Tories Fess Up to Planting Resignation Rumours in Cotler's Riding

Cotler: WTF, guys? Van Loan: Free speech, man. Public: Ugh.

The indefatigable Conservatives have owned up to making a slew of phone calls to residents in Liberal MP Irwin Cotler's Montreal riding, in which a constituents were told to support the Tories in a byelection as Cotler was resigning. The thing is, Cotler has no plans of resigning just yet, leading the venerable justice critic to call on the Speaker of the House to determine if his parliamentary privileges have been breached. (This is a delightful little practice perfected by Karl Rove known as "Push Polling." It's illegal in New Hampshire.) The Tories are defending the practice as just another means of identifying voters, and one MP, Peter Van Loan, went so far as to say that if the Speaker rules against the phone calls, it would threaten the Tories' right to free speech. Well, sure, we suppose, if the free speech you want to defend is blatant lies. Political science hero Ned Franks told the National Post that he hopes the opposition have the "gumption" to take the matter to the courts to see if the Tories truly were spreading false rumours.