Former Edmonton Liberal Party Candidate Warned Against Using Signs

A Liberal Party of Canada logo is shown on a giant screen as a technician looks on during day one of the party's biennial convention in Montreal on Feb. 20, 2014. The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes

A former Liberal Party candidate in Edmonton says he was warned about the use of the campaign signs printed by the Liberals when he was on the ticket, but he said he is not doing anything wrong.

Rod Loyola was running as a Liberal candidate in the Edmonton Gateway riding, but was dropped by the party on April 4 over a video containing comments he made about the terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah at a rally about 16 years ago.

Loyola decided to run as an independent candidate and has been using the signs made by the Liberals for his campaign, but with the Liberal Party logo covered up.

He said the party has warned him about it in a letter.

“They can write me as many letters as they like. I’m not doing anything wrong,” he told The Epoch Times in a phone interview.

He said he has changed the signs to hide the Liberal Party logos.

“They all have stickers on them with the Liberal branding completely covered and with a sticker that says ‘independent,’” he said.

“Our perspective is there is no Liberal branding on these signs because it’s clearly covered up by the word ‘independent’ as well as my initials.”

The Epoch Times attempted to contact the Liberal Party but did not hear back by publication time.

Loyola said the party does not own the colour red nor the font on the sign. He also said that the signs were expensive, and it would not have been good for his campaign expenses.

Running as Independent

At the time he was dropped as a Liberal Party candidate, Loyola said he didn’t think he should be “cancelled” over the video.

“I want to be clear: I unequivocally condemn brutal killings, terrorism, and abduction - whoever does it,” he said in an April 4 statement posed to his website.

He said that Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was “unacceptable and heart breaking.”

“Additionally, the actions taken by Israel, as noted by multiple international bodies, amounts to collective punishment upon a people who are already systematically subjugated, which will never be justified, acceptable or inline with human rights.”

In the video from 2009, Loyola says, “Organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas really are trying to stand up for their people, and that needs to be recognized. These are movements for national liberation, not terrorists.”

He said he told the Liberal Party that he should not have to apologize for the video.

“I do not need to apologize for a hip hop segment that had at its thrust the need to stand with the oppressed, nor for affirming their right to live in peace, security and sovereignty.”

Loyola said he decided to run as an independent after “considerable thought.”

“I am lucky to have communities that stand with me and together we stand for what is just and principled.”

Some of the candidates running in the Edmonton Gateway riding are Conservative Tim Uppal, Liberal Jeremy Hoefsloot, and New Democrat Madeline May.