Saint John man wins partial victory in sign fight
A Saint John man appears to have, at least partially, won the war of signs.
Wayne Doucette put up a sign to advertise a meeting for the seniors coalition when he ran into a series of problems.
The city demanded he place the sign further from the road and pay a $118 fee. And then his sign was blocked by two federal election signs that popped up.
Doucette spoke to CBC News about his frustration over the treatment he received by the city and how there needed to be a uniform sign bylaw.
A lot has changed in the last few days.
Doucette said people are calling him and stopping him on the street to talk about the sign saga.
The city has also had a change of heart.
"I did receive a phone call from the City of Saint John … who apologized on behalf of the City of Saint John for charging us the $118.50 and she said I was going to get that rebated back to me," he said.
But the Saint John man's good news didn't stop there.
"Then [on Monday] morning I received a phone call from [Liberal candidate] Wayne Long and Wayne Long being the gentleman that he is, showed his respect to seniors and as you can see the sign has been removed. I really want to thank Wayne Long for doing that. "
Long said his campaign did not mean to overshadow Doucette's sign.
"We send volunteers far and wide through the riding, it is all well intentioned. Certainly it was nothing deliberate," Long said.
"I've known Wayne Doucette for 15, 20 years now, I consider him a friend. I called Wayne right away and said, 'Wayne, we'll get that sign down and I took it down with a sledgehammer in the back of the truck. Now I have two signs in the back of the truck looking for a home."
Now that Long's Liberal election sign is gone, Doucette is planning to move his closer to the road.
But he's still not completely in the clear.
Conservative candidate Rodney Weston's election sign is still standing.
