It was a news release from Campaign Life that trumpeted a new "poll" showing 56% of Canadians are against Henry Morgenthaler receiving the Order of Canada.
The odd bit came near the end of the release:
About KLRVU ResearchI have never heard of KLRVU Research. Ever. Considering I do work for a polling company and know who we compete with in our very limited marketplace, that's a little odd, isn't it?
Based in Winnipeg, KLRVU Research is a privately owned polling company
working with private firms since 2006 providing research services. Core
services include research, data collection and macro polling services.
Campaign Life Coalition, together with many other organizations, will
continue to urge Canadians to call the Governor General's office and insist
that the award be revoked.
A few other things piqued my interest. First, the poll surveyed more than 13,000 Canadians over five days. Since it would take a small army of telephone interviewers (and a small fortune) to conduct that many surveys in a night, the only way this survey could be done is by using a demon-dialer program. And sure enough, that's what Campaign Life did -- hitting more than 150,000 households over five nights with a cheap but largely unproven technology (at least as far as professional polling companies go).
Second, the survey contained a leading question. While I'm glad Campaign Life used "abortionist" instead of "baby killer" in its push poll of 13,000 Canadians, it was obviously written to get a certain result -- one I'd add that totally contradicts other polling on this issue.
Third, KLRVU does not have a contact name, just a number (204-999-7446), which I'm almost positive is a Winnipeg cellphone number. It's strange that a startup company wouldn't want to put a contact name at the bottom of the release. Wouldn't you want to get your name out there?
And here's where it gets really interesting.
An Ontario-based blogger called B.S. on this and brought it up. Someone did some split second sleuthing and discovered that the number is also being used by a local company called Laser Cut Designs. Someone else did some more sleuthing and found out that a couple named "Allan and Katherine" own said business. Someone else did even more digging and found out that "Katherine" is Katherine Bruinooge, sister-in-law of Winnipeg South Tory MP Rod Bruinooge -- who was front of the line to blast Morgenthaler's appointment earlier this month.
Is this true?
If someone on Team Bruinooge want to play with their demon-dialer toys for the benefit of paying clients, that's cool. But you'd think those close to a smart young pol oozing ambition (and who won his seat by the skin of his teeth) wouldn't hand their opponents such a large stick to beat them with.
Does this ring any bells?
OH-WATCH-THEM-FLAIL UPDATE: Other bloggers and observers of this "massive" and very strange poll have caught some other oddities, including KLRVU's snazzy-looking website that just went live a day or two ago. Turns out it was registered in the U.S. on July 20, two days before Campaign Life put a "massive" foot in it by releasing this poll.
Also of note: the bottom left-hand corner of the website says that KLRVU is a member of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA), the big Canadian industry association for pollsters, market researchers, etc. Problem is that according to the MRIA's membership list, they're not members. Maybe their cheque hasn't cleared or something, but I do know that someone has brought this to the MRIA's attention already.
Oh, and Survey USA might not be too happy with these guys when they discover this.
That's it - for now. I'm heading to the lake soon. If anyone is unlucky enough to be stuck in a newsroom on this beautiful summer weekend and looking for something to do, this might fill some space.
3 comments:
Allan and Rod are indeed brothers.
Allan is the owner of KLRVU. I actually called him up to check it.
They got their list of names from infocanada.ca (Not INFOLIST Canada), which is not in Toronto either but in Mississauga.
This is what Allan told me, and although the practise seems at least shady, it did sound like he was being at least honest about what he told me on the phone.
They did their phoning from 6-9 in the evening, a week long just before the news release came out.
KLRVU is planning to do some more of this kind of so-called polling for the Guelph election (? - sorry man, I'm in BC), so hold on tight!
Cheers.
One point of clarification. JJ, The Unrepentant Old Hippie, is a BC based blogger. She's done exceptional work on uncovering this sham.
Thnaks for your insights into this as well.
Good wokr on this one. I'll be interested to see if you get anything more when I come back from the lake.
Post a Comment