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> To be more precise, the Conservatives had 2 minority governments and 1 majority government ... And all it took was some country-wide election fraud[1]. [1]

by rcfox 13y ago

> To be more precise, the Conservatives had 2 minority governments and 1 majority government ... And all it took was some country-wide election fraud[1]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Canadian_federal_election_voter_suppression_scandal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Canadian_federal_election_...

cperciva 13y ago
all it took was some country-wide election fraud That's a bit of a stretch. A federal court found that electoral fraud had taken place in 6 out of 308 ridings, and did not affect the outcome of the election in any of those ridings. Meanwhile 12 ridings would have needed to change hands to change the outcome of the election.
- nolok 13y ago
  If I cheat at a couple of questions in an exam; but I would have had the exam anyway with the others, do I get punished or is it fine ? If I match-fix a game in a sport championship but I would have won the whole thing anyway because I beat the next opponents, do I get punished or is it fine ? When a group of politicians ask to be in control of a country and to be trusted with all of its power and responsibilities, and they have proven to be lying and cheating to those they represent, is it ok because the end result wasn't affected ? I realize the analogies there are not all that good, but honestly whether or not it did have an impact doesn't matter, the fact is that it did happen.
  - cperciva 13y ago
    I'm not saying that the people responsible shouldn't be punished (if we ever figure out who was behind it...), just that it's inaccurate to claim that the fraud was responsible for the Conservatives getting elected. The Conservatives won those elections because Canadian voters collectively decided that the Conservatives should win.
- rcfox 13y ago
  The article mentions reports of misleading calls in 247 ridings. Anyway, parties receive public funding based on the number of votes they receive, so any amount of election fraud is essentially stealing funding from another party.
  - cryptoz 13y ago
    > Anyway, parties receive public funding based on the number of votes they receive This is false. The Conservatives put a stop to the per-party funding based on votes a long time ago. > , so any amount of election fraud is essentially stealing funding from another party. ...but this was true when the elections happened. That's extra evil, I hadn't thought of it that way.
    - rcfox 13y ago
      Apparently, it's gradually being reduced until next year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_political_financing_in_Canada#Per-vote_subsidy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_political_financing_in_...

by rcfox 13y ago

cperciva 13y ago

all it took was some country-wide election fraud That's a bit of a stretch. A federal court found that electoral fraud had taken place in 6 out of 308 ridings, and did not affect the outcome of the election in any of those ridings. Meanwhile 12 ridings would have needed to change hands to change the outcome of the election.

nolok 13y ago
If I cheat at a couple of questions in an exam; but I would have had the exam anyway with the others, do I get punished or is it fine ? If I match-fix a game in a sport championship but I would have won the whole thing anyway because I beat the next opponents, do I get punished or is it fine ? When a group of politicians ask to be in control of a country and to be trusted with all of its power and responsibilities, and they have proven to be lying and cheating to those they represent, is it ok because the end result wasn't affected ? I realize the analogies there are not all that good, but honestly whether or not it did have an impact doesn't matter, the fact is that it did happen.
- cperciva 13y ago
  I'm not saying that the people responsible shouldn't be punished (if we ever figure out who was behind it...), just that it's inaccurate to claim that the fraud was responsible for the Conservatives getting elected. The Conservatives won those elections because Canadian voters collectively decided that the Conservatives should win.
rcfox 13y ago
The article mentions reports of misleading calls in 247 ridings. Anyway, parties receive public funding based on the number of votes they receive, so any amount of election fraud is essentially stealing funding from another party.
- cryptoz 13y ago
  > Anyway, parties receive public funding based on the number of votes they receive This is false. The Conservatives put a stop to the per-party funding based on votes a long time ago. > , so any amount of election fraud is essentially stealing funding from another party. ...but this was true when the elections happened. That's extra evil, I hadn't thought of it that way.
  - rcfox 13y ago
    Apparently, it's gradually being reduced until next year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_political_financing_in_Canada#Per-vote_subsidy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_political_financing_in_...