Michael Sona robocalls trial told he discussed voter suppression

A former friend of Michael Sona testified he overheard the former Conservative staffer talking about voter suppression tactics, and advised him it wouldn't be smart to use them, the witness told a trial in Guelph, Ont.,

Sona faces the single charge of wilfully preventing or endeavouring to prevent a voter from casting a ballot, in the so-called robocalls case related to automated calls made during the 2011 federal election.

Chris Crawford, Sona's former roommate who worked with Sona on the campaign of Conservative candidate Marty Burke in Guelph in 2011, testified he heard Sona talking to campaign manager Ken Morgan late one night.

Crawford said Sona and Morgan were close, and that he remembers Sona talking to Morgan ‎about voter suppression tactics like making late-night phone calls claiming to be on behalf of an opposing party, or to direct them to the wrong polling station.

But he says he didn't think much of it at the time.

"In campaigns you often hear yammering on about different things and you don't think these things will actually happen. You give people the benefit of the doubt," Crawford said.

Crawford had to reread two parts of his statement to an Elections Canada investigator to refresh his memory. He made the statement March 6, 2012, 10 months after the mysterious misleading robocall was made and after an initial flood of media reports about the investigation.

Crawford said he later told Sona that voter suppression is "something I wouldn't think was smart to do." He said Sona didn't say much in response.

During the cross-examination, Sona's lawyer, Norm Boxall, asked whether Crawford recalled Sona saying he agreed with or approved of voter suppression tactics. Crawford said he didn't remember Sona saying anything like that, and agreed with Boxall that there was no suggestion that Sona or anyone else on the campaign would use the tactics.

"No, no," Crawford said.

Crawford agreed that many Canadian Conservatives look to the U.S. for strategies. Crawford himself has gone to the Conservative Political Action Conference, he confirmed.

Sona and Crawford lived together when both were Conservative Party interns in 2009.

Crawford was in charge of canvassing in Guelph for the Conservatives' 2011 campaign.

The other witnesses for the Crown include Sona's colleagues from that campaign and from Parliament Hill. The prosecutor says they're expected to say that Sona bragged about the misleading robocalls.

The witnesses will also include:

John White, who worked on Conservative candidate Marty Burke's campaign as chair of the get-out-the-vote effort.

Matt McBain, who worked at Conservative Party headquarters during the 2011 election.

Matt Meier, who owns RackNine, an automated calling service used to make the misleading calls.

Chris Rougier, who was in charge of voter relations at the Conservative Party.

The most important witness in the Crown's case may be Andrew Prescott, the campaign's deputy and a friend of Sona's. Prescott signed an immunity agreement to protect him from whatever testimony he provides.

Prescott handled IT issues for the campaign and was the campaign's main contact with RackNine, the Edmonton-based company behind the services used to make the automated calls.

He is expected to testify Tuesday or Wednesday, followed by four witnesses who worked for the Conservative Party or for Conservative MPs on Parliament Hill.

The trial is to last eight days.

Sona has always said he had nothing to do with the calls, but faces up to five years in prison if convicted of the single charge.

Sona, 22 at the time of the campaign, was the director of communications for Burke.

Burke's campaign manager, Ken Morgan, moved to Kuwait in the months after the election and isn't expected to be back in Guelph to testify.

While hundreds of people outside Guelph also complained about misleading or harassing robocalls, a report by Elections Canada later found that there wasn't enough evidence to support the idea of a co-ordinated campaign to suppress the vote across the country.