‘Disrespectful and stupid': BSOM candidates condemn sign vandalism

Hamilton Spectator

02-05-2025

On election day, an X is supposed to be used to endorse a candidate. This week, it was used to negate one.
Sometime Sunday night or Monday morning, a number of signs belonging to Rose Zacharias, the Liberal candidate for Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medont, were spray-painted with a large blue X across both sides.
Oro-Medonte Coun. John Bard sent BarrieToday an email advising that multiple Liberal signs on Bass Lake Sideroad had been spray painted with blue Xs.
'Very discouraging,' he said.
Allan Baker, an Oro-Medonte resident who lives near the hamlet of Jarratt, said someone drove to his property Sunday night after dark, around 9 p.m., and stopped at the end of his laneway. He thought it was someone dropping something off in his mailbox.
When Baker went to check a half-hour later, he noticed the Zacharias sign on his property was damaged, a large blue X spray-painted on both sides.
He called the actions 'disrespectful and stupid.'
Baker said another Zacharias sign down the street was also vandalized.
'It's unfortunate that some sought to resort to such tactics in the final days of the campaign, but neither myself nor my team were intimidated,' Zacharias said in a text to BarrieToday on Thursday night. 'We stayed focused, respectful and positive to the very end.'
Orillia OPP confirmed one call was made to report the vandalism and advised that if a suspect was found, they could be charged with mischief.
Doug Shipley, the Conservative candidate who won another term in the Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte riding on Monday night, said he was disappointed but not surprised to hear about the vandalism.
'It takes a tremendous amount of money, time and effort to do campaign signs and I have never been involved in a campaign, municipal or federal, where my signs weren't damaged, stolen, moved or vandalized,' he said.
A veteran of six elections going back 15 years, the former Barrie city councillor said the vandalism casts a shadow over the candidates as the public assumes it was one of the other campaigns that caused the damage.
'I would say 99.9 per cent of the time, it's not someone involved with another candidate's campaign — it's kids or vandals,' he said. 'People who are involved in campaigns know how much money they cost and, I think overall, they respect that.'
Shipley said he talks to the other candidates about signs at the outset of a campaign.
'I called Rose at the start of this campaign and told her, 'stuff is going to happen to your campaign signs, stuff will happen with my campaign signs and you have my word, anything that happens to your campaign signs is not done by me or anybody associated with our campaign,'' he said.
Despite being a ubiquitous part of any election campaign, Shipley said he could live without lawn signs. He said they're expensive, they cause a lot of litter, they're not great for the environment and he's not sure they make that much of an impact when it comes to swaying a potential voter.
'Honestly, if someone passed a bylaw and said no more campaign signs, I think most campaigns would be happy with it because they're just a lot of work, a lot of money and I don't know how much they really do,' he said.
Shipley and 28 campaign volunteers spent Tuesday driving all over Barrie, Springwater and Oro-Medonte removing election signs.
While Springwater Mayor Jennifer Coughlin wouldn't go as far as Shipley does in recommending a complete ban on election lawn signs, she would support getting election signs off public property.
'Private property only,' she said. 'If you want to put up a sign, go and get the property owner's permission.'
In addition to ensuring every sign is authorized by property owners it would also save the township money and staff time.
After the 2022 municipal election, Coughlin said, bylaw enforcement spent numerous hours driving the entirety of the township's 536 kilometres of roads, removing 290 election signs in the process.
However, it might not solve the vandalism problem.
The sign that was defaced on Baker's property was at the end of his laneway
'Sign wars are symptomatic of the most current and one of the most divisive components of society — politics,' he said. 'The bar for political ethics and behaviour in North America seems to have reached a new low.
'Sadly, very little respect for anyone,' he added.
Springwater Deputy Mayor George Cabral agreed. He said there used to be a time when we looked after each other, respected each other, respected property that was not ours and obeyed the rule of law.
'There's been a huge negative swing this last decade in the handing out of moral compasses, integrity, civic responsibility and respecting the communities where we live,' he said in an email to BarrieToday.
'Then, of course, there is the root cause of vandalism, including that of election signs, and it is the progressive lack of respect for people and property, coupled with this sense in some individuals that they need not worry any longer about being held accountable for their actions,' Cabral added.
'And this attitude is unfortunately becoming ever more prevalent being driven in this new world of intense social media world where bad behaviour can and often does get applauded.'