Frequently during election campaigns, at least in Provencher, there seems to be some level of vigilantism on display from members of the general public. One can only speculate on their motives.
For Trevor Kirczenow, local candidate for the Liberal Party, 2025 is no exception. Within the first week of installing campaign signs across the region, they began disappearing as fast. Recently, a discarded pile of Kirczenow signs were discovered in a ditch off the TransCanada Highway.
So far, most of the campaign signs seem to have gone missing from Niverville, Lorette, Landmark, and Steinbach.
“It was every single sign in each of those locations,” Kirczenow says. “Like, all of them! The first sign that got taken was the first sign that we put up. We put it up the day that the writ dropped… and the next morning it was gone.”
Not unlike the 2021 campaign period, Kirczenow says this feels like a crime that’s being carefully planned and carried out by a select few.
Four years ago, Kirczenow’s campaign signs were not disappearing on a large scale. They were defaced, however, with anti-trans hate propaganda.
Kirczenow says he wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this is once again a crime that’s directly associated with his affiliation with the 2SLGBTQ community.
Despite someone’s best efforts to try and silence him, though, Kirczenow says he’s received much more support from his constituents, reassuring him that he’s the right person for the job.
“I receive lots of messages of support, including many people who have family members who they really care about who are part of the 2SLGBTQ community,” says Kirczenow. “Those messages remind me why I’m doing what I’m doing. That’s a huge source of strength for me.”
Kirczenow and his team are attempting to get campaign signs replaced as quickly as possible, this time trying to locate them in areas that are under camera surveillance. One of those locations is the private property of a Niverville resident and Liberal supporter.
James Soloway lives on St. Andrews Way. On Sunday, March 30, Kirczenow installed a sign on Soloway’s front lawn at his request.
Two days later, the sign went missing.
According to Kirczenow, this is the first time one of his signs disappeared from a privately owned property.
“I live on a fairly quiet street with not a lot of commotion going on,” Soloway says. “My first thought was that someone was walking by late at night and grabbed the sign. But now, knowing the bigger story, I hate to think that’s someone’s driving around in a pickup truck grabbing all the signs. But maybe that’s actually what it is.”
Soloway has since received a replacement sign which is now located closer to his house. He’s leaving the yard light on at night and a surveillance camera running in the hope of preventing a second theft.
“We live in a country where I think it’s a privilege to vote compared to other parts of the world,” Soloway says. “We have a democratic process where you’re able to vote and, if you want to make a larger presence in a campaign, you’re free to volunteer. Stealing signs should not be part of that process. But some people make up their own rules.”
If it were up to Kirczenow, campaign signs would become a thing of the past.
“I hate the environmental impact,” Kirczenow says. “I wish we didn’t need signs, but I hear from people if I don’t have signs up in their town… That visibility is important to voters. So unless we get to a point where all parties agreed that we’re not going to use campaign signs, I think unfortunately it is a necessity.”
Even so, he can’t deny the visual reminders that these signs create to let people know that, first of all, there’s an impending election, and second of all, your party has a candidate on the ballot.
According to Canadian law, theft or defacement of campaign signs, whether on private or public property, is a criminal offence. Kirczenow has been making police reports regarding his stolen signs and hopes the public will stay vigilant as well, reporting any suspicious activity in the coming weeks.
He wants to remind the public that many of his signs are installed and later removed through the hardworking efforts of his volunteer campaign team, a lot of which are senior citizens. To replace missing signs means having to double down on the efforts of these volunteers.
On a brighter campaign note, though, Kirczenow says that he’s been feeling an even greater degree of support this year from Provencher voters—many of whom, he believes, haven’t exercised their democratic right in a long time.
“They are very enthusiastically engaged in this one,” says Kirczenow. “They’re volunteering for me, they’re putting up signs, and they’re working really hard.”