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COMOX VALLEY RECORD Your community. Your newspaper. www.comoxvalleyrecord.com
COURTENAY Y FOILED
‘Robocall’ complaints popping up here Mark Allan Record Staff
City thwarted in CVRD budget vote. ■ A6
GRIDIRON GEM
Sometimes statistics don’t tell the whole story. Sometimes they do. A shining example of the latter is the remarkable stats of Connor Willis, who is set to play in the Football BC 2012 Senior Bowl game. Willis is capping a terrific threeyear stint as running back for the G.P. Vanier Towhees and will showcase his high-energy talents to university and pro scouts at the high school football showcase in Langley.
... Complete story on ■ B12
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The growing “robocall” scandal that first emerged in Guelph, Ont., has reached the Vancouver Island North riding. Automated phone calls reportedly directed voters away from proper polling stations during the federal election last May. The Vancouver Island North NDP candidate in the May 2011 election said Wednesday several people complained to her recently about receiving automated phone calls directing them away from legitimate polling stations. “I thought it was a non-story (in this riding),” said Ronna-Rae Leonard, who finished a close second to incumbent Conservative MP John Duncan. Then the city councillor in Courtenay started to hear from concerned voters who said they had been misled by automated calls. Cumberland resident Yvonne Kafka said an automated call told her not to vote at the usual polling station in the village, although she confirmed the location and voted. “If they did it to me, they must have done it to other people,” said
Kafka, who has not heard back from Elections Canada about her complaint. Leonard said a Merville resident RONNA-RAE LEONARD told her she was misdirected to the former Tsolum School to vote after she had voted for years at the Merville Hall. The woman, who declined Thursday to be interviewed or identified, told Leonard she was interviewed by Elections Canada. One woman in Comox told Leonard a call “was directing her to the Comox Mall to vote, where there was no poll.” Leonard said the woman, who had not given Leonard permission to identify her, did manage to vote. Leonard said she suspects people have not come forward before now because they suspected misleading calls were just a hoax, and they didn’t see the gravity of attempting to defraud voters. Liberal candidate Mike Holland, who finished a distant third
in Vancouver Island North, said public inquiry and three-quarters Thursday he hasn’t heard of any of respondents to a recent national poll said there should be an inderobocall complaints in the riding. “There’s nothing wrong with pendent commission of inquiry. The Liberals and New Demorobocalls saying, ‘You should vote for me instead of that other per- crats accuse the Conservatives of son,’ “ Holland said, adding that being behind fraudulent robocalls, misleading people is which Prime Minisanother matter. ter Stephen Harper He’s saddened by a has denied. Some Used to be recent trend in elec- you just wanted Conservatives have tion campaigns. said rogue elements “Used to be you to beat somebody within the party could just wanted to beat in an election. have been responsomebody in an elec- Now you want to sible, and the Tories tion. Now you want have claimed some destroy them. to destroy them.” of their candidates Duncan did not Mike Holland were also victimized return a phone call by misleading calls to by deadline. potential voters. “I’m disappointed that it’s (scanEdmonton firm RackNine has dal) reached the farthest reaches been identified as the company of Canada,” Leonard commented. that was used to make misdirect“Is it a wakeup call to Canadi- ing robocalls in Guelph on election ans to demand more integrity in day. A suspect known as Pierre our process? I hope it’s a rallying Poutine is alleged to have been call for people to demand more responsible for ordering the fake accountability.” calls. Elections Canada has received The federal Liberals have given about 31,000 “contacts” concern- Elections Canada samples of their ing the issue, of which about 700 robocall messages to voters durare specific complaints, spokes- ing the 2011 election campaign. person Diane Benson confirmed Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae Thursday from Ottawa. has called on the Conservatives to Almost 50,000 people have be equally transparent. signed an online petition for a editor@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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Province contributing to Lewis Centre work Renée Andor Record Staff
Courtenay taxpayers will pay less for the Lewis Centre renovation and expansion project thanks to a considerable chunk of change from the Province. Comox Valley MLA Don McRae handed over a cheque for $400,000 to Mayor Larry Jangula on Wednesday. The grant comes from the Ministry of Community, Sport, and Cultural Development’s Community Recreation Program, and Jangula said this money will take some of the project’s financial
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burden off taxpayers. “It’s really good because getting us $400,000 means that our taxpayers will not have to pay that, so it’ll mean less borrowing,” said Jangula. The renovation project is expected to cost $5.4 million in total with about $1 million coming out of the Community Works Fund gas tax reserves. A further $4.2 million was going to come from new borrowing, which Courtenay residents would pay back over time. But with this grant, City director of financial services Tillie ... see MLA ■ A2
MAYOR LARRY JANGULA (left) smiles about a $400,000 provincial contribution to the expansion and renovation of the Lewis Centre, announced by MLA Don McRae. PHOTO BY RENÉE ANDOR
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