Misleading election day robocalls linked to third-party Canada Strong and Proud

Voters in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec have reported receiving robocalls that told them the federal election would take place on a day other than Monday, Elections Canada said.

Polls close Monday night across Canada, but the calls incorrectly said voting would happen on Tuesday.

"We have no indication these calls are widespread," said Elections Canada in a statement.

Some of the calls have been traced back to a network of right-wing third-party political groups called Canada Strong and Proud, CBC News reported.

Headed by Newfoundlander Chris Russell, the Canada Strong and Proud network includes a national flagship called Proud to be Canadian and regional affiliates like New Brunswick Proud, Ontario Strong, Quebec Fier and Alberta Proud. (A separate network of Prouds that includes Canada Proud, Ontario Proud and BC Proud is not related to Canada Strong and Proud).

The Canada Strong and Proud groups mainly operate as social media pages, which pump out anti-Liberal and NDP memes through Facebook. Some of the groups in the network have also conducted polls via mass-text message.

Russell didn't immediately reply to National Observer's request for comment, but he told CBC that the robocalls were supposed to stop on Sunday but accidentally continued on voting day.

"We have called everyone who got the message and corrected it," Russell told CBC.

Elections Canada wouldn't say how many reports it had received of misleading robocalls, or whether the effort appeared to have been directed at any specific ridings. It also wouldn't say whether those robocalls appeared to be coming from the same source.

"It is illegal to willfully misdirect electors in order to prevent them from voting," Elections Canada said.

"If anyone has received a communication that they believe shares the wrong information about the electoral process, they should contact Elections Canada as soon as possible at 1-800-463-6868. Elections Canada is the authoritative source on where, when and ways to vote in the federal election."