Nova Scotia elections watchdog orders Preston Liberal campaign to take down sign, trash flyers
Nova Scotia’s top election’s official has ordered the Liberal campaign in Preston to take down signs and stop using flyers that imply the Houston government supports a construction and demolition disposal site in the riding.
“Dump the dump,” reads the flyer that was being distributed by Liberal candidate Carlo Simmons during his door-to-door canvassing.
“Houston’s Conservatives have done nothing to stop this dump. We must stop them. Vote Carlo Simmons.”
The PC Party wrote to the province’s chief electoral officer to complain about the materials. In a letter dated Aug. 1, Dorothy Rice noted that after a review of the material and evidence supplied by the Liberals to back up their claim, “I do not feel they are properly representing the facts of this matter.”
Rice’s letter went on to say, “[The Liberal campaign team] have been instructed to remove all signs, by 12:00 AM Thursday, August 3, 2023, and cease use of related door knockers/flyers immediately.”
No permit applications for the dump, says PC executive
In her letter to Rice, PC Party executive director Penny Morash wrote that the Liberal campaign material refers to a potential construction & demolition (C&D) disposal site in the constituency. Morash noted that the minister of environment and climate change has confirmed that no permit applications have been submitted to the department with respect to such a site.
“We understand from the Minister of Environment that there is no active application to consider and therefore no current scenario in which the PC Party or government can address an issue related to this dump,” wrote Morash.
Rice’s reply indicates that if the Liberals do not remove the campaign material in question, the party will be in breach of section 307 of the Elections Act.
That sector of the law states, “Every person is guilty of an offence who, during an election, knowingly makes, distributes or publishes a false statement of fact about a candidate’s character or conduct for the purpose of influencing the election.”
The PC campaign manager for the byelection in Preston, Jordan Croucher, called it “sad that the Liberal campaign has to resort to fear mongering” to try to win a seat it has held previously for 20 years.
“I can’t imagine it’s going that well if they need to resort to not telling the truth,” he said.
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill thinks the material is “fair” and “accurate.”
Election material defended
“Our candidate Carlo Simmons is standing up for the people in Lake Echo who don’t want a dump in their backyard,” Churchill told CBC Tuesday. “Tim Houston is trying silence our candidate and the community on this issue during a byelection.
“We don’t agree with the chief electoral officer, although we do respect that office, but we’re evaluating what our options are right now because this is a big issue for people.”
Churchill said the premier should say whether he supports the dump, regardless of whether the proponents have asked for provincial approval for one.
“Tim Houston has done this before other applications have come in for development,” said Churchill. “He did it in Mabou, related to the golf course … They did not wait for an application to say no, in that particular case.”
Churchill suggested Houston could do the same now to alleviate the stress of those who oppose the dump in the Preston riding.
At the beginning of the campaign the chief electoral officer ordered the Nova Scotia government to end an ad campaign critical of the federal Liberal government and its carbon tax because she felt the ads were “partisan.”
The Houston government complied and ended the online component early. The radio ads had already run their course by the time the Liberals complained about that campaign.
Read the complaint letter to Elections Nova Scotia and the agency’s response below.
