Deep Pockets

So there it is - the voters in Etobicoke Centre have been advised that their vote did not after all count.  The squeaker result was not appreciated by the losing candidate.  And his squawks of the existence of a dastardly Conservative-led campaign of corruption leading to his losing his parliamentary seat was not to be countenanced.

Quite a few losing candidates in any general election feel let down by the results that 'unfairly' leave them losers.  In comparing themselves and what they have to offer the electorate to the winners, they see themselves as having been ill done by.  And someone must have been responsible for the oversight to their sterling candidate qualities.

Obviously it was the Conservative party, in support of their candidate, Ted Optiz.  The margin of victory said it all.  There was a lot of dirty dealing to ensure that the Conservatives took the seat that the Liberals fit so comfortably in, and it was required that their corrupt practises saw the light of day.

Elections Canada had no intention of performing an investigation and a recount.

But even Thomas Mulcair, leader of the Official Opposition, was spinning the results claiming that the Conservatives were busy "playing fast and loose with the election rules".  Music to Boris Wrzesnewskyj's ears.  And so, because he could afford the $250,000 it was estimated to cost to move an official investigation, it was done.

With Justice Thomas Lederer of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice performing the rites.  And arriving at the conclusion that nothing untoward had occurred; no evidence whatever revealed that fraud of any type had occurred.  It was a clean election.  A few blips here and there because no one's perfect, of course.  The margin of error in all areas expected and accepted generally.

Not in Etobicoke Centre, though.  Because Justice Lederer found there might have been a few errors by poll workers of a clerical and record-keeping variety, such as missing registration certifications and voters lacking identification, not having been properly vouched for possibly, there existed an aura of uncertainty.

As a result, 79 votes were set aside, a minuscule proportion of the total votes.  Which had the effect of nullifying the election results in the riding.  And which doubtless made Mr. Wrzesnewskyj drunk with validating joy.  His allegations proven, his insistence justified, his money well spent.

And a by-election in the offing, unless the government seeks to oppose the ruling.

"In the course of any general election there will be errors in the record keeping required of the officials who conduct", is a reality generally conceded.  The narrow margin of victory and the unqualified, unctuous insistence of injustice due to malappropriation of expectations however, justifies the suspension of that reality.

Back to the polls.