Menekagis campaign says email was fraudulent

September 23, 2015 · 0 Comments

By Brock Weir

Despite York Region bylaws stating election campaign signs should not hit Regional streets before Monday, September 21, candidates in both of Aurora’s ridings had their signs dotting Yonge Street on Saturday and Sunday.

But, did the campaign of Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill Conservative candidate try to jump the gun ahead of the pack? His campaign says no.

On Saturday morning, The Auroran was included in a mass email to over 140 campaign supports and volunteers purporting to be from the “Team Lead” of Mr. Menegakis’ campaign with the subject line “Sign Blitz and Bylaw Enforcement.”

“Just an update: If you do get stopped by a Regional by-law enforcement officer, just tell them you are unaware of the Regional By-law that states that Signs on Regional road, the ones we are putting up this weekend, are not permitted until 21 Sept. Good luck! Go team!”

“Are not permitted until 21 Sept” was underlined.

By Monday, however, Jackie Cousins, the communications person for Mr. Menegakis’ campaign said the email did not come from their side and the “matter of the fraudulent email” has been forwarded to Elections Canada for their review.

“This is something we have to figure out right away,” she told The Auroran. “I can’t tell you where they would have gotten [the email list] from. I am not sure who is even on that list. We will be checking into it, but the email itself is fraudulent. That is incredible.

“The email was not from our campaign. Somebody is impersonating us. Obviously, this is a set up…and we have to track down who this may have come from.”