XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   XPost: ab.politics   
   From: ConzRconz@YOW.ca   
      
   CBC News Posted: Mar 06, 2014   
      
      
   The foul called on the Fair Elections Act   
      
   Conservative MP Brad Butt's fairy tale about election fraud hasn't   
   helped the cause   
      
      
   Chris Hall is the CBC's National Affairs Editor, based in the   
   Parliamentary Bureau in Ottawa. He began his reporting career with the   
   Ottawa Citizen, before moving to CBC Radio in 1992, where he worked as a   
   national radio reporter in Toronto, Halifax and St. John's. He returned   
   to Ottawa and the Hill in 1998.   
   Related Stories   
      
   Until now, Brad Butt laboured as a little-known Conservative MP.   
      
   That relative obscurity probably seems like the good old days now that   
   he's been called out in the Commons for telling a fabricated story in   
   support of his government's controversial plan to rewrite federal   
   election laws.   
      
   Obviously, Butt's credibility is taking a hit this week over the   
   concocted story that he'd seen, first-hand, people fishing discarded   
   voter information cards out of the trash and using them.   
      
   But it doesn't end there.   
      
   His Conservative colleagues are also taking a hit for refusing to allow   
   a committee to inquire further into Butt's sleight-of-memory, and for   
   rejecting a more thorough public airing of the sweeping, 244-page bill   
   to overhaul election rules.   
      
   The two events combined culminated in a week of filibusters, procedural   
   wrangling and the kinds of personal attacks that give politics its   
   reputation as a blood sport.   
      
        Tories kill bid to investigate Brad Butt voter-fraud claim   
      
   Here's how it all began.   
      
   Last month Butt stood in the Commons not once but twice, and described   
   with considerable flourish that he'd seen examples of voter fraud.   
      
   "I have actually witnessed other people picking up the voter cards and   
   going to use them to vote, '' he said.   
      
   Three weeks later the freshman MP from Mississauga, Ont., stood in the   
   House to correct the record, following that up a day later with an apology.   
   Sorry, not good enough   
      
   Despite the retraction and belated apology, Commons Speaker Andrew   
   Scheer ruled in favor of the opposition who argued Butt had deliberately   
   misled the Commons.   
      
   But for Conservative MPs, Butt's mea culpa was good enough. After a long   
   debate that wrapped up Wednesday, they voted to ignore the Speaker's   
   ruling and end any further inquiry.   
      
      
   Brad Butt   
      
   After twice telling Parliament he had seen voter fraud occur,   
   Conservative MP Brad Butt then stood up to say he had misspoke.   
      
   Government House Leader Peter Van Loan even argued that to allow a   
   Commons committee to inquire further would discourage other MPs from   
   correcting the record when they misspeak.   
      
   "We will create a situation where people are no longer encouraged to   
   come to this House and correct the record, and tell the truth, for fear   
   they will face a contempt action. Face having their name dragged through   
   the mud for doing the right thing.''   
      
   For the opposition, however, the apology was not enough. Far from it.   
      
   They say this isn't a case of retelling a story that wasn't accurate. Or   
   inadvertently misstating something. It's about a politician who said   
   he'd witnessed an event that never happened.   
      
   NDP House leader Nathan Cullen insists MPs are entitled to a full   
   explanation.   
      
   ''He was aware of what he was doing at the time. And he was doing it for   
   the most cynical of reasons, to try to convince Canadians and MPs that   
   their bill was required.   
      
   "That there was a problem he personally had witnessed. A crime he had   
   witnessed when in fact it wasn't true. He knows it wasn't true.''   
      
   The Liberals are just as interested in motive. They want to know why   
   Butt concocted this story in the first place, particularly as it   
   suggests he witnessed people violating election rules and never bothered   
   to report it.   
      
   Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux wondered whether anyone from Elections   
   Canada's enforcement office contacted Butt after he told his story. He   
   also demanded to know what role, if any, the government played in   
   investigating his claims.   
      
   As yet there is no answer to either of those questions.   
      
      
   The real issue   
      
   The furore over Butt's comments all but obscured the bitter debate over   
   the Conservatives decision to rewrite the rules governing federal   
   elections, and to push the bill through Parliament before the summer.   
      
   Among other things the Fair Elections Act would raise the limits on   
   political donations and increase penalties on anyone who breaks election   
   rules.   
      
   Most controversially, the government wants to separate the roles of   
   running elections from enforcing election law, reduce Elections Canada's   
   public information role and scrap the long-established practice of   
   allowing someone to vouch for another voter who doesn't have proper   
   identification.   
      
   Apart from limiting potential voters (those without government-issued   
   ID), the proposed law would require the public prosecutor, who is a   
   government appointee, to approve any investigations under the Elections Act.   
      
      
   Question Period 20140226   
      
   NDP leader Thomas Mulcair says the new election law potentially   
   discriminates against low-income voters who may not have the kind of ID   
   that would now be required. (Sean Kilpatrick / Canadian Press)   
      
   NDP Leader Tom Mulcair says the bill discriminates against seniors,   
   members of First Nations and young people, who might not always have   
   appropriate ID and who "don't necessarily vote Conservative."   
      
   It's why his party has decided to hold its own cross-country hearings on   
   the bill, if only to highlight how unfair the changes are.   
      
   Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday waved away what he called   
   "NDP conspiracy theories.''   
      
   "The intention of the act is to ensure everyone who votes are valid,   
   registered voters and that they can identify themselves. These are the   
   objectives, making sure the vote is fair and that all people who vote   
   are entitled to vote and only vote once.''   
      
   Voting irregularities have been a serious issue in recent elections,   
   particularly for the Conservatives, with charges of exceeding campaign   
   spending limits and making misleading calls to voters.   
      
   Still, the government hasn't come up with much to justify the kinds of   
   changes referred to by the prime minister, let alone any evidence to   
   support the kind of irregularities in Brad Butt's tale of fancy.   
      
   Those things might just be enough for the NDP to get people believing in   
   conspiracy theories.   
      
      
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               “It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government   
   to save our democratic system."   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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