Election Shinanigans

Floor Crossing – Sometimes Good, Sometimes Bad, But Always Ugly

Mulder

After seeing the floor crossing issue come up in the comments of another post, I thought I would put up a post on this issue.

My personal opinion of floor crossing is that I tend to smile when my party gains a member (the good), I tend to fume for a day when someone from my party crosses to an opposing party (the bad). And in all cases I never once complain or state that an MP should not be able to cross the floor but there are always a bunch of people ticked off and screaming bloody murder. (the ugly)

There is always a financial issue that is the biggest hit. Electorial District Associations work hard to raise money to get their party member elected and I do believe that local party members in the MP’s constituency have a right to be angry.

But I honestly think that Partys change, constituent views change and MPs crossing the floor allow for some form of compensation for these things without having to hold a by-election.

As for the Khan crossing, I think Liberals in his riding should be more upset with Stephane Dion than with Khan because it was Dion’s ultimatum that ultimately forced Khan to do what he felt was right and that was to do what is best for Canada. If his constituents feel that he should have chosen the Party over the nation then shame on them.

I would also like to take this moment to point out that the only party that seems to really be upset about floor crossing as a concept is the NDP. Even though they are the ones who have gained the most from this crossing, I respect them sticking to their guns. I tend to think they are against it because as far as I, or wikipedia, know, there has never been a federal floor crossing to the NDP party. No wonder they are against it.

Municipal Election Shenanigans Begin

Mulder

It was looking like a pretty clean municipal election campaign in Kanata South until this morning. I found the photo below in my mail box in what is a blatant attempt to tie the right leaning candidate, Allan Hubley, to the Liberal Party in an attempt to discredit him as a candidate. Well I hate to disappoint someone but people have photos taken with prominent politicians all the time and pulling one out of the hat from 7 years ago doesn’t hold much water. Especially when they can’t even spell Allan’s name properly.

Hubley-Martin

I can’t say which candidate’s supporters put this in my mail box but I just want to tell them that it will not be switching my vote. Our Ward needs a new face that won’t vote for Crack Pipe Kits, that won’t vote for North-South LRT, and who won’t flip flop like a fish.

Was Karygiannis A Beneficiary Of Tamil Tiger Election Fraud?

Mulder

Was it a disagreement with Volpe? Or is there more to Karygiannis’ resignation from team Apotex? I wonder…

From National Post:

The voter lists, along with manuals on missile-guidance systems, books encouraging suicide bombing and paperwork that police say is evidence of terrorist fundraising, were seized from the World Tamil Movement (WTM)

…

The list of registered voters was from Scarborough-area voting sites. All Tamil-sounding names had been highlighted and their home addresses were identified. They were found in the office of the WTM’s treasurer, police said.

According to the Elections Canada Web site, voter lists are protected by the Privacy Act and are only supposed to be used for election purposes. Improper use of voting lists is an offence.

From Karygiannis’ website:

In the days immediately following the 2004 tsunami, Jim met with constituents who were worried about the plight of their families and wanted to know if Canadian humanitarian aid was being delivered where it was needed. In January 2005, he visited several tsunami ravaged areas of Sri Lanka and reported his findings to the community and to the Prime Minister.

The warehouse busted was a stone’s throw south of Karygiannis’ Tamil laden riding. The green outlined area below is Jimmy K.’s riding. The red dot is where the east end bust was made. The blue dot indicates a donut shop I hung out at for 6 or 7 years that is now densely populated by East Indians and Tamils.

JimmyK Riding Map

Why is my spider sense tingling? Jimmy K. is likely to be totally innocent of any wrongdoing, but with the strong Tamil connections, I have a sneaky suspicion that the man who garnered 64% of his riding vote may have been a benefactor of the illegal elector list.

H/T to Dr. Roy for the Election List info