Angry in the Great White North

Global TV in Winnipeg has a disturbing story of intimidation.  This is not the fevered imaginings of a Liberal candidate who thinks his wind-blown signs were trashed by Tory goon squads.

This is real stuff.  It's nasty and personal.  People are being specifically targeted, not inanimate signs.

The riding is Elmwood-Transcona, in the city of Winnipeg.  It is an NDP stronghold.  Bill Blaikie held the riding since 1979.  He has retired from politics.  The NDP are running Jim Maloway, and the Conservatives are being represented by Thomas Steen, a former pro hockey player with the Winnipeg Jets.

Watch this report starting at the 6:30 mark.  Here's a synopsis:

• During a phone survey, a local man is asked by the Jim Maloway campaign if he is planning to vote for the NDP.  He says that he isn't, that instead he is planning to vote for Stephen Harper and the Conservatives by siding with local candidate Thomas Steen.
• There is no sign on this man's lawn or any other reason for a casual observer to know this man's voting intentions.
• Two days later, he receives a greeting card, addressed to him personally, in the mail.  In it is scrawled a vile insult aimed at this man in particular.  The insult suggests he perform a certain act on Stephen Harper.  Canada Post delivers local mail in two business days, meaning that letter was posted on the same day the man was taking the phone survey.
• The man says that now he plans to put up a sign.

Of course, denials all around.  And to be clear, there is no evidence of a link.  Just suspicious timing.

Interestingly, when asked about this, the NDP spokesperson made a point about mentioning some Jim Maloway signs being knocked down after denying any involvement in the letter.  If you plan to deny something, just deny it.  Adding in the "It happened to us first" sounds too much like an attempt to justify whatever it was you just denied doing.

But before this story hit the news, I received an email from Winnipeg.  It was on September 17.  In it, I was told that a man, a union worker, had a sign for the Conservative candidate Thomas Steen on his lawn.  At a knock on the door, his wife was confronted by a man who made it clear that this man's shop steward would be told unless the sign came down.  Fearful for their livelihood, they asked the Steen campaign to retrieve the sign.  The visitor identified himself as a Maloway supporter.

I sat on this because, frankly, I couldn't back any of it up.  The only thing I was able to confirm was that the sign was taken down by Steen's people.

Since I couldn't find any other story like it, I was forced to mark it as an outlier at best, or a fabrication at worst. 

But now we have a second story of intimidation aimed at Conservative supporters of Thomas Steen, and both stories link back to NDP candidate Jim Maloway.  Or at least back to his supporters.

I'm still suspicious of the story emailed to me, simply because not much of it can be substantiated.  It is hearsay and ought to be treated as such.  But with this second report in the media, I wonder if these rumours ought to be looked at more carefully.

Update: From sources that would like to remain unnamed, more information related to this story:

• The news story on Global talked about one greeting card.  Apparently there have been "lots", including one that was delivered to Thomas Steen's home and addressed to him.  The vile statements appear in all of them.
• Thomas Steen's car has been vandalized.  His locks were glued while the car was parked outside of his campaign office.
• The mainstream media knows about the complaint and about the vandalism.  Still not being reported.

I don't have independent verification of any of these claims.  Take them for what they're worth.

Assume it's all true, for a moment.  I can't imagine any war room engaged in this sort of thing.  But it sounds like those people who have drunk deeply of the Anything But Conservative Kool-Aid are particularly serious in Winnipeg.  Or seriously deranged.

By the way, I have more, but I'm holding this one back.  It's that bad and I want to be certain.  Stay tuned.

Aside from these vicious incidents, there is some legal wrestling going on.  An official complaint is being filed with Elections Canada againt Jim Maloway's campaign regarding his campaign signs.  Maloway's signs bear the official stamp of a union, suggesting an endorsement, and that is not allowed on federal election signs.  Such a mark is legal on provincial election material in Manitoba, and these signs are from Maloway's provincial campaign.  In Maloway's defense, the mark might simply indicate that the sign was made in a union shop, though that does not make it any less a violation of Elections Canada rules on signs.