Just a few days after Montreal's municipal election campaign officially started, some politicians are dealing with vandalized campaign signs.
In the borough of Ile Bizard-Sainte Genevieve on the West Island, three billboards belonging to Team Coderre have been defaced with spraypainted messages denouncing centralization, real estate development and corruption.
Team Coderre's candidate for borough mayor, Eric Dugas, says he has filed a police report and ordered replacement signs, but he is in no hurry to replace the vandalized ones. He says the vandalism reflects badly on his opponents and their supporters.
"They talk by themselves," he says of the vandalized signs. "People that did politics a bit, they always say that you never give a second life to a sign. Now by doing that, the people who did this, they are giving a second life to these signs. And people are talking about it."
"People are not proud of that. They're looking at it and they're saying that's not a way to express your ideas."
Dugas was an opposition councillor last term and this time is running for borough mayor against incumbent Normand Marinacci, who this election is representing Projet Montreal.