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Rob Ford's Toronto

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nfitz said:
Given Kouvalis's past deception on the municipal front, the bizarre phone calls his firm was caught doing in a Montreal riding, and the similarity to that to the current complaints we are hearing about shenanigans during the last election - I have to wonder what Kouvalis was doing during the last federal election - and who he was giving advise to.
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http://manningcentre.ca/conference/?page_id=720

Nick Kouvalis, Principal at Campaign Research, Inc.

Nick Kouvalis is a campaign strategist with experience in voter profiling, telephone town halls, auto-dialing, telemarketing, direct mail, websites, and social media.

In the 2011 Federal Election, Kouvalis worked closely with many key Ontario ridings that helped deliver a majority government to the Conservatives.


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...probe-for-tory-pollster/article2353071/print/

Dirty tricks against Cotler trigger misconduct probe for Tory pollster
JOAN BRYDEN
OTTAWA— The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012 6:02PM EST
Last updated Friday, Mar. 02, 2012 4:05PM EST

The market research industry's watchdog is launching a full-blown investigation into a Conservative pollster involved in an alleged misinformation campaign against Liberal MP Irwin Cotler.

Brendan Wycks, executive director of The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, said Tuesday the watchdog has received seven formal complaints of professional misconduct against Campaign Research Inc.

Campaign Research was behind a phone campaign last fall in Mr. Cotler's Montreal riding, in which constitutents complained they were falsely told their MP was about to or had resigned and that a by-election was imminent.

The company was given time to resolve the matter to complainants' satisfaction but was unable to do so.

As a result, the voluntary, self-regulatory MRIA is now striking a three-member complaints panel to investigate the matter more thoroughly. If Campaign Research is found to have violated the association's code of conduct, the company could face sanctions, ranging from a public reprimand to suspension or even expulsion from the MRIA.

The MRIA fears the allegations of dirty tricks by partisan pollsters and telemarketers is giving legitimate public opinion research a black eye. The association is so concerned that Mr. Wycks said it is updating its code of conduct to spell out that voter identification or partisan promotion cannot be conducted under the guise of market research.

It has also given itself more power to initiate investigations into unethical or unprofessional conduct by its members, rather than having to wait for someone to file a formal complaint.

“If you are to be a corporate research member of MRIA, you cannot be doing voter intention-slash-advocacy type calls under the name of a marketing research firm because that just tarnishes the image of the entire industry,†Mr. Wycks said in an interview.

“You can't do partisan stuff under the banner of a marketing research firm that is doing statistical, survey-based marketing research.â€

He said the association's board has approved in principle adding an addendum to the code or an ancillary regulatory document to that effect.

“I can definitely say that this is something that will be an outcome of the current issues [involving] Campaign Research and the other firms that are not marketing research firms, they're on the periphery, but we're getting some of the negative spillover from some of their activities.â€

Campaign Research has made no bones about its partisan motivation. Principal partner Nick Kouvalis has publicly boasted: “We're in the business of getting Conservatives elected and ending Liberal careers. We're good at it.â€

To Mr. Wycks, that quote alone suggests “that type of firm is not the type of research agency that can and should belong to MRIA. So that is going to be sort of the crux of the complaint panel's deliberations.â€

Aaron Wudrick, Campaign Research's general counsel, said he can't comment on the specifics of the confidential complaints. But he said the company responded “in good faith†and the majority of complainants rejected “our proposed resolution.â€

He added that none of the complainants actually resides in Mr. Cotler's riding – “They all made their complaints based on media reports, not due to a firsthand experience wih Campaign Research.â€
 
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And remember: his buddy Richard Ciano was recently elected Provincial PC Party President in a landslide. So evidently, his kind of odiousness is still held in high regard by the powers that be.

On the whole, together with Robocallgate, it reminds me of radio's payola scandals, and how dubious practices never really died even after they were "busted", it's just that the henchmen learned how to better frame themselves and to control their message--until the next time someone piped up and remarked: "hey, this ain't right". Then, the cycle all over again. (Symbolically speaking, no wonder the Fords' most dependable central media platform seems to be private radio, 1010, 640, and all.)
 
Well looks like Ford is responsible for 8.2 billion dollars in development (condos) going up in the city in the past year. This fact comes to us courtesy of The City hosted by Ford and Ford.

Then Ford is talking to the interim manager of the TTC and Ford is saying he already is notice the subways are cleaner as are the buses. But I was under the impression that these teams that were to go around and clean up had yet to start, The announcement of these teams only came out late last week. Yet Ford has noticed a difference.
 
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The teams of cleaners were at Kennedy at least a couple weeks before Webster was fired. And, for a week or two, they were doing this at Kennedy last spring or summer. It may be Byford's initiative or it may not, but it was already in operation before the change. Where Webster used a spokesperson (Brad Ross), Byford is more available to make commentary in the news, so it seems that he is being more proactive as a leader. And Ford is using that to frame the firing of Webster as a necessary move to make the stations cleaner and the trains run faster.
 
What do Nick Kouvalis, George Christopoulos and Dimitri Soudas have in common? They are all Greek Canadians. As is Tony Clement. As I'm I. The difference between them and me? They display a trait among some of my male Greek relatives and friends, one which I thankfully was able to avoid by having thoughtful parents and by removing my self from the culture early on in life. What is that trait? A feeling of entitlement, superiority that begins from birth and is found in overly protective mothering and emotional abusive fathering. This can develop into socioapathic, even psychopathic behaviour. No wonder they are so well suited to a job that requires a complete lack empathy or remorse, false emotions, selfishness and deceptiveness.
 
toto said:
What do Nick Kouvalis, George Christopoulos and Dimitri Soudas have in common? They are all Greek Canadians. As is Tony Clement. As I'm I. The difference between them and me? They display a trait among some of my male Greek relatives and friends, one which I thankfully was able to avoid by having thoughtful parents and by removing my self from the culture early on in life. What is that trait? A feeling of entitlement, superiority that begins from birth and is found in overly protective mothering and emotional abusive fathering. This can develop into socioapathic, even psychopathic behaviour. No wonder they are so well suited to a job that requires a complete lack empathy or remorse, false emotions, selfishness and deceptiveness.
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You are right that their "complete lack empathy or remorse, false emotions, selfishness and deceptiveness" is required for their job, but their racial background has nothing to do with it. These traits aren't specific to Greeks. You are just describing a coincidence.
 
"He is slimy"

A strange character, this Kouvalis. The first person that came to mind was pre-religion Charles Colson.

U1769044.jpg
nick.jpg


As Nixon said of Colson: "He'll do anything. I mean, anything!"
 
Palma said:
Well looks like Ford is responsible for 8.2 billion dollars in development (condos) going up in the city in the past year. This fact comes to us courtesy of The City hosted by Ford and Ford.

Then Ford is talking to the interim manager of the TTC and Ford is saying he already is notice the subways are cleaner as are the buses. But I was under the impression that these teams that were to go around and clean up had yet to start, The announcement of these teams only came out late last week. Yet Ford has noticed a difference.
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You dont have to be a rocket scientist.... to notice that by just getting rid of the newspapers, paper bags, flyers, plastic/glass bottles, cans, etc., littering pretty well every TTC vehicle will make them look cleaner.
 
You dont have to be a rocket scientist....
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....to know that Ford is making up absurd rationalizations for firing Webster. And doing so in a venue where he is not cross-examined for his absurd statements.
 
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