Elections BC has fined Lululemon founder and billionaire Chip Wilson $600 for posting signs outside his home during the 2024 provincial election without registering as a third party advertising sponsor.
The signs were critical of the governing NDP and Premier David Eby, with one reading, “Eby will tell you the Conservatives are ‘Far Right’ but neglects saying that the NDP is ‘Communist.’”
Director of Investigations for Elections BC Adam Barnes wrote a letter to Wilson on Oct. 7, 2025, notifying him of the penalty.
In the letter, Barnes said that Elections BC became aware of one of the signs, which he called “sponsored election advertising,” on Oct. 2, 2024. He noted the sign was posted during the 2024 campaign period for the provincial election, which made it election advertising.
Elections BC said that an investigator sent a “notice of investigation” to Wilson on Oct. 4, 2024, asking for information about who paid for the sign and whether it was on Wilson’s property, and also notifying him of the investigation.
“On October 7, 2024, you indicated via phone that you did not pay anyone to put it up and did it yourself,” Barnes wrote in the letter.
Barnes noted that a follow-up email was sent to Wilson on Oct. 8, 2024, “explaining the requirements to register as a third party advertising sponsor.”
He said that Wilson indicated he put the sign up on his own and that it was homemade. Wilson later told the investigator he had paid a third party more than $1,600 for the signs, and said he would register.
Elections BC noted that Wilson registered as a third party advertising sponsor on Oct. 10, 2024—which is after the time he first set up the sign—and added a “valid authorization statement” to the sign.
Barnes told Wilson in the letter that the investigator noted two additional signs on his property, with the second sign saying, “Voters seem to forget when Eby ‘gives’ us money, it is the Voters’ money he has already taken,” and the third sign saying, “If Eby and the NDP cannot balance the Provincial budget, what right does he have to tell us how to live our lives?”
The third sign contained a valid authorization statement, according to Elections BC.
Barnes said in the letter that he found Wilson in violation of the Elections Act for “sponsor[ing] election advertising” before registering as a third party sponsor, which brings a fine of up to $10,000.
In issuing the fine, Barnes said he considered that Wilson may have been “unaware of the requirement to register as a third party advertising sponsor.” He also noted that the signs “had significant exposure and reach.”
Barnes said that after Wilson was contacted about the signs, he registered and was “cooperative” during the investigations, responding to investigators “in a timely manner.”
He also noted that Wilson had not previously incurred a fine by Elections BC.
The letter said that Wilson had 40 days to pay the fine, but was also entitled to request a review of the decision by an adjudicator within 14 days. Barnes said that Wilson could also file an application with the BC Supreme Court.
The Epoch Times attempted to contact Wilson for comment but did not hear back by publication time.
