Just hours after his election signs went up, B.C. Conservative candidate John Wilson was picking some of them out of trash bins and blackberry bushes.
Wilson isn’t alone.
Last week, Debra Toporowski, an NDP candidate in the Cowichan Valley, had her face cut out of a large sign placed along a busy road.
Days after the writ was dropped for British Columbia’s 43rd general election, candidate signs started sprouting like mushrooms — followed by incidents of vandalism, graffiti and outright destruction.
“It’s disheartening,” said Wilson, owner of bus company Wilson’s Transportation, who hopes to secure the Esquimalt-Colwood seat for the B.C. Conservatives in his first foray into politics.
“People have the opportunity on Oct. 19 to cast their democratic vote, but when people ruin and remove your signs, they’re basically telling people how they should vote. And I don’t think that’s right.”
Elections B.C. said it often receives complaints about vandalism to signs, but does not collect data on the number in any given election, although it urges candidates to report any vandalism to local police forces.
Cpl. Alex Bérubé, media liaison officer for the RCMP Island Division, said vandalism to an election sign would be no different than damage to any property that does not belong to you.
“Mischief to property could and should be reported to the police,” said Bérubé, adding the RCMP does not keep statistics specifically on damage to election signs.
Wilson said he’s spent about $10,000 for election signs for the campaign. Though Elections BC said restoring damaged election signs does not affect election-expense limits, Wilson said collecting and replacing them takes valuable time during the 30-day campaign.
According to Elections B.C., expense limits for this year’s provincial election are $5.074 million for political parties, $71,700 for individual candidates and $3,708 for third-party election advertisers per electoral district.
Figuring out where to put election signs can also be tricky. The province has general sign rules for elections, while many of the capital region’s 13 municipalities have bylaws governing where candidates can place signs.
View Royal, for example, passed new rules in a bylaw in July that ban election signs on any public property, including roadsides and parks, to reduce what it called “visual clutter and minimize plastic waste.”
This week, several candidates had to remove signs that were too close to the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre in View Royal.
The View Royal bylaw says while signs are allowed on private land, they can’t obstruct traffic sightlines, overhang public property or be within two feet of a roadway.
Under provincial rules, election signs can be placed on provincial highways, provided they don’t obstruct traffic-control devices or pose a hazard. Bridges, tunnels and overpasses are off limits.
And there are no-sign zones, including along highways within provincial parks.
Signs are also not allowed on certain sections of highways in the province, including Island locations such as Highway 19 to the Duke Point Ferry Terminal and along the Nanaimo Parkway.
Highway 19 from Parksville to Campbell River is also off limits for election signs.
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