...Camera crews, including one from the Liberal party, were on hand as police arrived at the downtown building...
Funny how the CBC scooped the Canadian Press.
11:58 - Interesting. The date stamp changed on both stories, as did the headline of the CBC's post.
More at CTV.
Oh yeah. Hillier is stepping down too. CBC again. H/T National Newswatch.
* * * *
Update: This is now an international story!
Croatia - CANADIAN POLICE RAID CONSERVATIVE PARTY HQ. (Check out the photo.)
BBC - Canadian Police search party headquarters.
NYT - Canada: Conservative Party Raided.
Gotta love those torqued headlines...
Croatia - CANADIAN POLICE RAID CONSERVATIVE PARTY HQ. (Check out the photo.)
BBC - Canadian Police search party headquarters.
NYT - Canada: Conservative Party Raided.
Gotta love those torqued headlines...
* * * *
And from his new home at Canada.Com, David Akin reports that "Liberal political operatives with video cameras filmed the RCMP officers at Conservative headquarters and plan to use the footage in their campaign advertising."
What serendipitous timing!
What serendipitous timing!
48 comments:
Just another in a long list of OLD controversies that are being revived to lend aid to the doomed LIberals.
So if it turns out that Elections Canada loses this battle ... which I suspect they will .... will we see some people fired?
I'd call this the the manufactured scandal of the week.
'Raid'...my they are dramatic!...do we have pix of the takedown...or was Finley there to greet them at the door?
CBC scoop
Ya ... MUST be a commie plot .. we've been caught .. oouch
But, damn, they wouldn't wait for the election call and do it two weeks into the campaign. Nor would they slap Flatery's name on the warrant as WE requested
Some RCMP raid. The media won't let the facts get in the way of a good Conservative smear story.
Truth is - Elections Canada has the search warrant and asked the RCMP to help them facilitate this.
It is all based on the Conservatives taking Elections Canada to court over their interpretation on what constitued "local" advertising. The Conservatives want the 1.3 million that Elections Canada has withheld from them.
This so called "raid" is to gather documentation for this court case which has NOTHING to do with the RCMP!!!!!
I'm waiting for the photo of Elliot Dion in trench coat & fedorra smashing down the front door of the Conservative Party with an axe.
Wouldn't a raid mean the door was broken down. Just saw the door on TV and it is in perfect condition.
At least the conservatives spent their own money, even if over budget. I am waiting for an RCMP raid on liberal headquarters to find our missing 40 million stolen by the liberals.
Wonder if that is why the libs are in trouble in Que, no taxpayer money to spread around.
With all this help from the MSM how can Stephan Dion loose? They are spoon feeding the Liberal Party. They will stop at nothing to make Stephane Dion the next Prime Minister..
Reading the headline vs reading the story. There are 2 RCMP officers there...hardly a raid.
A quote from one of the officers on site said, they are mearly "assisting in the matter." and "its not an rcmp investigation."
Elections Canada routinely requests information from parties for these types of matters. Maybe the CPC was playing a bit of hardball who knows...but its nothing to sound the alarms about.
Elections Canada has a "GOD" like mind set...they seem to know everything about democracy and damn those who think otherwise.
This is a bitter feud by a governing body over a political party. If anyone should be concerned, it should be about that. A government agency harassing a grassroots political organization.
Froth at the mouth about that.
RCMP Cpl. Jean Hainey said the RCMP was only assisting.
"It is not an RCMP investigation. We're there to assist, but that's it."
''This so called "raid" is to gather documentation for this court case which has NOTHING to do with the RCMP!!!!!''
Yah, but look at the drama, the headlines!!
Liberals are THE BEST at playing dirty.
Let the games begin!
Fire up the jets and Tory TV!
Dion will stand up for future new Canadians (but not you)!
I sure hope Hillier is eyeing a spot in cabinet.
'...they wouldn't wait for the election call and do it two weeks into the campaign. Nor would they slap Flatery's name on the warrant as WE requested...'
