By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday February 28, 2012
Harper denies robocall charges
Standing firm amid questions and allegations of a political conspiracy, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing in the robocalls scandal, and challenged the opposition parties to prove his Conservatives were guilty.
On the first day back for parliamentarians after a week off, the opposition parties used the majority of question period to demand answers from the government about what Conservatives knew about the robocalls and when they knew it.
A Postmedia News-Ottawa Citizen investigation revealed last week that Elections Canada has traced fraudulent phone calls made during the federal election to an Edmonton company that worked for the Conservative party across the country.
Opposition parties demanded the Conservatives come clean and provide information proving they were not involved in any telephone campaign to harass voters and direct them to non-existent polling stations.
“The prime minister must be tough on crime,” interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel said. “Will he commit all the necessary resources to investigate and prosecute and put an end to vote suppression?”
Harper rejected what he called “broad, sweeping” allegations from the opposition parties, and put the onus on the NDP and Liberals to provide evidence of wrongdoing.
“If the NDP has any information that inappropriate calls were placed — and we certainly have information in some cases and we have given that to Elections Canada — then I challenge that party to produce that information and give it to Elections Canada,” he said. (Source: Vancouver Sun)