Liberal candidate Kate Graham is being criticized for misleading voters for sharing what she said was a survey showing her leading in the riding of London North Centre.

Graham tweeted out what looks like a poll showing 38 per cent of 325 decided voters in London North Centre, contacted through interactive voice response technology, supported the Liberals. Graham noted it was done by “a paid external provider” but didn’t provide any more context on methodology or the company.

Yesterday, we did a survey in London North Centre. This was done by a paid external provider using IVR.

There’s been a lack of riding-specific data in this campaign – so here it is. #onpoli #ldnont

Some context: a🧵

/1 pic.twitter.com/K8yqk7hVJi

— Kate Graham (@KateMarieGraham) May 24, 2022

David Reevely, a reporter with the Ottawa-based outlet The Logic, tweeted that he had received an IVR call from Bellwether Technologies on behalf of the Liberal candidate in Ottawa Centre. According to Reevely, the question on voting preference named the Liberal candidate, but left the NDP candidate nameless, instead referring to them as “the candidate for the NDP led by Andrea Horwath.”

Bellwether Technologies is a “Market leader in IVR Polling” and “a preferred vendor of the Liberal Party of Canada for direct voter contact,” reads the company’s LinkedIn page.

The NDP were quick to criticize Graham’s polling results, calling it an “unethical stunt” while quoting a variety of professors and political scientists who had tweeted out their skepticism, including Tim Abray, in a press release.

Abray, a doctoral candidate with Queen’s University, said what Graham published could be part of a “push poll,” a marketing technique that contacts voters on the premise of polling, but is really meant to push voters toward an intended candidate.

"The thing that makes the Kate Graham situation unique and strange is that they've decided to turn around and publish the so-called results of that kind of voter contact, and it just does not pass the sniff test of any of the usual things that pollsters would normally put in place to ensure the integrity of a poll like that,” Abray told QP Briefing.

Steps like randomized sampling, ensuring demographic representation and neutrality in questioning are all up in the air without any context of the methodology of the poll, according to Abray.

Myer Siemiatycki, a professor emeritus at Toronto Metropolitan University, shares some of Abray’s concerns.

Clearly, parties want to paint themselves in the best light possibly, Siemiatycki says, but presenting information as objective “hard truths” when it isn’t, can be “problematic.”

“Elections should be contested on the basis — it seems almost pathetic that one has to say this — elections should be contested on the basis of truth and reliable statements,” Siemiatycki said. “If those numbers can't be trusted, that's a big problem for what is supposed to be a democratic exercise of voters choice.”

For Abray, push polling and other potentially deceiving methods of political communication, aren't a problem limited to the Liberals but rather what all parties are at risk of “in the absence of clear regulation.”

“I think that it's incumbent that if people want cleaner elections, clearer contests, less of this sort of slightly nefarious activity, we need to speak up and ask for it and demand better from our politicians because they're not going to do it unless it's clear to them that there are stakes attached,” Abray said.

QP Briefing asked Graham’s campaign spokesperson for details on the poll results that were tweeted out, but those questions were not answered. Instead, in a statement, Graham wrote: “I’m really disappointed that the NDP has decided to finish this campaign by attacking me personally. At the doors and on the phones the people in London North Centre are responding because they believe in a better path forward, they believe in the Liberal Plan, in lower class sizes, revolutionizing seniors care and making life more affordable.”

Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca, on Thursday, considered the criticism of Graham as a personal NDP attack on his candidate.

Del Duca, in that same press conference, went after Andrea Horwath and her New Democrats for “despicable” attacks on female candidates, including one in Chatham—Kent—Leamington accused of submitting fraudulent candidate nomination papers.

READ MORE: Steven Del Duca frames NDP’s fraud allegation as sexist as Liberal candidate withdraws

“Here we go again. Here's Andrea Horwath and the Ontario NDP attacking a female candidate, a female Liberal candidate,” Del Duca said, accusing the party of having “lost their way.”

“I know it's got to be discouraging for progressives across this province when we all have a shared obligation to make sure that more Ontarians, more women, more racialized Ontarians, more under-represented Ontarians feel comfortable and supported stepping into the political arena.”

READ MORE: Horwath responds to allegations by Del Duca of gender-focused attacks on candidates

The concerns and Del Duca’s choice words come at the same time as the back-and-forth between the two major progressive parties vying to defeat Doug Ford heats up as both parties try to win over the progressive vote.

On Tuesday, the Toronto Star reported on a “confidential three-page memo” sent to Liberal campaign director Christine McMillian that laid out a strategy for minority Ford government, only if the Liberals secure key NDP ridings in the GTA.

Similarly, the Star also reported on a “confidential NDP memo” leaked on Thursday that allegedly showed Liberal support slipping and NDP vote share on the upswing.

Asked on Thursday if his party had intentionally leaked the memo to the Star, Del Duca said he hadn’t seen the memo and “didn’t see that particular article you’re referencing.”

Liberal candidate in London North Centre accused of publishing misleading poll

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