Vandalism has long been a way that people expressed social frustration and protest. A sticker or spray paint is a cheap way to make a mark, and a wall, or even an election sign, is a canvas on which one can make a point, for free, until the property owner comes by and inevitably removes the message. A bunch of stickers announcing 24 hour surveillance on Conservative campaign posters is a simple way to protest anti-terrorism bills like Bill C-51 and make that an election issue in a campaign that has been largely focused on the economy so far.
It’s inevitable that they would show up on Stephen Harper’s own signs, he’s the highest profile candidate and if anything happens to a Harper sign it’s going to get attention. A vandal hitting someone in the Yukon is only going to get very much attention if that candidate does something egregiously stupid – hiding in the bushes before leaping out to perform a citizens arrest, for example – but Harper is going to get national attention. Even if enterprising young vandals went ahead and affixed such stickers to every Conservative campaign sign in the country, it’s only the high profile candidates that are going to get national attention. If there’s one sign where the Conservative party wants absolutely nothing to go awry, it’s Harper’s own.
It’s not really a unique message, Banksy did the famous “One nation under CCTV” sign in London in 2008, and it’s effectively the same protest in a different context. With an election campaign, the sticker becomes a protest to specific policies. This vandal, whoever they might be, is clearly angry about a threat to privacy represented by Harper and his Conservative party. By putting the 24 Hour Surveillance stickers on the sign, they associate Harper with the idea of a police state and constant surveillance. It could only be a protest because it casts a negative light on the candidate himself, mocking his security policies and suggesting a level of paranoia that extends right down to his campaign materials. His campaign team definitely would not want the national attention that would come with associating the Prime Minister with Orwellian security measures.
It’s clear that someone is going to be made to pay for these stickers. Whoever put these stickers on Harper’s campaign sign did ruin them, even after scraping them off you’re going to get some left over residue and it’s just going to look like a mess. Who is going to take a candidate seriously if their signs are covered with stickers or residue? Campaign signs are how parties spread the word, it’s a major campaign expense, so someone on Harper’s campaign team must be wringing their hands about the sheer amount of damage that has been done. If they catch the culprit behind this vandalism spree, they probably will be expected to pay the cash to repair all of the ruined signs. It might be difficult to find the vandal responsible, but they will have to make legal restitution if they’re ever caught.
Hold on, they did this to themselves? The staff handling Harper’s campaign in his home riding actually affixed stickers with little CCTV cameras to his own campaign signs? Someone actually thought this was a good idea in the Harper campaign team? Well now doesn’t someone look like a massive idiot.
