Candidates spar over sign vandalism

By Dan Hilborn
Published May 4, 2005


The four B.C. Liberal candidates in Burnaby held a news conference on Monday morning to point to the growing problem of vandalism against election signs.

Standing amid a pile of damaged signs, MLAs John Nuraney, Harry Bloy, Richard Lee and Patty Sahota gathered at a city-owned property near Burnaby Central secondary to claim that their signs are being targeted by vandals.

"This is my third election and I've never seen such devastation before," said Nuraney, who noted that about 70 Liberal signs were torn down on one night over the weekend, resulting in about $2,000 total damage to signs in the four city ridings.

"This does not augur well for our democracy," Nuraney said. "This is not the kind of message we want to teach our children. We live in a democratic country and these kinds of things only happen in socialist militant countries.

"Another astonishing factor is it's only the Liberal signs that were destroyed," Nuraney said.

On Global TV News on Monday night, the four NDP candidates in Burnaby said their signs have also been damaged, and they questioned the Liberals' motives in holding the press conference.

The comments also prompted DRBC deputy leader Tony Kuo to issue his own news release chastising the Liberals for ignoring the real issues in this campaign.

"Do the four B.C. Liberals in Burnaby have no shame in trying to get media sympathy for their loss of lawn signs," said a press release issued by Kuo just three hours after the press conference.

"How come did they not cry for sympathy in the pain and suffering for all the cuts in the Burnaby Hospital, all Burnaby schools and all Burnaby senior citizen care homes. Are lawn signs more important than seniors, students and lives," Kuo asked in the release. "Stop the crocodile tears by this pathetic Burnaby B.C. Liberal candidate team. Get your priorities straight."

Sign damage has been a recurring problem during election campaigns in Burnaby for many years and, in the lead-up to the 2001 provincial vote, the NDP and Liberal candidates in Burnaby North - Lee and Pietro Calendino - held a rare joint press conference to ask the public to leave the signs alone.