More than 20 Liberal election signs destroyed in Nobleton
'These things are not acceptable anymore and it is exactly why people get turned off with politics'

Yorkregion.com
May 22, 2018
Laura Finney

Marilyn Iafrate, Liberal Party candidate for the King-Vaughan riding, spent Monday morning replacing 23 signs that had been broken in Nobleton.

“There was not one Marilyn Iafrate sign left anywhere,” she said.

She was alerted to the damage by members of the Nobleton community on May 19. She estimates the signs were destroyed the night before. 

“I am disappointed because it's 2018, whoever is going around doing this, this is the stuff they used to do from the Old Boys Club days,” she said. “These things are not acceptable anymore and it is exactly why people get turned off with politics. It’s stupid, it’s absolutely unnecessary and I don’t know why people still engage in this kind of nonsense.”

She has not reported the damage to the police, she said.

She was able to replace the signs before the Nobleton Victoria Day event, which featured an appearance from Doug Ford.

Iafrate tweeted photos of the damage on Sunday.

“Another 20 signs slashed and destroyed and all PC signs untouched in Nobleton just in time for Doug Ford's visit today ... something to think about,” she said in the tweet.

Stephen Lecce, the Progressive Conservative candidate for the King-Vaughn riding, tweeted about the incident.

“This is unacceptable and something we must all condemn in a competitive, democratic election,” he said. “We have also been dealing with the destruction of our signs and will report vandalism of any political party materials to police."

Other candidates in the riding have also condemned the destruction.

Roman Evtukh from the Trillium Party said he noticed “obvious vandalism” to the Liberal Party signs.

“The signs were cut off the sticks with what looks like a utility knife. This is an unfortunate and unacceptable, in my opinion, behaviour,” he said, adding the vandalism was only in Nobleton.

“This is not how you get a message across and certainly doesn't help the cause,” said Yan Simkin from the Ontario Libertarian Party.

Green Party candidate Greg Locke said he was sad when he heard about the incident. While he has not experienced vandalism this election, he said he has in a previous municipal election.