OTTAWA — CBC is fending off allegations it is violating its own polling rules by using Frank Graves and EKOS Research to perform their political polling.Are you surprised? I thought not. It sure does put into doubt the credibility of all Ekos polls. It is no secret that Graves is a Liberal supporter so is the CBC. So why wouldn't they work hand in hand to promote their party of choice and why won't they release any information through access to information? What more is there that they are hiding? At least at the Commons committee the NDP and the Bloc voted with the CPC to investigate CBC. The Liberals abstained. I wonder why! Maybe we'll get some answers at that committee, I hope.
Graves uses an automatic dialing system called IVR that has respondents to his polls punch numbers to make their selections rather than speaking to a human questioner. That method is not approved by Government of Canada polling guidelines nor CBC’s call for bids on the polling contract.
“Graves uses methodology not approved by CBC. How did they miss that," Conservative spokesman Fred DeLorey asked.
Graves became a lighting rod for Conservative criticism after a newspaper quoted him as advising the Liberals to start a culture war to defeat the Conservatives. He later also admitted to donating to the Liberals.
An access to information request to have CBC release the EKOS contract was denied.
CBC spokesman Jeff Keay defended the use of IVR, calling the technology “cost-efficient, fast and suitable.”
Keay also told QMI Agency that while they are not bound by government polling rules, most contracts do follow government standards.
Thanks to Brian Lilley for his series on the CBC. Hopefully he will carry on with his quest and share what he's learned on SunTV news channel once it's on air. I fear he hasn't even scratched the surface yet. All Canadians need to know what's going on at the taxpayer funded broadcaster that we put so much money into. I urge all of you to go and read all of his columns in the Sun on this issue. It's about your money after all.