A Ward 3 candidate says his team made an “honest mistake” when it left a card appearing to advertise his candidacy among tributes to Cpl. Nathan Cirillo.

The team for Mark DiMillo left the card from “Mark DiMillo, Ward 3 candidate/resident for Hamilton city council” on the sidewalk at the John Weir Foote Armoury on James Street North.

The card was among flowers, wreaths and cards placed at the armoury for Cirillo, a Hamilton reservist who was shot dead while guarding the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Wednesday. His death sparked an outpouring of shock and grief across the country, and cast a sombre mood over the city. His funeral will be in Hamilton on Tuesday.

The card reads “Your sacrifice reminds us of how grateful we should be for democracy and the freedom to vote, and for the right to defend ourselves at home and abroad. RIP Cpl. N. Cirillo.”

Community activist Laura Babcock spoke out against the card on social media on Friday.

“Anyone else find this in extremely poor taste?” she said.

DiMillo said his team wanted to show its respects, and filled the card with personal messages from roughly eight to 10 campaign volunteers.

He went with them to the armoury, he said. But when they placed it on the ground, "we realized that maybe people would look at it the wrong way. Literally, it couldn’t have been on the ground for more than two minutes. We decided to pick it up and took it with us."

"It wasn't done with malicious intent or disrespect. There’s no handbook they give you when you’re a candidate, unfortunately. Sometimes we make decisions that seems appropriate at the time but can be taken out of context."

Former mayor Larry Di Ianni was standing nearby when DiMillo put the card on the ground and says he suggested DiMillo pick it up, and "to his credit, he did right away."

"I think it was an innocent attempt by him to express condolences," he said. "But it obviously had a political overtones because he identified himself as a candidate…I take Mark at this word when he says he had the best intentions. The proof of that is how quickly he removed it."

DiMillo's card, he said, was there "maybe even less" than two minutes.

Candidates tread a thin line when campaigning during a national tragedy, Di Ianni said.

"When you’re campaigning, and I think rightly so, everybody sees every move you make through the eyes of the campaign. Why is he or she doing this? Is there a political motive?"

Di Ianni saw numerous candidates at the armoury when he was there.

"The only thing that Mark did was that he also left a message, or was intending to leave a message, and that was the part that was a little too much."

DiMillo also signed a Canada flag there with his name and a brief message of condolence, and did not identify himself as a candidate.

DiMillo is locked in a heated race in Ward 3, a lower-city ward formerly represented by long-time councillor Bernie Morelli.

He’s running against 14 other candidates in the Oct. 27 election.

Cirillo's death slowed the usual flurry of election activity on Wednesday. Many candidates have tweeted their sympathies to his family.