SIGN LANGUAGE AT ROOT OF TIM'S TIFF

The City of Abbotsford wants no sign of Marijuana party candidate Tim
Felger's federal election campaign.

Literally.

With just four days until the nation goes to the polls, the city has
vowed to pull any of Felger's signs that are not directly affiliated
with his election campaign.

After obtaining legal advice, Abbotsford Mayor Mary Reeves said the
city is acting within its power.

However, Felger claims the city has "no right" to remove his signs and
is threatening legal action - and his stance has been supported by
Marijuana party leader Marc-Boris St-Maurice, who was in Abbotsford
yesterday.

"I have been looking into this very hard . . . and the more I look at
this, the more it stinks," St-Maurice told the Abbotsford News.

St-Maurice said nobody has the right to remove election signs,
providing they have been authorized by a candidate's official agent
and have a sticker on them confirming that fact.

"This is the first time I have ever seen people targeting signs that
are legitimate, and to think it is the city is just incredible,"
St-Maurice said.

"I am absolutely fuming. This is absurd."

St-Maurice said his party will fight Abbotsford "all the way" and will
press for criminal charges if it has contravened the Elections Act of
Canada. "This is a very serious act that has been committed and I and
the party will be there to give him (Felger) as much support as we
can," St-Maurice said. "I think the city has overstepped its bounds
with this one."

The signs issue stems from Reeves and Conservative candidate Randy
White - who will stand against Felger in Monday's election - taking
exception to tactics used by Felger to promote his pro-marijuana stance.

One sign in particular demands Reeves and White support the
legalization of marijuana. However, the words "Mary Reeves and Randy
White - Legalize Marijuana Now" have been misinterpreted by some
prospective voters.

One woman contacted the Abbotsford News and said her family members
were considering voting against White because, after reading the
signs, they believed he supported legalizing marijuana.

Both Reeves and White said they have received large volumes of calls
from confused members of the public.

And that saw Reeves and the city take a hard line, with staff on
Tuesday removing Felger's signs that "do not promote a political party."

"It is deplorable we have to put these kinds of resources into this,"
Reeves said. "This is coming at a price to our community."

Reeves believes the decision to spend taxpayer funds on the sign
removal is justified, even though Felger has vowed to put more signs
up before the election.

And she said that if Felger does carry through his promise, the city
will remove those signs as well.

"He (Felger) is just angering the community. Citizens are up in arms
about this."

White joined Reeves in criticizing Felger's election tactics.

"My position is that I do not support it (marijuana legalization) and
it will not happen," White said.

"It is not just a case of a candidate paying $1,000 and doing what
they want."

Felger has already started replacing his signs.

"No individual candidate should have to work this hard to get equal
podium time," Felger said.

"It is indicative of how narrow-minded these people are.

Just because does not like the content does not mean she can just take
them down," he added.

Felger admits some of his early signs did not contain an authorization
sticker from his election agent. However, he said he rectified this
after contacting the city on June 14.

"I'm going to be putting them back up on Saturday and back up on
Sunday, just so they (city staff) have to work overtime," Felger said.

The Abbotsford News was unable to obtain an official comment from
Elections Canada as of press deadline .