Election signs raise concerns about livability bylaw

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This article was published 25/09/2019 (2236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Voters are raising questions about the value of bylaws that regulate election campaign signs, after one Winnipegger started tracking dozens of violations on lawns across the city.

The City of Winnipeg’s neighbourhood livability bylaw states temporary signs cannot be placed within 30 metres of an intersection, two metres of a curb and 0.5 m of a sidewalk, among other areas.

Signs bigger than 0.6 m in size, as well as those supported by wire or metal stakes, are banned under the bylaw. On certain streets, including Brookside Boulevard, Century Street and Provencher Boulevard, temporary signs are against the rules altogether.

According to the City of Winnipeg website, signs placed contrary to bylaws are subject to removal and destruction.

However, Jon Adaskin’s tally suggests the city is not dissuading people from putting up campaign signs in areas against the rules during the 2019 federal election campaign.

Adaskin said he has counted 51 signs in violation in one way or another around his North End neighbourhood. Many of the signs, he said, are either too close to the sidewalk or planted into the ground with metal stakes.

“It’s frustrating,” he said Wednesday in an email, adding “elected officials, including the mayor, likely did the same kind of sign violations when they ran for office… What’s the point of having the bylaw?”

City spokeswoman Joelle Schmidt said in a statement Winnipeg does not track types of signs that are in violation.

Data on the city’s website states 13,200 illegal temporary signs were removed by the city between March and October 2010.

One of the bylaw’s purposes is to “promote and maintain the health, safety, and welfare of residents,” Schmidt said.

The city enforces size, material, location and duration regulations on temporary signs, she added, to ensure safe sightlines for pedestrians and vehicle traffic and so city equipment can be used safely.

If that is the case, Adaskin said, where are the employees being paid to enforce bylaws?

“I bet if you spent an afternoon with a tape measure, starting with my examples, then going to other areas of the city, you’d find hundreds of violations,” he said.

“This isn’t related to a specific party or candidate, they all do it.”

David Kron with Barrier-Free Manitoba said he was not aware of the bylaw and doubts most Winnipeggers are either. He also said he has never heard of any safety concerns around campaign sign placement.

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“The biggest issue is making sure (temporary signs) come down after an event, whether it’s an election or garage sale,” Kron said.

The Canada Elections Act does not regulate where temporary signs can and cannot be during a federal campaign.

However, Elections Canada requires all partisan advertising materials contain a tagline that indicates who has authorized a message, whether it be a candidate or political party’s official agent, or a third party, and their contact information.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie

Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter

Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie.

Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.

Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.