Upon further research, and reading more about the incident, it's clear that Mister Michael Sona is the one who could have serious allegations against him. What he did, in trying to physically grab a ballot box was a violation of Part 9, section 167 (2) D of the Canada Elections Act.
Students across the country are becoming notably disheartened at the disregard that the Conservatives showed towards them exercising their democratic rights. And who could blame them? I received the original post over twitter from Pirate Party leader Mikkel Paulson, reposted to facebook and blogged here it was shared more than two dozen times within the hour.
In some ways, this 'incident' goes far and above mere 'partisanship' which is something that many of the parties like to throw out there. Instead it shows that the party wants to disregard the now mobilizing demographic of student and youth voters.
In the rising groundswell of support, an online petition has also hit the ground, calling for the ballots to be accepted and for the conservatives to drop their investigation. Will they be successful? It's hard to tell at this stage, but certainly if it becomes a contentious issue, and especially if those 700 ballots are thrown out, there will be an enormous public outcry, and I shall indeed hope those students will turn out again and vote in a very contentious riding.
The Online Petition for Guelph here:
http://www.leadnow.ca/en/hands-off-our-ballots
Here's the article from the Globe
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/silver-powers/about-that-conservative-ballot-box-grab-in-guelph/article1986324/
The 'Thanks Rick Mercer' Article
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/thanks-a-heap-rick-mercer-the-students-might-actually-vote/article1985368/?utm_source=Shared+Article+Sent+to+User&utm_medium=E-mail%3A+Newsletters+%2F+E-Blasts+%2F+etc.&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links
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