PETER SMOCZYNSKI
WRITER/PRODUCER/DIRECTOR
Click on E-Day poster for entire documentary
"E-DAY CANADA: When Voter Suppression Came Calling" is Peter's lastest film and was screened as an official entry in the Salt Spring Film Festival 2020.
The feature length doucmentary film is a cautionary tale recounting the voter suppression "robocalls" campaign that tainted Canada's 41st General Election was unlike anything the country's electorate had experienced.
Present day misinformation and disinformation campaigns with " deep fake" NEWS reaching new heights with the advent of AI, all make the 2011 "robocalls scandal" seem amateurish. But the pure genius of the scheme made for an extremely convincing voter suppression through misinformation on voting day that directed thousands of Canadians to nonexistent poll locations or the wrong poll.
The vignettes below are a forensic breakdown at the long game of voter suppression or disinformation schemes during the Stephen Harper era.
If you wish to screen the entire documentary in one sitting you can do that as well just click on the poster.
THE E-DAY CHAPTERS
PROLOGUE
Elizabeth May, Thomas Mulcair, J.P. Kingsley, Michael Harris, Lawrence Martin, Duff Conacher and Steven Shrybman but a few Canadians in "E-Day Canada" film that outlined the emotional betrayal and criminality of the "robocalls" voter suppression campaign during the 41st General Election.
FREE & FAIR
In 2022 the Ontario Provincial Election saw only 40% of eligible voters cast a ballot. The lowest voter turnout in Canadian history. This trend is decades old and right wing parties encourage Canadians to distrust their country's electoral system.
CANADIAN AUTOCRAT
Stephen Harper's rise through the right wing Reform Party proved to be the harbinger for the first right wing Canadian government. Harper, once considered unelectable, as Prime Minister unleashed a brand of absolute power that defined his newly established Conservative Party of Canada.
THE PERFECT STORM
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Stephen Harper becomes the first Canadian Prime Minister held in contempt of Parliament. The Harper government falls to a non-confidence vote which triggers the 41st General Election.
THE POLLSTERS
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The Conservative Party of Canada's 11th hour rally to secure a majority government caught pollsters and pundits unawares. The Liberal Party was soundly defeated. Yet, Jack Layton NDP's stunning rise to lead as official opposition was correct in the final analysis.
"SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG."
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Credible evidence emerges that throughout the 41st General Election and culminating on the May 2, 2011 non-conservative voters were targeted and misinformed by bogus Election Canada robocalls.
THE INVESTIGATORS
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As rumours, reports and complaints swirl about voter suppression tactics during the 41st General Election a pair of intrepid Postmedia journalists begin asking questions.
THE SOURCE
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Like a scene picked from "All The President's Men" Hollywood movie journalists Maher & McGregor, after months of dead ends, are handed a lead: a "source" within the Election Canada & RCMP robocalls investigation.
PIERRE POUTINE
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The story breaks: bogus Election Canada robocalls in the thousands were unleashed on the voters of Guelph, ON from a Conservative Party of Canada call centre by someone named Pierre Poutine.
A POLITICAL CRIME
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When rumours and complaints become fact, outrage sweeps the country as Canadians demand accountability much to the chagrin of the re-elected Harper now with a majority government.
ON TRIAL
The Conservative Party of Canada defends several of its riding wins in Federal court as contested by a handful of Canadian voters represented by social justice attorney Steven Shrybman backed by The Council of Canadians.
THE DECISION
Justice Richard Mosley hands down his Federal Court decision on whether or not the Conservative Party of Canada was responsible for a massive voter suppression campaign.
LEGALIZED VOTER SUPPRESSION
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Thomas Mulcair, NDP leader of the official opposition, rallies his party and in turn a nation to prevent Minister of State Pierre Poilievre and the CPC from enacting electoral legislation taken straight from the Texas Republican playbook.
THE QUIET ENDING
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The Harper government and Elections Canada deliver a report that many consider a whitewash and shuts down the robocalls investigation.
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