Time for a Full Inquiry, for Dean's Sake

Dean Del Mastro, March 1: "We learned that Joe Volpe paid over $25,000 to Prime Contact, a calling company with offices in North Dakota. These calls were made on behalf of the Liberal party. I see that they used this company quite a bit. It seems that they were robodialing quite a number of people on behalf of the Liberal party."

Dean Del Mastro, March 5: "It's ... clear that the Liberal Party spent millions of dollars to contact hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of homes right across this country. It appears they had given them some incorrect information but the Liberal leader is sitting on all of this information while he makes unsubstantiated smears."

Dean Del Mastro, March 12: "We now know that the member for Guelph, Mr. Speaker, in fact paid for illegal robocalls that concealed the fact that the calls came from his Liberal campaign. They used a bogus number, Mr. Speaker, a fictitious character, they broke the CRTC regulations, they broke Elections Canada laws."


Listening to Del Mastro's daily tirades in the House of Commons, it's clear the Liberal Party orchestrated Robocon, as part of an elaborate plot to suppress their vote. And, given how few Liberals voted on May 2nd, this plan appears to have been wildly successful.

I therefore trust that Dean will join the growing demands for a full public inquiry and/or Royal Commission to get to the bottom of the robodial scandal. Only then can the good name of the Conservative Party be cleared, and these duplicitous Liberals brought to justice.

Dean Del Mastro: Knower of Everything

On previous episodes of Dean Del Mastro: Knower of Everything, Dean didn't trust the survey results in a Peterborough newspaper poll, so he commissioned his own robo-push poll, in an effort to "protect democracy". Then, last week Dean argued the Liberals used a US call centre and the Tories never did, despite Evan Solomon presenting him with irrefutable evidence showing the exact opposite of what Dean was saying.

So yes, we shouldn't expect logic to be in abundant supply when Dean Del Mastro opens his mouth. But still, today's spin from Dean is priceless:

Del Mastro, the prime minister's parliamentary secretary and the lead Tory on the file, demanded again that the Liberals release their phone records to prove they weren't behind the misleading phone calls.

"It's ... clear that the Liberal Party spent millions of dollars to contact hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of homes right across this country. It appears they had given them some incorrect information but the Liberal leader is sitting on all of this information while he makes unsubstantiated smears," Del Mastro said.

Speaking to reporters after question period, Del Mastro denied making any allegations.

"No, in fact I haven’t made any allegations," he said. "The Liberal Party has made … allegations about our party that we in fact contacted Liberal supporters. We did no such thing."

The Conservative Party doesn't need to provide its own records, he said "because obviously our party is not behind these calls, we know that."

So we have Del Mastro making allegations then saying he hasn't made allegations an hour later - but that's par for the course in politics. The gem in this article is Dean's claim that the Conservatives don't need to provide their phone records because he knows they are not behind these calls. All the while demanding the Liberals release their records.

Peter Goldring tried that line of logic when he refused to blow a breathalyzer last year, and it didn't work out so well for him - "officer, I don't need to blow because I know I'm under the legal limit...go pull over that driver and test him".

At first, I thought the PMO made a tactical error placing Del Mastro as the point man on Robocon, but it's clear no one else in the party would be able to regurgitate these talking points with a straight face. When it comes to spouting nonsense and believing it, Del Mastro is the maestro.

Damage Control

It remains to be seen just how involved the Conservative Party was in Robocon, but it certainly doesn't help that they can't keep their story straight. It was all Michael Sona, it was rogue third parties, it was the Liberals, the Tories had "absolutely, definitely" nothing to do with it...yet they're reviewing the tapes.

The clip below shows Dean Del Mastro being taken to task for spreading misinformation in the House. For anyone who enjoys watching Del Mastro squirm, this is must-see-TV.

Since when did the Tories worry about contempt of parliament?

CBC in contempt of Parliament if it doesn't produce documents Access Committee requests: Del Mastro

Dean Del Mastro: Champion of Democracy and Scientific Polling Methodologies

The biggest fireworks so far in the sleepy Ontario election campaign have not come between the candidates, but between the pollsters. And there's a new pollster on the block - Dean Del Mastro:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s parliamentary secretary has stepped heavily into the Ontario election for the second time, this time commissioning a 1,000-person poll because he felt a local newspaper underplayed the popularity of the local Progressive Conservative candidate. [...]

The Peterborough This Week telephone poll suggested Liberal candidate Jeff Leal had a 45.5-per-cent share of the vote compared to 28 per cent for Progressive Conservative candidate Alan Wilson.

“I was deeply concerned that publishing numbers in the fashion as presented on the cover of a weekly large circulation paper could significantly suppress voter participation,” he said. “The methodology was not released and the responses could have just as easily been provided by six-year-olds as registered voters.” [...]

“I dispute that I’m heavily involved in the provincial election, I want people to vote in each and every election,” he said. “When information is published that suggests the election is decided based on flawed methodology it runs contrary to one of my core democratic values which is that people need to exercise their right to vote.”

Yes, whenever a poll that doesn't "feel" right is published, you can count on Dean Del Mastro to settle the issue. It's just one of the many things Dean does to help protect democracy in Canada.

So what cutting-edge methodology did Del Mastro use, to ensure that (natoriously pro-Liberal) six-year-olds were not skewing survey results?

Well, he surveyed 1,000 voters over the course of an hour Sunday night...presumably using the exact same push-button polling technology as the Peterborough This Week poll. But what sets Del Mastro's survey appart are the unbiased questions he posed before asking respondents which candidate they intended to vote for:

1. "Given that jurisdictions like the United States and Europe have invested billions of dollars trying to create green jobs with disappointing results, do you believe that the 7 billion dollar Samsung deal will create 16,000 jobs in Ontario?”

2. “Given that families and seniors are struggling today in Ontario, do you support eliminating HST from energy bills as well as income splitting for families to reduce their provincial tax burden?”

Sadly, Del Mastro did not ask the most important question on the minds of voters - "Given Dalton McGuinty is a poopy head, do you support his secret puppy genocide agenda?". Sadly, we may never know what the residents of Peterborough think on this burning issue.

So again, thanks to Dean Del Mastro for championing democracy, one demon dialled push poll at a time! I salute you sir.