On Thursday afternoon, I received the video above from a source who requested anonymity in return for sharing it with me. You can quibble with my decision to accept those terms but, as the video shows an apparent breach of the Canada Elections Act, I thought it worth putting on the record.
The video was shot outside the rue de Charleroi campaign office for Emmanuel Dubourg, the Liberal candidate in the Montreal North riding of Bourassa. What it shows is two individuals removing an NDP election sign placed on a pole outside Dubourg’s office. This particular election sign from the NDP criticizes Dubourg for accepting a $100,000 taxpayer-funded severance after he quit Quebec’s National Assembly to run for the federal seat. This is what the poster looked like:
A spokesperson for the Dubourg campaign, Jean Lapierre (no, not that Jean Lapierre), confirmed late Thursday that Dubourg campaign manager Pierre Lajeunesse had the sign removed.
Lapierre told me that the Conservatives in Bourassa had also placed one of their signs in the same spot and that that sign had been removed.
As for the NDP sign — Lapierre said Lajeunesse telephoned the NDP campaign first thing in the morning Wednesday to ask the campaign of Stephan Moraille to remove the sign. Lapierre said Lajeunesse was put on hold for 15 minutes and was not able to speak to anyone. He subsequently left a message and then had the sign removed.
The NDP say they have had 100 elections signs disappear during this campaign and have filed a complaint with Elections Canada presumably alleging violations of Section 325 of the Act.
The Conservatives have also complained about disappearing signs in Bourassa and Lapierre said the Dubourg campaign has also experienced incidents of signs disappearing.
So why did Lajeunesse want the sign in this video removed? Lapierre said it was because the sign — which might have been three feet wide by 2 feet tall — was blocking light from coming in to the office.
And yet, as these pictures, posted to the Twitter account of a Liberal Party of Canada organizer show, it appears posters of Dubourg had already been plastered over the front window thereby blocking light coming in to the office. You can just make out the pole where the NDP sign would have been hung outside the window to the left.
Le comité électoral du #PLC dans #Bourassa est à pleine capacité. pic.twitter.com/SZRqCeiS8F
— Marie-Lo Lapointe (@mlo_la) November 4, 2013
Nos téléphonistes font du travail remarquable. #Bourassa #PLC pic.twitter.com/ypAS2mHL23
— Marie-Lo Lapointe (@mlo_la) November 4, 2013
This is very surprising….and worrying. What are the consequences of this kind of behavior ?
The Liberals are acting sleazy……and you find it very surprising?
I find that very surprising.
A great sign – no wonder the Liberals wanted it removed!
The slogan at the bottom says “Nothing too much for the privileged class” – a reminder of the elitism, patronage, and profound sense of entitlement of the Liberals.
Nothing new. The Tories were vandalizing Liberal signs during the last Federal election, and getting pretty nasty about it too.
And – at least 50 Liberal signs were removed by the Wildrose party during a Calgary by-election. Police found them dumped in a park.
Possibly this sign was too close to the office.
It’s one sign, David – and it wasn’t destroyed, just moved. You’re making a mountain out of your partisan molehill.
If that had been a Conservative doing this, the Liberals would have been all over him. Liberals do think they can do anything they want with no repercussions. Thank you Mr. Akin.
Partisan = anyone who disagrees with the Liberal Party of Canada.
Non Partisan = anyone who agrees with the Liberal Party of Canada.
BS demystified. 😉
I’d think putting a boot on the sign and then folding it smaller kinda wrecked it.
Too close to the office isn’t an excuse; still not allowable under the Elections Act.
Ah, the sleaze of party politics. Not exactly news.
But seriously Mr. Akin – offering anonymity to a partisan? Really? All political parties aren’t exactly known for ethics in the large, although they are very good at chasing government cheques.
Is the video – edited and shot by a communications undergrad in ‘upskirt’ fashion – the future of Canadian journalism?
This looks very much like entrapment. It certainly looks as though whoever put the sign up expected and wanted to have the Liberal candidate’s staff remove it. Otherwise, why set up an expensive concealed stakeout and staff it for and extended time it in order to gain some damaging footage to pass along to SUN T.V?
If I were a judge in this case I’d look very hard at the motives of the people who made the film. It’s illegal in Ontario to put up campaign signs nearer than 100 feet from an all-candidates meeting, for example. It would stand to reason that there should be a front-step buffer zone for a candidate’s office.
