- 注册
- 2002-10-07
- 消息
- 402,194
- 荣誉分数
- 76
- 声望点数
- 0
Bylaw officers started to pull illegal election signs on Monday that recently surfaced in at least two ridings in an attempt to prevent Stephen Harper’s Conservatives from winning in ridings with tight races.
Sue Jones, the city’s acting deputy manager, said they received one phone call from a Kanata resident about the yellow signs bearing the words, “Have you thought of voting strategically? This is the time!”
“Now that I’m aware of these and concerned about non-compliance over the weekend, bylaw officers will be pulling these signs,” Jones said.
Jones said only registered political parties and registered candidates can put up signs on public property. It it against Ottawa’s bylaw regulating signs on city streets for third-party signs to be placed during an election.
The owner of the signs can get them back at a cost of $50 per sign, Jones said. There can be a fine of up to $5,000 but Jones said the fastest way to get compliance is to pull them.
Elections Canada said campaign signs must state that they are authorized by a third party. It is an offence to remove, cover up, alter of deface a candidate’s sign.
Kanata resident Keith Selevich said the yellow signs in Kanata did not say who authorized them, which violates the city’s bylaw and the Elections Act.
Selevich was walking his dog on Sunday near Beaverbrook and Teron roads when he saw a man loading the yellow signs into the back of his white truck.
Since Selevich wasn’t sure if the man was allowed to do that, he pulled out his phone to record him removing the signs and replacing at least one with a Conservative Walter Pamic sign.
Selevich said he realized the man in the truck was actually Pamic himself before he confronted the Kanata-Carleton candidate about removing the signs.
“They are illegal signs. They are not authorized by any third party,” the man told Selevich in an exchange caught on video. “All the other signs are authorized and these are not.”
Repeated attempts to reach Pamic on Monday were unsuccessful.
Even though the strategic voting signs are illegal, it is the responsibility of the city’s bylaw officers to take them down, Selevich argued.
Meanwhile, in the Orléans riding where Liberal candidate Andrew Leslie is leading in the race against Conservative incumbent Royal Galipeau, similar signs have surfaced.
Roger Clark, an activist with the Ottawa Action Network, said his group is behind the signs that read, “Vote strategically to defeat Harper.” He said he doesn’t know who erected the ones in Kanata.
Clark said he didn’t know the signs were illegal until someone pointed out to him last week that they might contravene the city’s bylaw.
“It’s certainly not that we set out to break the law,” Clark said. “I think there is an ambiguity in the legality there.”
mhurley@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/meghan_hurley
查看原文...
Sue Jones, the city’s acting deputy manager, said they received one phone call from a Kanata resident about the yellow signs bearing the words, “Have you thought of voting strategically? This is the time!”
“Now that I’m aware of these and concerned about non-compliance over the weekend, bylaw officers will be pulling these signs,” Jones said.
Jones said only registered political parties and registered candidates can put up signs on public property. It it against Ottawa’s bylaw regulating signs on city streets for third-party signs to be placed during an election.
The owner of the signs can get them back at a cost of $50 per sign, Jones said. There can be a fine of up to $5,000 but Jones said the fastest way to get compliance is to pull them.
Elections Canada said campaign signs must state that they are authorized by a third party. It is an offence to remove, cover up, alter of deface a candidate’s sign.
Kanata resident Keith Selevich said the yellow signs in Kanata did not say who authorized them, which violates the city’s bylaw and the Elections Act.
Selevich was walking his dog on Sunday near Beaverbrook and Teron roads when he saw a man loading the yellow signs into the back of his white truck.
Since Selevich wasn’t sure if the man was allowed to do that, he pulled out his phone to record him removing the signs and replacing at least one with a Conservative Walter Pamic sign.
Selevich said he realized the man in the truck was actually Pamic himself before he confronted the Kanata-Carleton candidate about removing the signs.
“They are illegal signs. They are not authorized by any third party,” the man told Selevich in an exchange caught on video. “All the other signs are authorized and these are not.”
Repeated attempts to reach Pamic on Monday were unsuccessful.
Even though the strategic voting signs are illegal, it is the responsibility of the city’s bylaw officers to take them down, Selevich argued.
Meanwhile, in the Orléans riding where Liberal candidate Andrew Leslie is leading in the race against Conservative incumbent Royal Galipeau, similar signs have surfaced.
Roger Clark, an activist with the Ottawa Action Network, said his group is behind the signs that read, “Vote strategically to defeat Harper.” He said he doesn’t know who erected the ones in Kanata.
Clark said he didn’t know the signs were illegal until someone pointed out to him last week that they might contravene the city’s bylaw.
“It’s certainly not that we set out to break the law,” Clark said. “I think there is an ambiguity in the legality there.”
mhurley@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/meghan_hurley
查看原文...
