Freedom of Speech Attacked

Some of you may have heard that people whose lawns had Liberal signs on them had their cars vandalized during the recent Willowdale byelection. These attacks involved slashing tires and carving "L" into the side of the vehicle with a key. Having grown up in Willowdale and having had a family member there affected by this, it is extremely disconcerting to me (for the record, said family member isn't even a Liberal supporter, the landlord put the sign there).

This sort of act seems designed to intimidate people into not expressing their political views - i.e. it is an attempt to circumvent their free-speech rights by causing hundreds of dollars of damage to their property. If I was still living in Willowdale this kind of thing would certainly make me think twice about putting out a campaign sign and it certainly falls into a different category than, say, just defacing the sign itself.

If this happened to me it would certainly make me a lot more upset than if I was just, say, asked some questions by a civil servant.