Will Canada have its own election debacle like Florida in the 2000 US presidential race, or Ohio in 2004?

A "vote mob", availing of Wednesday's special ballot at the University of Guelph was unceremoniously interrupted when Michael Sona -- communications director for Guelph Conservative candidate Marty Burke -- attempted to confiscate the ballot box.

From the Guelph Mercury:

“[Sona] tried to grab for the ballot box. I’m not sure he got his hand on the box, but he definitely grabbed for it,” said Brenna Anstett, a student, who at the time of the reported incident was sealing her second of two envelopes containing her vote.

Student Claire Whalen was just about to receive her ballot just before 5 p.m. when the episode unfolded.

“That’s when a guy came up and said it was an illegal polling station and that he was confiscating the ballots. And then he tried to take (the ballot box),” Whalen said.

Sona alleged that "partisan election material was present" at the special ballot.

The Conservative Party of Canada is demanding Elections Canada not add any of the votes collected during the U of G session to the final tally of votes in the Guelph riding.

The Conservatives have every right to lodge this objection if they feel -- and have proof -- that anything improper occurred at a special ballot.

No one, however, has the right to confiscate a ballot box filled with ballots.

Looks like those "unqualified '25-year-old jihadis'" Bob Rae spoke about in February are no urban myth, but are actively prowling polling stations.

This incident has the stench of election chicanery perfected by American conservatives, first in 2000, when tens of thousands of likely Democratic voters were disenfranchised in the state of Florida and again in 2004 in Ohio.

The result, as the wakeful world knows, was George W. Bush being handed the presidency -- which he did not win -- by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000 and by hacked voting machines in 2004.

In true Conservative form, the Republican party accused the Democrats of seeking to steal the 2004 election, which ushered in the use of voting machines manufactured by Diebold.

In a fall 2003 fundraising letter sent to Republicans, from Diebold CEO Walden O'Dell: "I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president."

E-voting machine maker Diebold is based in North Canton, Ohio.

John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, promised supporters that if any questionable vote counting activity occurred in Ohio, he would push for an investigation.

Suspicious voting activity did occur, as feared, and in predictable, Democrat form, John Kerry welched on his promise, caved in and did not call for an investigation. That would have taken character, conviction and courage, three things sorely lacking throughout the Democratic party.

The documentary Hacking Democracy outlines very clearly how easily Diebold voting machines in the US can be manipulated, skewing election results.

So, will we see the same pattern occur in Canada this election cycle?

Will the Conservatives pull similar stunts, as they have already in Guelph, elsewhere in the country?

Will we see a Harper majority skate into office under dubious circumstances?

Will Harper then use his majority government to bring electronic voting machines into Canadian elections, citing them as the only safe way to vote?

Will a Harper crony receive the voting machine contract?

Stephen Harper certainly seeks to emulate his Republican counterparts south of the border. Were he prime minister in 2003, Canadian forces would be part of the military debacle and morally indefensible quagmire that is the Iraq War.

Stephen Harper is so enamored with The American Way, he seems to have no problem selling out Canadian sovereignty to the U.S. at every opportunity.

U.S., Canada may share troops in civil emergencies

The American obsession with security has reached new heights of paranoia, with the Harper government's quiet acquiescence

Harper Government effectively privatizes Canada's water

So, why wouldn't the Harper Government emulate (proven) American tactics for stealing elections?

Stephen Harper is Canada's Richard Nixon. He's got the thin skin, a perpetual bunker mentality, contempt for the voting public, contempt for democracy, a tenuous relationship with the truth, lust for increasing the national debt and a coward's bravado when speaking of the subject of war.

If Canada were to ever have a scandal similar to Nixon's Watergate imbroglio, it would occur under Stephen Harper.