Robocall court ruling ‘should bolster’ reform: former Elections Canada chief

OTTAWA – The former head of Elections Canada says a toughly worded Federal Court ruling helps make the case for reforming election campaign rules on robocalls before Canadians next go to the polls.

Jean-Pierre Kingsley says there were two surprising elements in last week’s judgment, which refused to overturn the 2011 election results in six different ridings.

Judge Richard Mosley ruled unequivocally that fraud did take place and his judgment linked that fraud directly to the Conservative party’s internal database — but found no evidence that any Conservative candidate or official was involved.

Marc Mayrand, who followed Kingsley as chief electoral officer at Elections Canada, is to testify Tuesday at the Commons procedure and House affairs committee, where he will make an urgent appeal for stronger legislation to clean up automated campaign phone calls.

The Federal Court judgment, says Kingsley, should bolster this reform effort.