Skip to main content
tim powers

A voter leaves a Toronto polling station during the federal election on May 2, 2011MARK BLINCH

In the opposition's hysteria around the robo-call controversy you'd think every MP, staffer, member of the party, supporter and Conservative voter has a cultural predisposition to win elections at any cost and through any means. You'd also assume that before Elections Canada has even concluded its investigation, never mind charged anyone, the Conservative Party itself is guilty of the most serious infractions possible and has perverted our democratic system beyond compare.

Never mind that the Prime Minister and the 2011 Conservative Party campaign director are on record saying the book must be thrown at the culprits of this mess. None of that matters when an opposition sniffs blood – and to be fair, when Conservatives were in opposition they were the same way. As my nemesis Pat Martin, the colorful NDP MP, said in relation to this latest political circus: The opposition is just there to accuse.

While accusations and stories run wild, I think it would be fool-hardy to assume that Conservatives don't want answers and the facts surrounding this robo-racket. There are tons and tons of Canadians who have toiled long and hard for the Conservative Party who are looking to Elections Canada to get to the bottom of this saga. They take great pride in the fact they built an organization that was able to persuade Canadians to go to, not guide them away from, voting booths to cast a ballot. They are looking for the truth and aren't happy to have aspersions of impropriety cast upon them.

Cheating and law breaking are not acceptable ways of winning elections. If they occurred, those guilty of such acts must be punished regardless of the party they support. The Tories first came to power by defeating a Liberal Party that had members who cheated for electoral advantage and in some cases broke the law. No Conservative I know sees imitation of that approach as flattering. It still repulses them. They want to win, but through honest means and hard work.

So leave no stone unturned here. Give us the facts and do what is necessary to resolve this unseemly matter.

Interact with The Globe