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Belanger replaced the sign on this lawn after it was mowed down by a vehicle.

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Vandals in Île Bizard take aim at election posters

50 signs damaged

Alycia Ambroziak
The Gazette
Wednesday, September 30, 2009

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Belanger replaced the sign on this lawn after it was mowed down by a vehicle.

Richard Bélanger’s team of volunteers spent much of last Friday afternoon putting up municipal election signs in one district of Île Bizard. But by Saturday morning, most of the 50 signs had been stolen, demolished and run over.

“I looked out my window and the sign that had been on my front lawn was run over. You could see the tire marks that caused damage to the grass,” said Bélanger, who has been mayor of the borough for the past four years, and a councillor for 14 year before that.

“It wasn’t a case of people not wanting the signs on their lawns because we had gotten every homeowner’s permission,” Bélanger said.

The signs, which are four-feet wide by three feet high,  were worth about $50 each.
Each sign named Union Montreal’s district 1 candidate François Robert as borough councillor, then Bélanger’s name with the words borough mayor next to it, and finally Gérald Tremblay’s name  followed by the words Montreal mayor.

Bélanger said he was at a loss as to explain why the vandalism took place. He said he didn’t think it was political because, so far, no one has contested his run for mayor.

“Although I am sure that will happen before the cut-off date of Oct. 2,” he said

The vandalism was probably the work of pranksters, he said.

“But pranksters with a big vehicle, judging by the tire tracks,” he said.

In all the years he has been in municipal politics, the worst damage to a sign was maybe a moustache painted on a candidate’s face.

“That’s the kind of stuff you expect – but not this,” he said, noting that other election signs which had been put up in the Ste. Geneviève area of the borough had not been touched.

Bélanger said he and his team toured the district Saturday morning and found that of the 50 signs, maybe 20 can be fixed.

“We weren’t going to put them back up because we didn’t want to take the chance of having people’s property damaged again. But many of those people called and told us they wanted the signs back on their lawns,” he said.

“So that’s what we’re doing.”

Montreal Police Constable Daniel Maheu said anyone with information about the vandalism is asked to call Station 3 at 514-280-0103.