The number of complaints about fraudulent or misleading telephone calls in last year's federal election has almost doubled, according to court documents filed by the Commissioner of sa国际传媒 Elections.
By mid-August, Elections sa国际传媒 had received 1,394 complaints "alleging specific occurrences" in 234 of sa国际传媒's 308 federal ridings, the lawyer for the elections watchdog says.
That's up from the more than 700 specific complaints that the commissioner's office publicly reported in March to clear the air after an online campaign drew 30,000-plus expressions of concern by Canadians.
But the elections com-missioner, in his latest court offering, declined to respond to other disclosure requests by advocacy group the Council of Canadians.
"Like all law enforcement agencies, the Office of the Commissioner treats complaints and the office's ongoing investigations in confidence and discloses neither the information collected nor the source of the information, except as necessary for law enforcement purposes," wrote John Laskin, representing the commissioner's office.
The letter goes on to "emphasize" that the total number of complaints and ridings "does not provide any indication of whether complaints are - substantiated, or whether complainants reported their voting behaviour to have been affected."
Allegations of fraudulent and misleading phone calls designed to suppress the vote of targeted constituents during the May 2, 2011, election are being investigated.
The Conservative party insists it had no involvement in any such scheme and says it is assisting the investigation.
The Council of Canadians, a nationalist, left-leaning advocacy organization led by chairwoman Maude Barlow, is leading a parallel court battle to contest election results in seven closely fought ridings, arguing that misleading calls to voters may have skewed the outcome. That case is to be heard in Federal Court in December.
