On the occasion of the October 19 Canadian Federal election, two political observers share their perspectives on contemporary efforts on the part of the powerful to deliberately manipulate and jury-rig elections to their benefit.
First, we hear from Lesley Hughes, an award-winning Winnipeg-based journalist and broadcaster who ran as a political candidate in 2008 and was quickly ousted after a past article she had written was mis-interpreted as "anti-semitic" 9/11 conspiracy theory. Lesley Hughes who is authoring a book about her experience, talks about this ejection of candidates as part of a deliberate strategy which, enabled and complemented by social media, effectively corrupts the democratic process.
Michael Keefer, an Emeritus Professor of Literary Studies from the University of Guelph, has been researching and analyzing electoral interference in the 2011 Canadian Federal election and in a multi-part essay being written for Rabble.ca, establishes that through telephone fraud and under-investigation by Elections Canada and the RCMP, amounted to a State Crime Against Democracy. Keefer shares his analysis in the second half hour.