Rigging the Canadian Federal Election - same crooks doing PR on both NDP and Conservative campaigns

[arikara]

Hill + Knowlton and other political operatives were involved in questionable activities while working for the New Democratic Party in the 2013 election in British Columbia. They are now playing a major role in the 2015 Federal NDP and Conservative campaigns. It looks like the Federal NDP campaign team is scheming to give the victory to the Conservatives in the same manner as what the British Columbia NDP team did for the Liberals.

Hill+Knowlton is playing a major role in Canadian Politics. Senior NDP campaign advisor Brad Lavinge is also vice president for Public and Corporate Affairs of this PR firm. They are a wing of the strangely named, Wire and Plastics Products (WPP), the largest public relations firm in the world. Some would say WPP is the public face of the global elite’s political agenda. Most NDPers would wonder what they have in common with the goals and aspirations of Hill+Knowlton.

Hill + Knowlton are remembered as the inventors of the incubator baby hoax, the Pearl Harbour event that created the public support of George Bush senior’s 1991 Gulf War. The US invasion of Iraq led to the death and suffering of millions of innocent people. If Hill +Knowlton could pull that one off then fixing an election would be a cinch.

... more ...
http://www.powertothepeople.ca/rigging-the-canadian-federal-election/

This is seriously disturbing. Why would the NDP use the same PR firm as the Conservatives; and why would they use the same people who were responsible for the disastrous BC NDP campaign that they frickin' well should have won?

Opinions? Can anybody say anything to make me feel better about this?

[alcina]

1. Gotta love the internet

Last edited Sun Sep 27, 2015, 08:32 AM - Edit history (1)

Interesting article. I did a quick search and found a few things.

First, Hill+Knowlton also worked on Rachel Notley’s campaign, and that seems to have turned out ok. See
http://hkstrategies.ca/alberta-election/

Second, like most large ad/PR companies, H+K don’t seem to have a strict moral code governing their choice of clientele. See http://hkstrategies.ca/work/

Third, H+K have a massive website devoted to the 2015 election. I’ve only skimmed a few pages, but so far I can’t figure out which way — if any — they’re leaning. But maybe they’re just that good, and I’ll never figure it out. Instead, I’ll just come away with the inescapable feeling that I need to vote Conservative. We shall see.
http://hkstrategies.ca/federal-election-2015/

Fourth, this Walt McGinnis?
http://emrabc.ca/?cat=68
http://www.columbiajournal.ca/11-05/P3_Smart.html
http://thebridgenewsservice.com/tag/walt-mcginnis/
http://canadacitizensnewsnetwork.com/bcauditorgeneral01/

I’ll summarize: Seems to be conspiracy minded. Doesn’t seem to trust any of the parties. Says wireless technology is bad for your health, and as a professional electrician one of the services he sells is testing for this bad EM radiation. Consistent, at least; and to be fair, quite a few people — including the French government — agree with him. Still....

I’m volunteering at one of the NDP offices, so I might ask them about this when I go in next week. If I learn anything useful, I’ll let you know.

On edit: After a night's sleep, I'm rereading the H+K site, and now I'm not sure about their role in the Alberta election. Their involvement appears to be the same as it is for the Federal; that is, they're offering analysis but don't seem to be pushing a particular party. They did the same for the Ontario election, as well. So, based on my admittedly brief research, it's really not clear which parties they've worked for. Maybe someone else here can figure that out?

[arikara]

3. Yes, do ask them

why they are using some of the same faces who failed so miserably in BC. That's sure no recommendation and... why go there?

As for Mr McGinnis' stance on wireless I have no problem with it, lots of countries have tighter rules than Canada. I refused the smart meter myself for many reasons including the Mr's pacemaker, and unplug the wireless router when I'm not using it too.

[alcina]

4. I will ask...

but if they've even seen this, I won't be surprised if their response is as dismissive as the one Mr McGinnis already received from "a prominent NDPer." That is, he "should be worried about being sued for laying these allegations." I find Mr McGinnis's response to that curious: "...perhaps we all should be more worried about the chances that what I am saying is true." Notice that even he suggests there's a possibility that what he's claiming is not true. And nowhere can I find anyone else substantiating his claims.

