FREDERICTON – The Canadian Union of Public Employees says more than 100 of its election-related signs were stolen over the last four days in communities across New Brunswick.
The labour union says it put up nearly 250 signs as a third-party advertiser in the provincial election targeting the Progressive Conservatives and the People’s Alliance Party for alleged “inaction” regarding labour issues.
New Brunswick’s CUPE chapter president Brien Watson says the union has its suspicions about who is behind the thefts.
According to the union, signs in Miramichi, Oromocto and Saint John were removed in what Watson calls a “co-ordinated action.”
The union says people took to Facebook to brag about stealing the signs and burning them in fire pits.
People’s Alliance Party leader Kris Austin called the union’s suggestion his party’s members were involved “nonsense.”
“If CUPE is so certain that it’s our people defacing their signs, show us some proof,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Progressive Conservatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CUPE says it has contacted police in Miramichi to ask for an investigation into the thefts.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2020.
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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.