A former senior Nortel executive in Ottawa says a complaint aimed at preventing him from encouraging people not to vote for the Conservative Party was a "cheap shot."
John Tyson, 68, heads a group called the Silver Fox Alliance, which is mostly made up of retired Nortel workers who lost benefits in the Nortel bankruptcy case.
The group, which is frustrated by the lack of help for former Nortel workers, put up signs urging people not to vote for Tory candidates in this election. After putting up the signs, someone filed a complaint.
Tyson told CTV Ottawa he was contacted by Elections Canada and followed by a City of Ottawa bylaw enforcement officer.
He said the bylaw officer told him the complaint to the city came from the Conservatives.
"Absolutely a cheap shot and a case of the PCs bullying old farts," said Tyson.
He's since resolved the complaints with both agencies and says he was within his rights to post the signs.
Although Tyson has been a longtime Conservative Party supporter, he's not anymore.
Instead, he's endorsing candidates who have called for changes to the Bankruptcy Act, something the Conservatives said they could not do.
Tyson says he wonders why the Nortel collapse has not been a bigger issue in this election, "especially when the largest concentration of Nortel retirees is in the ridings of (John) Baird, (Pierre) Poilievre, and (Gordon) O'Connor" who are all seeking re-election as Conservative MPs.
Tyson put up the last of his 108 signs on Tuesday. The Silver Fox Alliance is his latest effort to draw attention to sharp cuts made to the benefits of Nortel retirees.
