Swastikas scrawled on Justin Trudeau's campaign signs in Montreal

As the federal leaders get set for their final debate tonight, vandals defaced Justin Trudeau's campaign signs in downtown Montreal with swastikas and Hitler moustaches.

The Liberals posted signs featuring a large image of Trudeau on major streets in the west end of downtown Montreal. On a 10-minute walk through the downtown core, half of the signs along this walking route included vandalism offering a glimpse at just how big the stakes are and how nasty this campaign fight in Montreal can be.

On busy Sherbrooke Street, vandals scribbled a red swastika on Trudeau's forehead and used black marker for a moustache above his upper lip:

The Liberal posters read 'Follow Team Trudeau,' and this sign in front of the upscale Ritz-Carleton is covered with the same red swastika and Hitler-style black moustache:

The Canada Elections Act states that defacing campaign signs leads to a fine of up to $1,000 and 3 months in jail. A few blocks away from the swastika-laced sign is this poster with the words 'fake ideas' scribbled across Trudeau's face:

The graffiti is clearly done with marker -- in this case,  a scrawled 'L' across Trudeau's forehead is either a reference to the Liberal logo in the corner of the poster or, more likely, a well-known way of suggesting 'loser' that is straight out of grade school.

The Liberals are not the only party experiencing vandalism with every party reporting incidents in this election: an arsonist set a Stephen Harper supporter's sign on fire in his Calgary riding, Conservative candidate Ryan Leef reportedly caught a vandal in the act of altering his campaign signs in Whitehorse, and a Montreal NDP candidate removed signs after they were defaced with the phrase 'No Muslim, no terrorism.'

The logic in the case of Trudeau's signs is not clear, and the alterations occur in the middle of a tense debate in Quebec over allowing niqabs during citizenship ceremonies. It could be a veiled reference to his father Pierre Trudeau's controversial invocation of the War Measures Act after the FLQ kidnapped British diplomat James Cross and sparked the October Crisis 45 years ago this week.

Justin Trudeau won his seat in the Montreal riding of Papineau in 2011 with 38% of the vote and a margin of 10% over the NDP candidate at the time, Marcos Redhames Tejada. Recent polls suggest a tight race in Montreal between the NDP and Liberals and the Liberal leader faces a tougher battle on October 19.  

Tonight is the critical final debate in Quebec as Conservative leader Stephen Harper, NDP leader Tom Mulcair, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe try to make their case for their parties one last time.

Original Article
Source: everythingispolitical.ca/
Author: Peter Harris