With the B.C. provincial election mere days away, a spate of sign vandalism has caused angst among some of the Vernon-Lumby MLA candidates.
Incumbent NDP candidate Harwinder Sandhu has expressed numerous times her displeasure with not only sign defacing, but "racist and misogynistic slurs."
"Throughout this campaign, my signs have been targeted and vandalized," she said. "This must end. I will not be intimidated and I will continue to stand up and fight for what is right."
Sandhu explained that when she was elected in 2020, she was the target of hateful and misogynist graffiti.
"This election, I have also received hateful racist messages and vandalism," she added. "I have reported these incidents to police and will continue to work with them so the perpetrators are held accountable."
In a video published to her Facebook page on Sunday, Oct. 13, Sandhu showed a "dump spot" on Old Kamloops Road where over 50 of her signs were discarded.
"This is a federal crime, and I am going to report to RCMP," she said. "I am going to speak up against this, not only for my campaign, but for everyone.
Independent candidate Kevin Acton has also had his signs vandalized, however, he brought a different tone.
"I love the alterations to my sign, whoever did this," he said, after snapping a picture of a sign affixed with googly eyes. "I had to pull over I was laughing so hard when I saw this. It91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s definitely staying."
Acton said later that the eyes have since been removed, as "I think it (the vandalism) backfired on them." He also has since made the googly eyes sign his cover photo on Facebook.
Conservative candidate Dennis Giesbrecht acknowledged that a "certain amount of vandalism is expected during every election."
"Our volunteers head out to repair the damages as soon as we are aware," he said. "We have seen this (to our signs) as well."
Saturday, Oct. 19 is election day.
