Like many towns around us, Niagara-on-the-Lake tries to stifle democracy.
How else would you describe it when citizens are denied use of municipal buildings (like the community centre) to hold a debate among candidates? Council made that decision. Our town also tells people seeking office exactly where they can put election signs. More precisely, where they cannot.
For the record a bylaw dictates no signs anywhere except on private property (that doesn’t include the boulevard or ditch in front of your house). On your lawn, a sign must be at least 3.28 feet from the property line. Not an inch closer. It can’t go up until 60 days before a vote and must disappear a week later.
The good news? Everybody ignores the dumb bylaw. As they should. Elections are not like speed bumps or putting out garbage on the wrong day. They’re emotional and messy. They should engage and seize everyone. People wanting your support should be in your face telling you why.
Signs matter in this process. They convey a message about the candidate. They remind you who’s running and show who supports them. I’ve been in a few (federal) campaigns in which “sign wars” were critical forms of mass communication. And you can’t do battle hiding 3.28 feet behind somebody’s hedge.
Well, what do some of the current signs tells us?
Let’s deal with the Chief Poobah position first: the lord mayor. (By the way, that title originated in 1925 when the then-mayor decided it sounded fancier.)
Current deputy mayor Erwin Wiens is a process guy. He’s a former career cop and has lived a rules-based life, now wanting to step up into the role Gary Zalepa is abandoning. His signage is simple, unadorned and has absolutely no message. Not even “elect me.” Count on this guy to sweep the rural areas.
Andrea Kaiser is also an elected person (regional councillor) trying for glory. But she’s conflicted with her intense work as a winery exec, speaker, personality and proprietor of her own wine label. The sign is bolder than Wiens’ (but you will note that Conservative blue is the couleur du jour this year) and “LORD MAYOR” jumps out. She wants it on her business card.
Vaughn Goettler, the retired HVAC entrepreneur and self-made man, goes for an edgy hip hue. The colour pops out better from lawns and ditches, plus this is the only one of the three offering a reason to vote — for a LM who’ll be a full-time politician.
Wiens runs a grape operation, after all. Kaiser’s busy, busy with her own stuff. No wonder Goettler signs are outnumbering the others by a wide margin. And he’s the urban guy. Where the votes are.
As for the 11 running for a seat on the six-member council, some have zero signage in place at the moment, so let’s hope they have big families and lots of friends. Of those with volunteers hammering in placards, a couple are worthy of mention. Not all good, though.
Like Steve McGuinness. He’s a good egg, a nerdy guy, stickler for policy details and likely to be elected. But his sign sucks.
The “Mc” disappears from a few feet away. The slogan, “Our Heritage. Our Future’ is too small and too meaningless. And a QR code? Steve, bro, that’s for realtors.
Weston Miller, Andrew Niven, Gary Burroughs have all turned out b-o-r-i-n-g signage, merely reinforcing their names. Miller suffers the most here for lack of a message, since he’s running for office for the first time. No track record. But given what local leaders have done lately, maybe that’s a good thing.
Finally, the best. Sometimes a political sign has the potential to be a collector’s item. Maria Mavridis nails it. The only one with a picture, a message, bold graphics, a slogan and a visual link to her saucy social message persona.
By the way, many folks have asked who I’m voting for. I will let you know before the big day. That should be the end of my local newspaper career.
Garth Turner is a NOTL resident, journalist, author, wealth manager and former federal MP and minister. garth@garth.ca
