride. Much of it downhill, unfortunately.

Amid all the Conservative gain insanity, one good thing did happen. They may have won a majority, but Marty Burke won't be part of it. I don't have exact numbers but Frank Valeriote pulled out what turned out to be a rare Liberal win here in Guelph, beating Marty Burke by about 10% of the popular vote. The NDP finished third and the Green Party fourth, reversing what happened in 2008. At least Guelph still has a representative that is willing to talk to the people as well as listen to them, somebody that's willing to show his face in public and answer difficult questions. Marty Burke almost certainly would have been a disaster for this city if history became future. Thankfully it didn't get the chance.

I'm uncertain how I should end this, which is kind of fitting. Being uncertain makes me a little bit like the future. Last night's results were quite a shakeup, some good, some perhaps not so much. We're left with a government that probably won't be able to please most people. The Conservatives are going to try to ram through an agenda that's going to be way too far to the right for some people, but it's going to be opposed by a group that's way too far left for others. Does that leave things open for the Liberals to make a comeback in a few years to balance things out? Will Jack Layton and the NDP keep up the momentum and someday run the country? Will the Greens find themselves in a position to take more seats away from the establishment? I have no clue what the answers are, but one thing I do know is that for the first time in a while, Canadian politics, for better or worse, is finally a bit unpredictable again. Let's just hope that none of this unpredictability flushes the country down the crapper.

Watch Out For Your Voting Location Has Been Changed Hoax Calls

Update: Here is a more complete story from the Mercury. The previous link was a note on the paper's election blog, but this has much more information. Whoever's doing this is really making a day of it. Complaints are said to be numbering in the hundreds, swamping elections Canada's local office here. I'm not sure what it means that some of the phone numbers given to call for more information seem to connect people to messages from Conservatives, but I'm hoping it's just part of whatever stupid trick these people are playing and not some sort of vote suppressing tactic orchestrated by somebody working on behalf of the party. I would hate to think that the Conservative Party would stoop to something like this. Your candidates not showing up for debates and interviews is one thing, but making it difficult for citizens to vote is another thing entirely.

Original post is below...

No idea who's responsible for this, but the Guelph Mercury is reporting that its office is being flooded with calls from people who have received messages by phone saying that their voting locations for today have been changed to 1 Quebec Street.

I've been hearing about this for the last couple of days from Guelph and other parts of the country, but I guess whoever's behind it must have stepped up the effort.

Just to be clear, your polling station hasn't changed unless Elections Canada says it has. These calls are a hoax designed to make voting difficult or impossible for you. If you get one of these calls, pay its message no mind. But if you can, write down the number that phoned you in case there's an investigation into where this is coming from.

The Long And Winding Road To Our Current Election

I guess all this election talk got Ann all curious about the state of government up here in the great white north. It didn't take long before she got, as she put it, more than she wanted to know. Hahhaa. She found a pretty cool article, so I thought I'd link to it.Here's the article she read. Good on the girl for getting the "He didn't come back for you" reference in there. Pretty cool stuff. The only thing I don't see reference to, which I may have glossed over, was the whole contempt of parliament thing. At any rate, pretty good read.

Where All Our Local Candidates Stand

Since Monday is election day up here, I figured this would be a good article to link to.

The Guelph Tribune has been asking a series of questions to all the candidates about what they would do about this or that if elected. Their final question was "What will you personally bring to the table if elected Guelph MP?" Here are their answers. So, if you just crawled out from under a rock and realized "Holy crap, I have to vote on Monday," this will give you a quick and dirty summary of where everybody stands. Or maybe you just need the summary. Either way, if you live in Guelph, you should read this.

A Song For Michael Sona

Oh me oh my we're goofs. You'll know why very shortly.

Steve and I were just sort of standing around talking, when suddenly one of us started singing "My Sharona." Then the other said "Hey! There's a parody of that song in there, only all about Michael Sona." You know who Michael Sona is, right? If you don't, here's a reminder.

We let the idea swirl around in our heads over night, and this morning, I started writing. Steve joined me later, and here is the result.

In the university, what do I see? People exercising their rights...Sona.
No we don't like this at all, lawyer called, you know we're gonna put up a fight...Sona
Messing with the way, people vote, such a shameful crime, wanna put a stop, to the votes, of the younger kind, bye, bye, bye, bye-i woo!
Muh muh muh Michael Sona

scaring kids is so much fun, so much fun, they'll think voting's not worth their time...Sona
into the polling station I run, in I run, runnin' on through the long line...Sona
Polling here is done, give it up, it's a waste of time, don't care if these punks, think I'm out, of my freakin mind, mind mind my-i-ind woo!
Muh muh muh Michael Sona

I don't see a scrutineer, not one here, gonna make a grab for the box...Sona
The kids aren't gonna vote for Burke, the little jerks, the campaign's gonna sink like a rock...sona
700 votes, in a box, not the PC kind, gonna make a grab, man I'm sure, gonna cross the line, mine, mine, my-i-ine, woo!
Muh muh muh Michael Sona

If anyone feels like tightening that up and recording it, go nuts. It would be awesome. God I wish I knew how to do that sort of thing.