More robocall infractions: NDP MP Paul Dewar fined $7,000

There's been another ruling on another robocall 'scandal.'

No, they haven't caught the infamous Pierre Poutine — this is about a different robocall scandal involving a different political party.

On Friday, according to the Canadian Press, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced that they have fined NDP MP Paul Dewar $7,000 for violating federal robocall rules.

According to a statement by Dewar, the maleficence was about not identifying the caller in a pre-recorded telephone campaign that took place during his campaign for the NDP leadership in 2012.

"While this has been a common mistake by political campaigns, the CRTC has made it clear that automated calls must begin with a message identifying the person on whose behalf the call is made, including a mailing address and a local or toll-free number at which a representative of the originator of the message can be reached," Dewar said.

"I have taken responsibility, cooperated fully and agreed to a settlement with the CRTC. I have taken steps to ensure that any future automated calling by my office or my riding association proactively follows all the rules and regulations of the CRTC."

The CRTC also fined Strategic Communications Inc. $10,000 for an unrelated robocall matter.

[ Related: Federal court rules that fraudulent phone calls didn’t affect election outcomes, appeal possible ]

These are just the latest in a long list of robocall penalties doled out by the CRTC.

In April, the CRTC announced that they imposed penalties — totaling $369,000 — on the Federal Conservatives, the NDP, the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, the Alberta Wildrose Party, Liberal MP Marc Garneau, Conservative MP Blake Richards and Edmonton-based telemarketer RackNine Inc. for breaking federal robocall rules.

And last year, the federal Liberal riding association in Guelph was fined for "failing to identify on whose behalf the call was made; provide necessary call-back information; and display the originating telephone number or an alternate number where the originator could be reached"during a phone campaign in the 2011 election.

[ More Canadian Politics: Damning RCMP report says Senator Mac Harb’s home ‘uninhabitable’ ]

Stephen Taylor of the National Citizens Coalition says that it's all tough to take.

"Every time news breaks about the cynical manipulation of our democracy, Canadians lose faith in the system that protects our right to vote," he told Yahoo! Canada News.

He, and others, have also suggested that there's some media bias in the way these robocall stories are covered.

"When the application of the law and the resulting news coverage of these infractions skews disproportionately against one partisan stripe versus another, Canadians lose faith in the rule of law and in the "fourth estate" of our democracy," he told Yahoo!.

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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