Angry in the Great White North
Blogging Tories: The jig's up boys, let's blow this joint!
Wednesday, January 18, 2006 at 09:20 AM

Read other posts by Steve Janke published by the National Post
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The Blogging Tories have been unmasked!

Elections Canada has been asked to investigate the Conservatives after allegations that the party is overseeing a group that operates partisan on-line web logs.

Canada's election watchdog received a complaint Tuesday morning from a disaffected party member who claims the Tories tried to sway political opinion in cyberspace in the leadup to, and during, the election by setting up the popular "Blogging Tories" website.

So what gave us away? The word "Tories" in the name? Or the the fact we've got Conservative MPs like Monte Solberg in the group?

Curses!

I guess we should have been more careful.

The site appears to be a coalition of like-minded individuals who have met in cyberspace to share their political opinions and express their frustrations with Paul Martin's Liberals.

But appearances can be deceiving. We are in fact the hub of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (Canada Branch Office).

But a Victoria, man, Eugene Parks, and Toronto Tory dissident Carole Jamieson allege the venture may be in contravention of the Elections Act and third-party financing laws. They say it may have "unduly influenced the election coverage and potentially the outcome of this campaign."

We unduly influenced the election coverage? Like Mike Duffy dances when I snap my fingers! Dance, Duffy, dance!

Carole Jamieson is, of course, at the heart of the Dump Harper movement, seeing Stephen Harper as unable to lead the Conservatives to power.

But Parks' allegation that the group was set up as a concerted effort by senior Conservatives to win the election casts the website in a controversial light.

"They're trying to make it look like these are individuals rather than a party effort," Parks said.

Maybe it looks like an individual effort because it is an individual effort.

Parks said he split with the party in June because he was uncomfortable with what he said was a hostile tone among some party members toward French-Canada and aboriginals.

Funny that French-Canada and aboriginals seem happy enough with Stephen Harper.

For the record, I do not work for the Conservative Party. I don't even have a Conservative Party membership. I signed up but frankly couldn't come up with the pledge money (baby budget issues), so I'm on the outs. I started blogging over a year ago, and blogged for months via Live Journal and Blogspot before I even heard of the Blogging Tories. And I was a critic of the Liberals (and of Canadian liberal leanings) even then.

Do I get tips? Yes. From Conservatives. From Liberals. From people active in politics and those whose days have passed. From industry insiders. From media people. From average folks who have noticed interesting in a local paper and wanted it spread to a larger audience.

But I do my own research and pick my own stories. The Abotech series, for example, was pure "Angry", with not one jot of support from either the media or the Conservative Party.

And I've been critical of the Conservatives during this election cycle as well. Of course, that could be a calculated attempt to look like I'm not a Conservative front-man.

I suppose I should just switch to cat-blogging.

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