Guess you guys shouldn't have gone overboard on your 'RCMP interfers with election on income trusts' smear. You could have used this 'take down' during a campaign...
Kinda shuts down the Cadman thing too, eh.
The Globe should be made retract their headlines that say the Mounties raided the offices. Down in their story, they admit that the Mounties were only there to assist, so that's not a raid.
I'm sick of misleading headlines by the media.
CBC said there are lots of Liberals there taking photos - presumably for attack ads or YouTube.
Ruth, yeah, to their credit, CBC changed their headline almost immediately.
Questions that make you go hmmmmmmm?????
How did the Liberal Party researchers know about this search warrant well enough in advance to show up with a team of staffers and cameras?
How did the media (CBC first it would seem) know in advance to also be there with reporters and cameras?
I smell another investigation - this time launched AGAINST both the RCMP and Elections Canada on how someone within their ranks so obviously alerted "the Conservative enemy" about a private matter for partisan purposes and turned it into a gong show- with the headlines already written by CBC and CP and CTV even before this actually happened.
Can you smell setup?? Breech of confidence? Protocol?
When was the last time you saw at the top of the news the fact that a few cops went to an office to help with a search warrant to pick up some documents for an ongoing civil, not criminal, court case?
It's no secret that Elections Canada and the CPC are at loggerheads.
Somewhat disconcerting though, isn't it? I personally ran into some problems with EC when canvassing in the last federal election.
I should clarify that last comment. Let me just say they were less than helpful.
Since there is no free speech on this site, I guess I cannot comment on this story.
Good work Joe.
Just look at all the smiley faces at cbc. Best line I read in a comment so far referred to Julie Van Hairdo. Love it.
Boag is in his glory, does he smell a senate seat.
An election may be on the way, but Dion is sure to underwhelm on the campaign trail. An embarrassment a day. They may have to duct-tape his mouth shut and send out Iggy and Rae.
I may be a masochist, but I'd like to get this so-called "in-and_out" scandal out in the open and dealt with.
The Conseratives say it's all above-board, the Opposition disagrees. Finally someone will (hopefully fairly) get to the bottom of the issue.
Clear the whole thing up as it's as clear as mud.
The good thing about it is it's as technical and confusing as all-get-out for the layman. Even if the Conservatives are found out to have committed a major electoral financing faux-pas, the allegations aren't and the findings won't be easy comprehended by the public at large. It's like trying to explain to your eight-year old how an internal combustion engine works - they sorta think they understand, but wholly don't..
One thing I want this to get the smarmy Ralph Goodale from constantly mentioning it while off-camera on either MDL or QP to unfoundedly smear the Tories.
Well, none of the scandels have worked so far, so I wonder if this one will.
Hope somebody has a list of the Liberal failures so far. James Moore over a dog, Helena G. over the Brenda Martin case, the PM over the Cadman case, Tom Lukiwski over nothing. How many more have I missed.
They seem to spend the weekend cooking up one for the next week.
I may be a masochist, but I'd like to get this so-called "in-and_out" scandal out in the open and dealt with.
I agree, Steve. Let's get it out and let the chips fall where they may.
"It is all based on the Conservatives taking Elections Canada to court over their interpretation on what constitued "local" advertising. The Conservatives want the 1.3 million that Elections Canada has withheld from them.
This so called "raid" is to gather documentation for this court case which has NOTHING to do with the RCMP!!!!!"
No
A warrant may only be issued for the purposes of investigating an offence - either under the Criminal Code or another Act of Parliament. A warrant is not used to gather evidence for a civil proceeding, such as the lawsuit initiated by the CPC against Elections Canada. There are civil court rules and proceedings that govern the disclosure of evidence between parties to a lawsuit.
A warrant may only be issued by a justice, which means that the Commissioner of Elections Canada would have had to appear before a neutral third party and make the case that grounds exist to believe evidence relating to an offence would be located at the CPC offices. The Commissioner could not have done this on his own.
