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“I think it’s deplorable, those types of tactics. I’ve spent my life trying to get people to participate more in the political process, for them to vote more, and the fact that people are trying to work in the opposite direction is deplorable,” Manning said.

He said the most important issue is to determine how to end unethical vote-suppression tactics, be it by robocalls or any other form. Manning says stricter surveillance by Elections Canada and campaign managers is one option but ethical training of campaign workers is probably more effective.

Manning said it would also be wrong to point the finger solely at the Conservative party, even though the Elections Canada investigation is largely centered on the Tory campaign in Guelph, Ont.

“Fingers are always pointing at everybody. I think the bigger worry is that these technologies are available to all political people and you will have rogues in your organizations that might employ those technologies,” he said.

“I think it should be a concern to everybody and you can find illustrations of people who play close to the edge in every political party.”

The robocall controversy is continuing to erode public confidence in their politicians, Manning said, as his centre released new polling numbers on the state of politics and the conservative movement in Canada.

The online poll of 2,067 Canadians, conducted Feb. 10 to Feb. 20, found only one per cent of respondents have a very favourable opinion toward politicians, while 58 per cent said politicians are unprincipled.