Though that event could certainly still happen in the future - and at that point the implication would be true.

On the off chance that you're not trolling: this is why people tend to end their conversations with you by wincing in agony and shouting, "Oh, fuck you."

Normally it goes like this: [...] the runner-up is declared winner.

The most likely scenario is that a by-election would be called.

Who profited from this? So far it seems the Liberals have...

Sabotage your own candidates in close races so that, a year later, they might get to run again in a by-election? I've accused the Liberals of not really wanting to win, but that's ridiculous.

but the phone was registered to a pierre poutine of separist street Quebec - would the Conservatives do that?

The person who registered the burner phone was a bit of an ass, apparently. I used to know a Tiny Tory who would have loved that joke — not that I'd want to help anyone pin this multi-riding scheme on poor old alleged ballot box toucher Michael Sona, who's terrible at looking innocent but incorrectly placed to have masterminded the scheme.

If you're calling someone a liar who has not in fact lied...

The implication was that Ignatieff had returned to the United States following his failed leadership stint. Since he hasn't, really, the implication was false.

After the Conservatives were convicted, the NDP settled and repaid.

Did the NDP blow anywhere near as much hot air in denying any wrongdoing as the Conservatives did? Conservatives and their supporters were carrying on about Elections Canada being out to get them, and how dare anyone question the propriety of their practices... basically the same tone that they're taking now.

Which happened under the previous Liberal administration.

A lot of high-handed and infuriating stuff happened under the previous Liberal administration, and eventually they got stuck with the "arrogant and corrupt" label and lost. (They also collapsed due to petty leadership infighting.)

Ever heard the tale of the boy who cried wolf?

Yeah, at the end, it turns out that there was a wolf, and it ate all of the town's sheep.

What are Canadians smoking?

Incumbency, plus the major opposition party sabotaging itself with infighting in the last two elections ("Wahh, I don't want to win if he's the leader.").

That said, we will kick a party out based on a corruption scandal â" if we can find a replacement. As much as I'd enjoy an NDP/Green coalition, what's really going to happen, eventually, is that the Liberals will recover with an electable leader and sell the concept of the Conservatives as arrogant and corrupt. I think Rae could do it absent punditry spending the whole campaign declaring him unelectable, but that's like saying that an empty balloon would float if it had helium in it.

Odd, cause the NDP were fessing up to it according to the National Post.

Rae was NDP back when he was premier of Ontario, but he's federal Liberal leader now.

...none of the parties are looking that great lately...

I certainly hope you're not trying to put the Vickileaks Twitter prank, a protest against the provisions of Bill C-30, in the same category as scumbag election tampering. One hurt the feelings of a cabinet minister who'd just called everyone who didn't support his stupid bill child molesters; the other was an attempt to stop people from voting.

I really wish they'd do something more productive.

The Conservative agenda proceeds apace, with an austerity budget — hey, everyone's doing it, great excuse to gut the public sector — out in a week or so.

A committee will get formed that, after lengthy discussion...

It's worth noting that Elections Canada is investigating, and they have burned the Conservatives before (on the so called "in-and-out" campaign spending limit violations). This won't go away entirely based on a committee of politicians meeting in camera and deciding that everything's dandy.

We have dozens of parties!

Orientation note for foreigners: it's really more like three or four.

And with so many calls, has there been any attempt to cross-reference them with phone logs to try to figure out where the calls originated from?

Oh, yes. The most hilarious detail is a burner phone registered to "Pierre Poutine, Separatist Street, Joliette Quebec." It's one of our best/worst political scandals in a generation.