Also, it is common to refer to the execution of a search warrant as a "raid", even though most of the time the raid amounts to a couple of peace officers seizing material. In addition, it is common for RCMP to assist in the execution of search warrants as they have more experience doing so and thus it is more likely the search will be conducted lawfully.
Finally, all this means is that the Commissioner has grounds to believe there is evidence supporting an allegation of a breach of the Elections Act located at the CPC headquarters. This does not mean that evidence does exist, or that it is sufficient to support a charge.
I suggest everyone cool their jets and wait to see what happens.
Oh, and Steve, the Ethics Committee has been trying to investigate the "In and Out" scandal for months now, but the cons are fillibustering. Perhaps you should call your MP with your suggestion.
Oh the other parties don't want this out in public, because they do it too, and Elections Canada knows that, they are fighting to stop the Conservative lawsuit, because they will be shown for the Liberal goons they really are. Wonder if they will use this as an excuse not to be called in front of the Conservative lawyers, that's what PM Harper alluded to in QP. Elections Canada is stalling.
CPC MP Pierre Pollieve was just on CTV Newsnet stating that they would have provided whatever EC wanted but they were never asked. He found the visit today strange. Even that the Libranos were there too.
This sounds like a set up to me plain and simple.
This sounds like a set up to me plain and simple.
It sure does. How did the Liberals and media know ahead of time that this was going down, and to be ready with cameras for the 6:00 news?
The same way the NDP knew about the investigation into Income Trusts.
Clearly it was leaked.
Or, were you suggesting that the liberals are the only party that benefits from leaks...
"CPC MP Pierre Pollieve was just on CTV Newsnet stating that they would have provided whatever EC wanted but they were never asked."
It was a search warrant issued because there are grounds to believe evidence of an offence would be found at the CPC headquarters. Do you think the RCMP ask the drug dealers if they would mind turning over their drugs before they get a search warrant?
Gayle, this report would suggest otherwise:
According to Elections Canada's manual for investigators, before a warrant is obtained, a "suspect" in an investigation must first be asked for the documents and told he or she has the right to refuse.
This whole thing stinks to high heaven! And it is the beginning of another week and time for another pseudo scandal!.
The fact the Libs and the media were there adds to the smell.
Perhaps guest Liberal Gayle could answer the question as to whether it is common practice for the media and others with cameras at the ready to be informed of the fact a "raid" was going to take place with full RCMP escort.
The same way the NDP knew about the investigation into Income Trusts.
Clearly it was leaked.
Didn't the NDP actually request the investigation, based on stories in the various news media?
They may have posssibly leaked it when it was confirmed to them that an investigation was started.
Are you suggesting some sort of moral equivalency?
mobius - please tell me you are not so naive as to believe that media do not leak stories about other political parties to the media. There IS a moral equivalency in that they would do the same to any party.
Besides, it was the RCMP who leaked to the NDP, not the NDP who leaked to the media.
Didn't the RCMP raid the home of a BC cabinet minister a few years ago, and weren't the media all told about that, and didn't they all show up, cameras rolling?
Joanne - all I can tell you is that there is nothing in the legislation that compels EC to ask the suspect for the documents first. That may be in the manual, but that does not make it law. If there is a belief the suspect is not cooperating then the warrant is necessary.
I get the need to blame this on some mass conspiracy against the CPC. God knows that is the excuse people around here seem to use each and every time something goes wrong for them.
I get the need to blame this on some mass conspiracy against the CPC.
OR... Maybe this is a very clever sting operation set up by the Tories to trick the Liberals into forcing an election...
"Besides, it was the RCMP who leaked to the NDP, not the NDP who leaked to the media."
I guess Gayle must be in the loop cause she sure seems to know EXACTLY how things go down.
Gayle knows everything. She even knows Election Law vs. what is 'in the manual'.
Quite amazing really.
Joanne - I do not know what is in the manual, which is kind of my point.
As for the Elections Act, I just went over to EC's website and read it. You can do that too if you like.
