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Earlier Thursday, Jenni Byrne, the party’s campaign manager, issued a statement denying any connection. “The Conservative Party of Canada ran a clean and ethical campaign and would never tolerate such activity,” she said.

“The party was not involved with these calls and if anyone on a local campaign was involved they will not play a role in a future campaign.”

The Conservatives appear to be preparing to blame the calls on a young campaign worker.

As Postmedia reported, they have launched their own internal investigation, led by Arthur Hamilton, a Toronto lawyer.

A Conservative-friendly media organization cited two anonymous Conservative party sources and reported that a staff member who had worked on the campaign of Guelph, Ont., Conservative candidate Marty Burke was a person of interest to the investigation.

The Sun News website ran a photograph of a Burke campaign worker, Michael Sona, standing next to Harper at what appears to be a campaign event, claiming he was being investigated by the party in relation to the calls. The photo is credited to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Sona, 23, served as Burke’s communications director during the campaign and is now an executive assistant to rookie Conservative MP Eve Adams on Parliament Hill.

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Postmedia News contacted Sona earlier this week and asked him a series of questions about the robocalls, but he did not respond.

Sona was not in Adams’ office on Thursday afternoon. Asked if he would be returning, another staffer said, “Maybe.”