Council voted this week to reverse an election sign bylaw that would have prohibited election signs before August 22, the day after nominations close.

The amendment, which passed at COTW last week, failed at the March 24th Regular Council meeting in a 10 to 3 vote. Proponent Mayor Steve Ferguson and Councillors St-Jean and MacNaughton remained in favour.

The nominations period for next year’s Council opens May 1, with the election scheduled for October 26th.

Candidates will now still be allowed to put up election signs at any point within the campaign period.

Councillors who voted to keep the election sign period as is argued that shortening it unfairly limits a candidate’s ability to campaign. That could disadvantage new candidates.

Considering a run at Council?
A workshop on running for Council is scheduled for March 31st at 6pm at the Wellington and District Community Centre.

“People will be starting to go out and campaign, they will be getting their name out, they’ll be knocking on doors before August, I’m pretty sure of that, so why are we restricting them to not being able to put their signs up?” asked Councillor Brad Nieman.

Councillor Sam Branderhorst noted the longer sign period might encourage candidates to throw their name in before nominations close.

“Maybe someone who was wavering on running sees signs go up in May are are like ‘I should get this done now’,” she said.

On the other hand, Councillor MacNaughton argued that a shorter, defined election sign period would create an even playing field for all candidates.

“People who can’t afford to self-fund would have time to raise those funds,” Councillor MacNaughton said. “Someone in a lower income household has to take those early months to go out and do the fundraising to purchase their materials.”

“The true advantage in an election is money,” she added.

Good Intentions

The motion to limit the election sign period was forwarded by Mayor Steve Ferguson at the March 12th Committee of the Whole meeting. “There can be an awful lot of signage that competes with our businesses during the key tourism period,” he said. 

The motion carried — despite warnings from Municipal Clerk Catalina Blumenberg, who noted a recent legal decision from the Ontario Superior Court set a precedent the decision would contravene. 

The case of Armstrong  vs. Township of Russell established that municipalities should avoid imposing unreasonable limits on the amount of time candidates can display election signs. 

“We could have another court case on our hands,” Ms. Blumenberg said. 

This point was echoed by Councillor Chris Braney at the March 24th Council meeting. “Once again, we could potentially get ourselves in trouble,” he said.

“Let’s just keep it simple. Let the Clerk run the election.”

Some councillors worried the new limit would unfairly disadvantage new candidates.

“Limiting timelines or making the period closer to the election benefits the incumbent,” said Councillor Chris Braney. “I think it’s our duty to encourage people to run and make it an even playing field.”

“It’s only one year every four years,” Councillor Brad Nieman agreed. 

Others found the period too long to effectively engage voters. 

“I share the idea of everyone starting at the same time, but I find six months is a little lengthy,” said Councillor David Harrison.

“People aren’t paying attention at that time. They really don’t care until they know what the full slate of candidates is,” said Councillor Phil St-Jean. “I think this shows a good balance.”

Ms. Blumenberg noted that when the bylaw to allow candidates to put up election signs at the start of the nominations period passed in 2022, it was lauded by municipal clerks province wide in their elections working group meeting.

“Everybody was like ‘wow, you’re really ahead of the game on this, so there was a lot of pride in that,” she said. “It was innovative to let the candidates decide.”

Electoral Landfill

The new election sign bylaw will also restrict signs on any public or County-owned property, as well as in places that would hinder parking.

At the Committee of the Whole meeting, a broader discussion evolved about the use of election signs.

“A lot of political signs end up in landfill and maybe that’s contradicts our declaration of a climate emergency,” said Councillor Bill Roberts. He pointed to York Region, which limits election signs to 50 per candidate. 

“Limiting to 50 signs really does level the playing field,” he continued. “People can’t spend their way into electoral success.”

“I do like the idea of a limit and I do like the idea of a time limit,” Councillor MacNaughton agreed. 

A motion to limit the number of election signs did not come forward. 

“Let’s not bury the issue. Let’s be aware of the issue,” Councillor Roberts added. 

[This article has been updated from the print edition]