Election-related vandals appear to strike Crombie

Election-related vandalism appears to have reached Mississauga.
Bonnie Crombie, the Liberal candidate in Mississauga-Streetsville, discussed what appears to be a case of vandalism with Peel Regional Police Tuesday afternoon after a mini-van she leased for her campaign was damaged last weekend.
“I just let them (police) know what happened,” Crombie said at her campaign office Tuesday evening. “But I’m not going to be intimidated by this, not at all.”
Crombie said the white mini-van, decorated with her campaign photos, had damage to the radiator hose that “was not natural damage.”
She said the damage was consistent with vandalism that has occurred in two ridings in Toronto, where Liberal supporters have had brake lines cut and graffiti painted on homes. There have also been reports of vandalism against candidates in Guelph.
Crombie said she, her husband Brian and their children were campaigning Saturday afternoon and then she attended a candidate meet-and-greet event in the evening in Streetsville. That’s when she believes the radiator hose was cut.
She said she and her husband thought the vehicle was not operating properly and they had the vehicle towed on Monday. She said she was notified later in the day the damage was not naturally caused.
“The kids were in the van,” said an astonished Crombie, who is campaigning to win the riding the Liberals have held since 1993.
The complaint comes on the heels of a series of incidents that have hit the Toronto ridings of St. Paul’s and Parkdale-High Park, where there have been as many as 30 incidents of vandalism ranging from brake lines, telephone lines and cable lines being cut and graffiti painted on houses. The victims in Toronto all appeared to be Liberal supporters.
Crombie is one of six candidates running in Mississauga-Streetsville. She is up against Wajid Khan of the Conservatives, Otto Casanova of the Green Party, Keith Pinto of the New Democratic Party and two Independents, Viktor Spanovic and Ralph Bunag.

onlinenews@mississauga.net