Caledon candidates' flyers end up in the trash
Hundreds of election messages delivered to Canada Post for mailing have wound up in a Brampton car wash's garbage bins.

TheStar.com
Oct. 20, 2014
Jacques Gallant

When councillors running for re-election in Caledon delivered campaign material for mailing to Canada Post last week, they naturally expected the flyers to make their way into the mailboxes of the town's citizens.

They most certainly did not address any of the documents to a Brampton car wash, and yet, that's exactly where hundreds of the flyers ended up over the weekend — in the trash.

New Image Car Wash manager Adam Tassone said he found the discarded mail in his garbage bins on Sunday morning, including flyers for Peel Regional Councillor Patti Foley and Caledon town Councillor Rob Mezzapelli, as well as promotional material for real estate agent Rose Perdue and copies of Our Neighborhood, a Vaughan magazine.

“I have close to 3,000 pieces of mail in my garbage bin,” said Tassone, who contacted the candidates, the RCMP and Canada Post.

Canada Post spokeswoman Anick Losier said the Crown corporation is investigating. “While very rare, we take these incidents very, very seriously,” she said.

It is unclear who threw out the flyers, and there is no indication it was a Canada Post employee.

Doug Hacking, Metro Toronto national director for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, said it's possible a person was throwing away extra flyers, but acknowledged that the volume “sounds pretty high.” He said the union also takes the incident very seriously.

Foley said about 300 of her “campaign postcards” were found at the car wash. She said she personally delivered her entire mailing to a Canada Post facility on Oct. 14. She said the cost to mail the 300 flyers would have been about $40.

“The real loss is that by the time we discover which 300 homes did not receive them, the election will likely be over,” said Foley. “As a candidate, it's always your hope that every household will receive your message.”

Mezzapelli, who represents Ward 5 in Bolton, said he has notified Canada Post that about 850 of his postcards were trashed.

“It was important to me to have Bolton voters receive my postcards to assist them in deciding who to vote for. Approximately 850 will not receive this, which is unfortunate,” he said. “Voters should be empowered with as much information as possible from all candidates to help them determine who they wish to support.”

Foley said she does not believe that she and Mezzapelli were specifically targeted. Perdue, the realtor, said she just uses Canada Post and spends about $600 a week on delivery.

“This is very upsetting to say the least and I am hoping that this will get resolved and someone is held accountable for their unacceptable actions!” she wrote in an email to the Star.

Tassone's complaint to police was forwarded to Canada Post security and the RCMP will not be investigating at this time, said Jean Turner, the RCMP's acting media relations officer for Ontario.

Tassone uploaded surveillance footage to YouTube from Saturday evening, showing a person exiting a dark-coloured car at the outdoor vacuum island. The person, who is unidentifiable in the video, proceeds to drive to several vacuum islands on the video.

It is unclear in the footage if the person is actually throwing away flyers in the nearby bins. Tassone said the person is the only one who appears between the time Tassone was at the islands for cleaning, around 6:30 p.m., and the time his stepson went to the garbage bins around 10:30 p.m. and found the discarded flyers.