During the night of August 31, several Steven Trahan Conservative election signs were stolen from locations in Mattawa, Callander, and Corbeil.
Overall, “ten of our larger signs and steel posts were removed” that night, explained Tom Fletcher, Trahan’s campaign manager in a release.
Most of these signs were adjacent to campaign signs from other candidates, “but none of the other election signs were damaged or removed,” he said.
“One large sign was spray painted with a slur against our candidate.”
A member of the campaign’s sign team noticed the missing signs while working in the Corbeil and Callander area. Soon after, a call came in mentioning signs were also missing in Mattawa.
“More than twenty smaller signs also were removed overnight,” Fletcher explained, adding that the loss amounts to over $600, “not including the time and effort required to install them.”
Tampering with election signs is an offence, and “the matter has been reported to the OPP and they are investigating,” Fletcher clarified.
Fletcher also noted that one of the larger signs “was stolen right from the lawn of a senior citizen in Corbeil.”
“There is no place for these tactics in our campaigns.”
“This was a coordinated effort,” Fletcher said. “Someone wants to change the momentum of the campaign in Nipissing-Timiskaming, and they are committing political crimes, ripping out our election signs in the night.”