Hmmm…Did Akin ask this anonymous NDP videographer why they had set up their camera to record the front of the Liberal office, seemingly for hours on end? What was the NDP trying to do here?
Even more disturbing, why was the sleazy, massively disrespectful NDP tactic of posting an offensive sign right in front of the Liberal office, not even questioned in this column? It was a deliberate provocation, followed up by a video camera that was stationed to try to catch its removal.
Sleazy, typical NDP tactics, abetted by Akin’s “reporting”. This is in the arena of entrapment. I can sympathize with the desire to remove such a provocation. Such is the new way of doing politics under angry Tom Mulcair, I guess. They can’t win on their own merits, so best to engage in sleazy attacks like this?
As we’ve seen in Toronto, video footage of crimes being committed aren’t proof enough to allow for criminal charges.
Perhaps if the parties would stop openly provoking each other with sleazy, mischievous sign placements in front of opponents’ offices, this kind of thing wouldn’t happen.
Actually, it was reported that other political parties’ signs had been vandalized and been taken down in the area. So why would it be that much of a shock that a political party would film to see who was removing their costly signs? I mean think about it for a minute. If you and other candidates were spending money & time putting up signs only to have another party systematically remove them & destroy them, but cannot provide proof as to who it was, would you not set up a video camera to find out who? I certainly would. At the end of the day, they should not have been removing, or in some circumstances destroying other candidates signs.
“This is in the arena of entrapment”
Entrapment is an American legal concept. Vandalism is still a Canadian concept. Regardless who took down the sign, its vandalism.
This is stupid. The NDP clearly put the sign there with the intention of having it removed, and they waited there so they could capture the video. Why don’t think try winning on actual issues or the truth. For example, Mulcair took the same kind of payment that Dubourg did. I’m tired of the NDP always claiming ethical high ground and then being as sleazy as any other party.
Side note: Akin, don’t be a puppet in the NDP’s machinations. LCD politics.
It’s pathetic that partisans would turn this around on the NDP. Ongoing vandalism and theft of signs is undemocratic and deplorable. To get evidence of this is a natural and commendable reaction. If one party has to censor others to hide from their record their mandate is not legitimate. How about trying to win power by providing good government and not being a bunch of sleazy thieves.
I used to like David Akin…he is stooping now!
You made a big mistake, David.
Never criticize the Liberal party – which is the natural governing party – that is entitled to all the entitlements and in a very competitive race with the Conservatives as to which is more corrupt and privileged: they are self-styled progressives, don’t you know?
Shame on the NDP. Planting both a sign and a person to record the removal of the sign shows desperation, and tactics employed by the conservatives. I guess if you can’t run in a fair election on your policies, stooping to dirty tricks like the conservatives robocalling, makes you a party that isn’t really out working for the people you represent.
The Liberals were the only Party actually ‘convicted’ of robo-calling in the last Federal election. The CPC’s were accused, but no conviction. Try again.
If you think only certain parties stoop to dirty tricks. You need to get your head out of the sand. They ALL do it
Not all that surprising. During the last Federal election I was going by a corner where 2 people were putting up the Liberal candidate’s sign. There were already an NDP, Conservative and Green Party sign at this corner. When I went by two hours later, the NDP and Conservative signs were gone.
DIRTY POLITICS
Clearly NDP has setup the game knowing very well this guy office is there and also taking time to sit in a car to film this stupid video. If it was me I would remove the sign in front of my office. People vote for people who play fair and focus on real topics and not do stupid pranks or waste our tax money in these silly issues. Get a LIFE and do your job for the community!
DQ them both from the election. PERIOD.
Moving on.
“This particular election sign from the NDP criticizes Dubourg for accepting a $100,000 taxpayer-funded severance after he quit Quebec’s National Assembly to run for the federal seat.”
Funny how the Liberal supporters making comments rag on the NDPers for putting up the sign. But make no comments on what the sign was about which is being Entitled to their Entitlements
Do we get into a station where we post signs in your opponents space? Courtesy please.
Obnoxious of the NDP to post it there and of course they just happen to be filming nearby. The Libs may have contravened the law but they were clearly set up.
I challenge the Liberals to post a sign at the NDP office and then I dare the NDP to leave it up. #notgoingtohappen
my my what are the Liberals up to? Acting like the Conservatives
AS a former NDP Campaign Manager I recognize a setup when I see it. Given where the pole is, (ie. touching or very nearly touching the front glass of the Liberal campaign.) I hope the NDP are stupid enough to pursue this further. To their credit I doubt they will.