A high school teacher might find himself in trouble following posting a video where he cuts election signs on the grounds of his school in Montreal.
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“I’m sorry, but that’s school grounds. It has no business there”, launches Xavier Watso wrongly, in a video published this week on TikTok where we see him with a pair of scissors.
In this sequence of regarding 15 seconds, the teacher at Louis-Riel high school, which is located in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough, cuts two election signs belonging to the Parti Conservateur du Québec (PCQ) and the Parti Quebecers (PQ).
“It was reckless”
The drama teacher’s video quickly went viral with 600,000 views, in addition to causing an outcry on social media.
“If I had known what I was doing was illegal, I wouldn’t have filmed myself doing it. I thought it was not legal to put up posters on school grounds,” defends himself in an interview with the Journal Xavier Watso.
The teacher adds that he had never seen a sign on school grounds in almost six years of employment. He assures us that he was in good faith. Note that the posters were returned to the PCQ and PQ candidates. These were eventually relocated since they were legal on school grounds.
“It was reckless on my part and I learned a lot regarding the election signs followingwards,” he says. Mr. Watso also learned that a complaint would have been filed with the police once morest him for having made this mistake.
Criminal act
Contacted on this subject, Elections Quebec refused to comment on the particular case of the professor at Louis-Riel high school.
“However, I would like to remind you that the theft or vandalism of posters are offenses governed by the Criminal Code. These situations must therefore be reported to the police,” explains their spokesperson, Jonathan Gaudreault.
The teacher’s employer, the Center de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM), assures that it “does not endorse any initiative that goes once morest the democratic values of our society”.
“We also apply the electoral law which allows in particular the posting on the properties of the school service centers, except on the buildings belonging to them, and invites the whole of the population to respect this one”, adds- your.
A “bad example”
Yastene Adda, the Candidate in Anjou–Louis-Riel for the Parti Québec who had his sign cut off, denounces that the professor filmed himself making this gesture and that he never apologized.
“I find it sad that a teacher might flout the electoral regulations and decided to film himself cutting a sign. It is a bad example and unfortunately a case of vandalism”, criticizes Mr. Adda, 19 years old.
The latter adds that his sister attends the school where the teacher in question works. She is also the one who installed the poster for her brother. She was also disappointed to see the teacher’s gestures on TikTok, according to the candidate.
“Yes, we filed a complaint with the police,” confirms the young man.
Note that the PCQ for its part refused to comment on their cut poster.