Regarding Brad Lavigne, did you note his professional background? He's been a long-time NDPer and worked for H+K less than 3 years. There is nothing to indicate he is still on their payroll, as Mr McGinnis claims. And even if he were, people often take time off from their real jobs to work on campaigns. If they lose, they have a job to return to. If they win, maybe they go back or maybe they get a job in government. I don't consider that terribly sinister.

You again raise the question of "why they are using some of the same faces who failed so miserably in BC." And again I will point out that, much more recently, they won in Alberta -- against quite difficult odds. I will further repeat that it's not clear from H+K's website that they're actually working for the NDP. In fact, Mr McGinnis quite grossly exaggerates and even misrepresents the relationship between Lavigne and H+K by describing Lavigne as "Vice President, Public & Corporate Affairs Hill+Knowlton Strategist AND Senior Campaign Advisor New Democratic Party of Canada." Notice the AND. As I previously mentioned, the two positions do not appear to be contemporaneous. Yet Mr McGinnis's article gives a very clear suggestion that Lavigne is an H+K operative who has somehow infiltrated the NDP for nefarious purposes. Nowhere in his article does he bother mentioning that Brad Lavigne spent over 6 years in various high-level capacities with the NDP prior to joining H+K. In addition to everything else, such a glaring omission really has to make me question Mr McGinnis's credibility and his intent.

This article contains a lot of innuendo with little evidence, IMO. (And just saying there's evidence, as he does, doesn't make it true.) I'll admit Mr McGinnis certainly has a way with words; but if you parse the thing carefully, there's really not a lot of substance behind the spin.

[alcina]

5. Here's what I learned

So I asked three people on the local campaign here -- the campaign co-manager and two media people -- and none of them thought H+K were being consulted about the federal campaign. One said that, as far as she knew, they never hire outside PR. However she also said that it's possible there's something happening on the federal level that she doesn't know about. Two of them knew that Brad Lavigne had worked at H+K but was now full time with the NDP, and one said that a top Ontario H+K executive was close to the Conservatives.

I summarized the article in your OP, and the response was something to the effect of, "Well, you can say pretty much anything you want if you don't have to back it up...and in an election, that's what people often do." They said, as far as they knew, there was no agreement between the NDP/H+K/the Conservatives, and they couldn't see any benefit to one.

Btw, I did a little more looking into H+K, and they certainly are sleazy, though it's not clear if they're any more or less so than other professional influence peddlers. They're larger and have been around awhile, so the scope of their influence is quite broad. I'd forgotten that they were central to the plot of "Merchants of Doubt," which describes the attempt to sell an "alternative truth" about cigarettes. I haven't read the book, but I can highly recommend the documentary.

http://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/

[arikara]

6. Thank you for this

Its all very interesting.

I'm definitely getting election fatigue, like many people what with this drawn out campaign. I've always known I'm voting NDP and it hasn't changed. I'm going to do some door knocking next week, plan to drive people to vote on election day and maybe scrutineer during the count.

[alcina]

7. You're welcome

It's funny: I keep hearing people say how long the campaign has lasted, and I do realize that this is the longest campaign ever here. But having come from the US -- where we're already battling over the Nov 2016 election -- this seems like such a little sprint. Nonetheless, I can't wait until it's over. I'm spending so much time volunteering that my regular life is starting to suffer.

[arikara]

8. LOL... you're right, I was thinking that as I was typing

We have no call to complain, Americans campaign incessantly. Presidential goes on for 2 years then you get into the mid-terms, then right back to the presidential again.

[alcina]

2. One other thing

Brad Lavigne was a VP at H+K, but according to his LinkedIn profile, he's no longer on the job. His current role is listed as Senior Campaign Advisor, New Democratic Party of Canada.

https://ca.linkedin.com/pub/brad-lavigne/39/27a/a09

And he is not listed on H+K's "People" page, which includes several other VPs.

http://hkstrategies.ca/people/

Whew. I feel better now.