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Polls show the Alberta election May 5 will be one of the most closely fought contests in recent memory, so it’s understandable that candidates will claw at any small advantage in order to win. But Progressive Conservative MLA and current justice minister Jonathan Denis flatly denies defacing his own campaign signs to catch voters’ attention.

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At issue are several signs seen around Calgary-Acadia, where Denis is running for re-election, which have been expertly altered to read “Jonathan Penis.”

Following a National Post report about the signs earlier this week, a tipster told the Post a similar thing happened when Denis was at the University of Saskatchewan in the late ’90s. But Denis, then running for a position in the student government, was widely believed to have committed the vandalism himself in order to gain greater name recognition over his rivals.

“My recollection is he admitted to it,” said the source, a law school classmate of Denis’s who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of possible retribution.

Although he couldn’t remember a one-on-one conversation with Denis in which he admitted to the stunt, the anonymous tipster said it was “common knowledge” that he’d altered his own signs, which he remembered reading “Put Denis in your box” before they were changed to a more scandalous suggestion.