V. VI. I. (4) The evidence of Ms. Desgagné and Mr. Langhorne ..................... 67 (5) The EKOS Survey Evidence......................................................... 71 (6) Dr. Corbin’s evidence ................................................................... 78 (7) Dr. Nevitte’s evidence................................................................... 83 (8) Evidence of the respondent MPs’ campaign managers ................ 86 Conclusion on the Merits ...................................................................................... 86 A. Has “fraud” under Section 524(1)(b) been made out? .............................. 86 B. Did the fraud affect the results of the election in the six subject ridings? 89 C. Did the fraud call into question the integrity of the elections? ................. 90 D. Should the Court exercise its discretion to annul the elections? ............... 92 Costs...................................................................................................................... 93 Introduction “…very serious matters that strike at the integrity of our democratic process.” [1] In his remarks to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs of the House of Commons on March 29, 2012, Mr. Marc Mayrand, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, made the following comments about the allegations that are at the heart of these applications: These are very serious matters that strike at the integrity of our democratic process. If they are not addressed and responded to, they risk undermining an essential ingredient of a healthy democracy, namely the trust that electors have in the electoral process. [2] The applicants, eight Canadian citizen voters residing in six electoral districts, brought these proceedings to annul the results of the 2011 General Election in their ridings because of efforts to suppress votes that occurred during that election. Those efforts involved telephone calls purporting to be from Elections Canada. In the calls, voters were told that the locations of polling stations in their districts had been moved from the places specified in the printed information provided by Elections Canada prior to the day of the vote. The information was false and Elections Canada neither made nor authorized those calls. 2013 FC 525 (CanLII) Page: 5