Bambi and her spouse walked by the Main Exit. On their way, they noticed that all the electoral signs of Ms. Nancy Mercier were removed (but a low-profile intact one and one vandalized further).
They were both shocked to see this further vandalism by the Main Exit toward Nova Scotia (see the picture above).
Once again, none of the other candidates’ signs were touched.
In this election or in this riding, it is Ms. Mercier’s electoral sign that is being vandalized. In other places or in other years, it may be someone else’s sign. Who knows?
All Canadians should worry to see such vandalism REGARDLESS of whose sign it is, not just because it is illegal.
Why? Because this is a killjoy for democracy. It is a slippery slope that once we allow ourselves to move along it, the end result will be ugly for all of us.
The biggest loser is democracy in our country. Is this what we want?
Plus, how come the nearby Amherst (NS) knows how to be more civilized than us (and we consider ourselves like a “clever” town)?
If Bambi s not mistaken, Amherst seems to have candidates running for all the big national parties, and even smaller parties that are considered as outliers (or at the extreme of a normal distribution).
Bambi has never ever seen such a level of fascism, not even in Lebanon ☹!
In Beirut, no one vandalizes even the picture of Mr. Nasrallah (Chief of the Hezbollah) who drags Lebanon into war (against Israel), behind the back of the Government, and who aligns the country a bit too much toward Iran (exposing it to economic sanctions by Mr. Trump and, more alarmingly, to risk of violent regional conflicts).
Despite this, Lebanese politicians find ways to collaborate with this movement. Citizens live with it. Some criticize it from time to time in the media, on social media, or in their living rooms. However, no one would even think of vandalizing its electoral ad or any other ad. Even the Hezbollah itself does not vandalize ads of the other candidates. Despite those military excesses, it generally plays by the rules of the Lebanese democracy in a rather clever way, managing to have an efficient diplomatic internal political wing, along with its more aggressive external wing.
So, why is it that in our “Sweet Little Sackville”, in our peaceful NB and Canada, we tolerate fascism like that?
We should come together to denounce violence, regardless of the colour of the sign being vandalized.
Political parties come and go. Countries stay… But to stay and flourish, countries need democracy.
Bambi hopes to see democracy prevailing in Canada, regardless of the outcome of the election of October 21st and of future ones.
Related to this federal campaign, because of work elsewhere, Bambi missed the debate that took place at Mount Allison University. However, before going to vote today, she took the time to listen the recorded French debate at the Université de Moncton.
Congratulations to the organizers of a very professional debate (better than the national English one!). Bravo to all our candidates. All were excellent in their respective ways. All had good ideas, including Ms. Mercier. All were civilized and knew how to acknowledge others’ good ideas. Bravo to our own Ms. Laura Reinsborough for her French.
Bambi invites those who have vandalized Ms. Nancy Mercier’s sign and who may be perhaps reading this post (who knows?) to read the earlier interview with her and to listen to the debate (please see below).
If they do so, they would learn that she was among, if not the first, minister in our province who celebrated gay marriages. They will learn also that her own grandmother is Native.
However, most importantly, they will see that she has good ideas locally, along with a clever platform of her PPC party. They may not wish to vote for it. They are free. However, they will be more informed as citizens if they listened.
Even the Hezbollah has candidates who speak fluent Hebrew and know their “enemy” well. Same for Israel. Please do not tell me that it is hard to be polite and chat with another Maritimer! I do not buy it.
You may not wish to vote for the PPC. However, shutting off its candidate is not only unCanadian or uncivilized. It is criminal.
Material that you can use to get to know Ms. Mercier’s ideas more before jumping to vandalize her electoral sign:
U de M debate in French, broadcasted on the radio:
Former post by Bambi:
Conclusion (meant to the perpetrators of violence in our town): Stop, listen, take a breath (it can help) before you act out.
Why commit a crime that you may regret?
You can learn that it is easier (and healthier) to start tolerating diversity of opinions.
Not surprised.. the green signs of the zealots are everywhere… these are the same people who want to shut down our industries and march our children through the streets to protest climate … Nancy knows she has friends in Sackville.. sorry to see this childish behaviour from the less mature people in this university town but I had previously experienced the ‘mob’ so I am well aware of what they are capable of.
You keep putting “sweet little Sackville” in there to remind people to be reasonable but you should understand by now that the technocRATS anything but reasonable.. as George Orwell said: “Intellectuals are more totalitarian in outlook than the common people. Most of them are perfectly ready for dictatorial methods, secret police, systematic falsification of history, etc. so long as they feel that it is on ‘our’ side.” — George Orwell, 1944
We voted for Nancy Mercier BECAUSE of the sign vandalism. We were undecided but then after seeing her sign get defaced more and more ( most likely from the ultra left wing university students ) and nothing said or done about it we could not vote for anyone else.