Watergate-like dirty tricks front and centre in 2025 election

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This looked like a sting set up to to catch a carjacker.

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Instead, it was a trap to nab an alleged sign-jacker, who was accused of partaking in election sign vandalism.

Like in the Watergate scandal which broke half a century ago, being under the cover of the night was not enough to cloak these alleged dirty tricks. Move over Washington, this clandestine operation allegedly occurred in Markham.

Popular Conservative candidate Lionel Loganathan, who’s running in Markham-Thornhill, laid the bait. And the person they set the trap for, allegedly took it. It all stemmed from at least 20 of his election signs going missing or being destroyed.

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“We had an anonymous tip; this guy was tearing down our signs,” said Loganathan.

He knew exactly what to do.

At the corner of Midland and Steeles Aves., “I put up some signs myself” and “waited across the street and had a coffee.”

By 9:30 p.m. Sunday night, the very person who a tipster said was doing this, got off a bus and allegedly started destoying his signs.

“We caught him the act,” alleged Loganathan.

After calling police, he and his volunteers rolled their cellphone cameras, and they captured a guy with one of their blue signs in hand.

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Gotcha! Busted! As they approached him, what happened next is fascinating.

“Is there any reason why you’re smashing all of my signs?” asked the candidate, as shown in a social media posting.

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“Yeah, because your f——- party is evil,” said the man.

Staying calm, Loganathan said “OK, but that doesn’t give you the right to wreck my signs.”

The man disagreed saying “this is public property, and you are polluting.”

The police arrived and took the man into custody in handcuffs.

“We have charged Alexander Curley with (two counts of) mischief,” said York Regional Police Const. Lisa Moskaluk. “His first appearance court date is May 20.”

Curley is innocent unless proven guilty. These charges have not been tested in court.

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As backed up by information on his social media profiles, the accused man has worked in many capacities and also lists being a “Deputy Returning Officer” for “Elections Canada” in September 2021.

He is the second person arrested by York Regional Police over election sign complaints.

Last week, Const. James Dickson told the Sun that Peter Bekhit, 41, of Markham, had been charged with mischief and is to report to court on May 6 for untested allegations that Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman’s signs were removed from the ground, destroyed and left in a dumpster.

With two weeks to go and the race getting closer, this sure has been a very nasty election campaign.

There have been many signs vandalized, mostly Conservative ones. There was Buttongate where people allegedly tried to influence an election by placing unflattering buttons inside a conservative group’s meeting at an Ottawa hotel. And there has been some Benedict Arnold/Judas-style betrayers of the Conservatives in favour of the Liberals.

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It’s a real war out there this time as the Liberals cling to power and the Conservatives fight to get it. The gloves are off and in some cases, the rules are not being followed.

Sometimes you don’t know who is who? Is that person coming into an event interested in disrupting it or creating a photo-op? Are those election signs disappearing as part of an orchestrated campaign or is it just one of those things?

Loganathan wasn’t going to take any chances and did his own investigation. Sometimes sneaky election tactics work; sometimes they don’t.

You don’t need Woodward and Bernstein to know that on April 28, it will be law-abiding Canadian voters who choose Canada’s next leader — no matter how many dirty tricks are allegedly played.

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