Try plugging BillLeduc.ca into your website browser.
Rather than pulling up the re-election campaign website of Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc, the link will reveal the page of his lone political rival, Christopher Duncanson-Hales.
Calling the move “underhanded,” “unethical” and “dirty politics,” Leduc said Duncanson-Hales “hijacked” his website, whose address he has printed on various campaign advertising, including lawn signs.
“It’s just very disheartening to see somebody take over somebody else’s website,” Leduc said. “At the end of the day, you may as well go take my Facebook page, too. Where are your morals?
“It tells me that you’re very deceitful to your residents, to the city, that you’re prepared to try and win an election at all costs, even if you have to deceive people.”
Duncanson-Hales told Sudbury.com he is renting the domain name from local man Richard Eberhardt.
“I thought it was worth more than it cost to buy,” Eberhardt said of his decision to purchase it. “The previous owner left the domain available for purchase. The cost was under $3. Once purchased, the domain was dormant until I was contacted by the candidate. He offered to lease the domain for a fair value. I agreed.”
“I don’t know if it’s underhanded,” Duncanson-Hales said in response to Leduc’s criticism.
“As an incumbent, he has exploited his incumbency advantage to his credit, and getting my message out is just informing the voters,” he added. “You're trying to get your name out and you’re trying to get what you stand for out, and you’re using the tools that are available for you.”
BillLeduc.ca appeared as a blank page placeholder until Duncanson-Hales said he got to it, reasoning it wasn’t serving local voters any good anyway.
“If you can’t secure your website for an election, that’s a level I would expect for any campaign – the first thing you would do,” Duncanson-Hales said. “If he has an issue with it and wants to discuss that with me, I’d be welcome to talk to him about it.”
Although disappointed to have been inadvertently advertising the campaign of his political rival, Leduc said there is a silver lining to the situation: “People know exactly who they're voting for now.”
This isn’t the first time Leduc and Duncanson-Hales have butted heads.
The two most notably disagreed on the Kingsway Entertainment District. Leduc has long supported the project, which would have included a municipal arena alongside a private casino and hotel on The Kingsway. Duncanson-Hales has long opposed the project due to its casino component.
Duncanson-Hales was one of the key figures in the failed Local Planning Appeals Tribunal appeal regarding the project, which Leduc blames for delaying it until such time as costs ballooned to such a point that city council voted to back out of the project earlier this year.
Last month, Duncanson-Hales criticized a Grandparents’ Day event Leduc organized as appearing more like a campaign event for Leduc than the public community event it was billed as being, which Leduc refuted.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