As for your conspiracy theory, that is one way to spin it.
I thought the way the RCMP investigation into Goodale was leaked was common knowledge.
As for your conspiracy theory, that is one way to spin it.
Just having a bit of fun with ya, Gayle. ;)
Should be an interesting story to watch, that's for sure. Do you think it will be the tipping point for the Liberals regarding an election?
Joanne - I think the tipping point was the immigration bill. As we all know, the liberals are hardly the paragons of virtue, so I am not sure how much a "they are just as bad as we are" campaign will guarantee success.
Dion has put it on record that if the liberal amendments to the immigration bill are not accepted once the bill returns to the House from committee he will pull the plug.
I would be curious to see if the amendments are accepted though.
Gayle, you may be right about the immigration bill. This latest development might give them the confidence to do it though, if the amendments aren't accepted by the government.
We'll have to wait and see.
I'm packing it in for the night, but as always, it's been a fun debate.
Election canada is scared. Sucks when the courts get involeved.
Two RCMP is a raid ha,ha,ha. What's sad is I have hung with some suspect dudes, this is not a raid. The feds are fishis(I know that is spelled wrong,help) in a raid.
This is a stunt by election canada, hoping there will be an election soon. B/c they are not going to win the case the Conservatives have brought againts them. Just the truth.
Until I watched MDL today, I really could not put my finger on what the problem with this was.
All parties do the same type of advertising on elections. They all do the same type of thing.
The problem this time is that because the conservatives have more money in the chest than other parties they have the advantage of doing that much more. That is what the stink is all about.
Maybe we need a law that conservative grass roots are only allowed to donate as much as what the liberal grass roots donates now. Then they would not be able to take it that one more step; that other parties are not able to do....in the words of what some think as a great leader...dats not fair!!
How long does it take to prepare for an election at elections canada. With all this on their plate now, could they get ready for an election. Perhaps the files stolen today will be their evidence of wrong doing the appear for discovery.
Reminds me of Holland and his stolen files parading down the street. Will liberals never learn.
Guess they want to use this in a campaign like Dions stmts were used against him. Problem is, this is about the last election, where conservatives used their own money, not stolen taxpayer funds.
In addition to what I said at 9:52....I am curious as to why Election Canada requested this search warrant. They had already found the CPC in violation of the election act. Why would you do a search warrant after the fact, other than you needed something to back up your position?
And will Elizabeth May ask for a public inquiry to get to the bottom of why this happened at this time?
"This might just be the epic struggle of Harper's government"
So says liberal mouthpiece Susan Delacourt in today's Star...
Well Susan - the "epic struggle" this government is waging is trying to govern while being constantly undermined by the likes of your cohorts in the opposition and the media during their weekly pseudo scandal!
(Geesh - you would think that Susan would try to get a better picture of herself - she looks like one of those snaps the paparrazi gets when their target is coming out of the bar late at night.)
"I am curious as to why Election Canada requested this search warrant. They had already found the CPC in violation of the election act."
All EC can do is charge the CPC with an offence under the Act. Only a judge can determine guilt.
Remember, the warrant was issued as part of an investigation into quasi-criminal activity. The law suit is about a civil matter.
mobius - please tell me you are not so naive as to believe that media do not leak stories about other political parties to the media. There IS a moral equivalency in that they would do the same to any party.
One thing I'm not is naive. My point was that the Libs allegedly leaked the IT changes to their friends, and the media found out. Until Judy W. of the NDP requested the RCMP investigate, not much happened.
So, your contention that the NDP somehow "found out" about the investigation didn't sit right with me, knowing that they initiated it.
As we all know, the liberals are hardly the paragons of virtue, so I am not sure how much a "they are just as bad as we are" campaign will guarantee success.
They certainly aren't. The reason Iggy was chosen to attack the CPC in question period is pretty obvious. He wasn't part of the Chretien/Martin government, so his hands are clean. That won't work during a campaign.
How are you feeling about the raid now? Still so sure it was staged?
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