...“If you try to link these things to any one party, it's a mistake,” Mr. Manning said. “If you just target the solutions at one party ... this is far broader than one party.”
He said all parties should be worried: “The public hardly even distinguish between them. When these things are done, it just discredits them.”
Mr. Manning said part of the problem lies in the fact that young Canadians are sent to political training schools in the United States where politics is far more aggressive.
Preventing those tactics from taking over the Canadian political process requires a new approach, he said.
Stricter oversight of campaigns by their managers and by Elections Canada, could be one solution, he said.
“I actually think the more effective thing is preventing it in the first place and that involves ethical training,” he said.
Mr. Manning's centre already offers training for campaign workers.....
"In January, 2010, my UVic inbox had an e-mail invite from a democracy centre to attend a campaign school. Intrigued, I signed up for the three-day event.
Topics covered included voter identification. Discussion ensued about suppression techniques. Instructors explained voter suppression tactics were borrowed from those used by the U.S. Republican Party. Many kinds of suppression calls were canvassed. Another instructor gave detailed explanations of how robo-calls worked, techniques for recording messages, plus costs involved. He distributed his business card upon request.
Instructors made it clear that robo-calling and voter suppression were an acceptable and normal part of winning political campaigns..."
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