Hundreds of complaints about false statements during 2019 campaign investigated
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He says all but two or three have been resolved and none have been prosecuted.
While 400 may seem like a large number, Cote says the complaints were clustered around roughly a half-dozen allegedly false statements – with many of them using identical language, suggesting an organized campaign.
To the best of his recollection, Cote says the complaints all involved misinformation targeting white males.
Cote offered those details Wednesday during testimony before a Senate committee that is conducting a pre-study of the federal government’s budget implementation bill.
OTTAWA - Elections commissioner Yves Cote says his office investigated some 400 complaints about false statements allegedly made during the 2019 federal election campaign.
Hundreds of complaints about false statements during 2019 campaign investigated
by Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press
Posted May 12, 2021 8:45 pm EDT
Last Updated May 12, 2021 at 8:58 pm EDT
OTTAWA Elections commissioner Yves Cote says his office investigated some 400 complaints about false statements allegedly made during the 2019 federal election campaign.
He says all but two or three have been resolved and none have been prosecuted.
While 400 may seem like a large number, Cote says the complaints were clustered around roughly a half-dozen allegedly false statements with many of them using identical language, suggesting an organized campaign.
To the best of his recollection, Cote says the complaints all involved misinformation targeting white males.
Joan Bryden
Bloc leader Yves-Francois Blanchet holds a news conference before Question Period, Monday, May 10, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld May 10, 2021 - 3:15 PM
OTTAWA - New Democrats joined forces Monday with the Liberals to cut short initial debate on a bill aimed at ensuring a federal election could be held safely, if need be, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move means Bill C-19 will be put to a second reading vote Tuesday, allowing it to be referred to a House of Commons committee for greater scrutiny and potential amendments.
It prompted howls of protest from Conservative and Bloc Quebecois MPs, who accused the minority Liberal government of gagging MPs and short-circuiting democracy on a bill meant to protect it.
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OTTAWA The three main national parties are firing up their election engines, even as they insist they want to steer clear of a campaign.
Liberals, Conservatives and New Democrats are on the move in advance of a potential election this year, recruiting candidates, training volunteers and grappling with how to kiss babies and press the flesh in a virtual, pandemic-restricted world.
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The uncertainty of COVID-19 has left each party ravenously raising funds and wooing would-be nominees while suspended in a kind of limbo, forced to map out multiple scenarios for an election whose timing under a minority Liberal government remains unknown.