Michael Sona

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Michael Sona is a Canadian political figure known for his involvement in the Robocall scandal, which occurred while he was employed as a Conservative campaign worker in Guelph for the 2011 federal election.[1] Following the election, voters in Guelph claimed to have received robocalls, purporting to be from Elections Canada, which falsely informed them that the location of their polling stations had changed.[2][3] Sona, perhaps along with others, had arranged for the calls in an attempt to suppress voters intending to vote for other political parties.[4][5]

After the allegations first arose in the media, Sona appeared on CBC's Power & Politics with Evan Solomon where he denied any involvement in the scandal. During the interview, Sona claimed he had no information about who was responsible but was "not going to take the fall for something [he] didn't do".[6]

Following investigations by Elections Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Sona was charged with willfully preventing or endeavoring to prevent an elector from voting in an election, an offence under the Canada Elections Act.[1] On August 14, 2014, Sona was found guilty; however, Justice Hearn noted that Sona had likely not acted alone.[4][7] The Court found that Sona displayed a “callous and blatant disregard for the right of people to vote” as part of an “ill-conceived and disturbing plan”. No one else has been charged or convicted in relation to this matter.[8] Sona is the first and only person ever convicted of endeavoring to prevent an elector from voting.[9][10] He was sentenced to nine months in prison, along with 12 months probation.[2][11][12] The sentence is currently under appeal.[13][14][15][16][17][18]

References

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  4. 4.0 4.1 R. v. Sona, 2014 ONCJ 365 (Justice G.F. Hearn), online at: http://canlii.ca/t/g8m0r
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  9. R. v. Sona, 2014 ONCA 859 (Justice H.S. LaForme), online at: http://canlii.ca/t/gfgd1
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  11. R. v. Sona, 2014 ONCJ 606 (Justice G.F. Hearn), online at: http://canlii.ca/t/gfb7r
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