Two Kelowna, B.C., civic election candidates are speaking out after it was reported that campaign signs in the city were being severely damaged.
Mayoral candidate Tom Dyas’ team sent photos to Global News that showed vandalized signs belonging to council candidates Mohini Singh, Anthony Shephard, Susan Ames, Davis Kyle, and several others.
“The screws have been removed on them, and they’ve been kind of dismantled, more so than somebody just cracking them or breaking the actual signs,” explained mayoral candidate, Tom Dyas.
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Dyas says he and his campaign team spent hours driving around Kelowna, fixing signs of all candidates that had been damaged. He says he also received a report of a suspicious vehicle seen damaging election signs.
“One situation, there’s a sign outside someone’s house, a large sign and a truck pulled up and put a yellow flashing light on top of it, and then they started to dismantle the sign also so that’s a little different than a sign just being knocked over,” said Dyas.
One Kelowna city councillor who’s seeking re-election says while this is something that isn’t uncommon when election time approaches, it directly impacts the candidates.
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“It is so wrong,” expressed councillor Mohini Singh.
“These signs are so expensive. In fact, my signs — I’ve had a whole bunch of new signs printed this year, and its taken up my entire budget.”
Singh says she is concerned about the dismantled signs having an impact on the election itself.
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“If say my signs are damaged and are not visible, then to people I’m not top of mind,” said Singh.
“So by damaging someone’s signs, you actually take away their chances at the polls because people don’t see their signs.”
Global News reached out to the Kelowna RCMP for comment, but have not received a response.