A video posted to social media appears to show a BC NDP supporter vandalizing a British Columbia Conservative Party campaign office window in Vancouver a day before the provincial election.
The executive director of the BC Conservatives, Angelo Isidorou, shared a video on X Friday morning of him confronting an unidentified man appearing to deface a poster of BC Conservative leader John Rustad at one of his candidate’s campaign offices in Vancouver.
Isidorou told True North that the campaign office had been repeatedly targeted with incidents of vandalism, with costs for repairs and cleanup reaching thousands of dollars.
BC Conservative press secretary Shon Amayev told True North that BC NDP supporters “have repeatedly engaged in illegally defacing” signs.
“Throughout this entire campaign, we have witnessed a consistent pattern of egregious behaviour from BC NDP supporters. They have repeatedly engaged in illegally defacing our signage, demonstrating a blatant disregard for democratic norms and civic responsibility,” said Amayev. “This is not just poor sportsmanship – it’s a direct assault on fair principles that should underpin any democratic process.”
The incident occurred at the MLA candidate for Vancouver–South Granville, Aron Lageri’s office at 2160 West Broadway in Vancouver.
“Caught a BC NDP supporter vandalizing private property. Not only does he admit to it when I caught him, but he proudly wears a David Eby pin,” Isidouro said in the post. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but damaging property is unacceptable and illegal.”
The video starts with Isidorou honking at a grey-haired man in a black trenchcoat and hat who appears to be writing on a picture of Rustad’s face on the window of the campaign office.
“Stop vandalizing windows,” Isidorou told the man. “You’re entitled to your opinion but you can’t vandalize windows. This is private property. I have you on camera vandalizing windows.”
The man evades Isidorou at first but then approaches his vehicle.
“Well, I will face the consequences, unlike people who deny climate change,” the man said.
Isidorou told True North that a police report had been filed about the incident this morning.
Neither the Vancouver Police Department nor the BC NDP were immediately available for comment. Currently, the VPD has not iwhether the incident is being investigated or if charges have been pressed.
The BC NDP campaign manager, Marie Della Mattia, posted in the comments denouncing the act of vandalism.
“Of course we denounce this,” she said on X.
The incident occurred just one day before polls were open to the general public in the BC provincial election, Though early voting has already passed.
As reported by the Canadian Press, Elections BC said more than a million B.C. residents have already cast their ballot in advanced polls, which ended Wednesday, “smashing” a record set four years ago in a pandemic election.
Elections BC said 1,001,331 people have voted, representing 28% of registered voters in the province. It said BC was on track for the biggest overall voter turnout in its election history.
A week prior, Chip Wilson’s property was the target of a slew of vandalism incidents after the founder of the multi-billion dollar flatware company Lululemon placed anti-NDP signs on his property.
Though weeks ago, the BC Conservatives pulled ahead of the BC NDP in provincial polls, a recent Leger 360 poll conducted on October 14 and 15 shows the NDP have regained a narrow four-point lead over the BC Conservatives.
The poll asked a statistically weighted sample of 1,017 adults in B.C. about their voting intentions for the upcoming election.
Though no margin of error can be associated with a non-probability sample, Leger 360 states that a probability sample of that size would have a margin of error of over or under 3.1%, 19 times out of 20.
