Sign, sign, everywhere a sign …

As the late, great musician Les Emmerson wrote more than half a century ago, signs are a crucial way to get messages to the masses. It’s a tradition, especially if you’re selling a political candidate or their message.

And even in the digital era, when people have so many other ways to draw attention to themselves, old-school political signs remain ubiquitous.

They’re everywhere at election time.

And, as a few denizens of Niagara-on-the-Lake have observed, a lot of those “vote more me” placards are erected in areas where no signs are supposed to be.

In fact, almost every sign I’ve seen has been put in a spot that is verboten under Niagara-on-the-Lake’s sign bylaw, which has very specific restrictions for federal and provincial elections.

Personally, I could care less. (And my wife just rolls her eyes whenever I broach the subject.)

It’s not a big deal and I have mixed feelings about even bringing it up — but because some residents have complained about it, I decided to look into the sign situation.

Turns out NOTL has strict rules and all of the federal candidates are breaking those rules.

Well, to be fair, since orange NDP signs are few and far between, it’s really a case of reds and blues that are singin’ outa tune. Liberal and Conservative signs proliferate and generally are not where they are supposed to be.

The bottom line is NOTL requires election placards to be one metre inside the residential property line. And only in rare cases is that line right near the front of your property. In most cases, your actual property starts 10 feet or more from the curb.

So, if your sign is close to the roadside — where it can be more readily seen than if it’s set back behind the actual edge of your property — it probably is violating the town’s bylaw.

In years gone by, election signs were everywhere along roadsides and at intersections, which is what NOTL council was trying to avoid seven years ago when it passed a new sign bylaw.

Mission accomplished, except for the part about keeping signs solely on private property.

Pat Darte was lord mayor in 2018 when council enacted those restrictions.

“Back then we were inundated with signs everywhere,” he told The Lake Report.

“It was sign pollution at its worst. The idea was to eliminate candidates putting them everywhere,” Darte noted.

“The one-metre part was to give some room for error on where the property line actually was.”

As for everyone “crossing the line, I don’t think any of the sign volunteers know where the line actually is.”

Not that anyone in authority seems to care much.

In my travels, I think I’ve seen a handful of signs that might have been on private property. All the rest, nope. Or questionable at best.

When I asked members of council and the Town of NOTL administration about this, spokesperson Marah Minor said the municipality had already received several complaints about election signs and removed some “from various locations.”

“All electoral candidates have been informed of the permitted sign placements, which must remain on private property,” she said.

“Staff are aware of instances where signs have been placed on public lands and are addressing the issue using an ‘educate, engage and enforce’ approach.”

“This includes first contacting candidates to inform them that their signs are not in compliance and must be modified or removed. If no action is taken, signs will be removed by bylaw staff after a reasonable period.”

Like the bylaw, that all seems pretty cut and dry: Except now with just a few days until the election, uh, almost every sign in town is on public land.

Don’t get me wrong. This is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

But: we have a bylaw on the books delineating where signs can be and have tried to educate candidate representatives about complying — yet the vast majority of signs are still on public property.

Education ain’t working.

I get that we don’t want to make mountains out of molehills, plus it’s time-consuming and costly to enforce bylaws.

When I asked our municipal leaders if they should amend or even suspend the bylaw … crickets. A radical idea, but since nobody follows the rules, what’s the point? Is it a “just in case” situation? Are we simply happy to have reduced the number of signs along major roadways and at intersections?

Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa didn’t seem too concerned about it all and was happy to leave it to town staff to handle, which is probably the right approach. He also suggested I could make a service request via the town’s website, if I so desired.

The deputy mayor, Coun. Erwin Wiens, who tends to favour a laissez-faire approach, said he reached out to the Liberal and Conservative candidates to advise them what the town bylaw says.

Coun. Maria Mavridis told me she also noticed errant signs and contacted the candidates. And Coun. Wendy Cheropita said she was going to suggest town staff remind the political campaigns of their signing obligations.

After I started making inquiries about the wrongly placed signs, someone associated with the Liberal candidate reached out for more information. Nothing from the Conservatives.

The good news is it’s only a few days until the votes are counted — and all the signs have to come down. Within a week, according to the bylaw.

***

Speaking of vote counts, this is the first federal election for our new riding of Niagara Falls—Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Fort Erie is no longer part of the equation, so it will be interesting to see who voters in the Falls and NOTL favour this time.

Last election, in September 2021, incumbent Conservative Tony Baldinelli beat Liberal Andrea Kaiser by more than 3,000 votes.

The Conservative took Fort Erie by about 1,700 votes. With the NDP fading nationally, how will the votes split this time in the Falls and NOTL? Can Kaiser easily make up the deficit or will Baldinelli compound his plurality?

With new party leaders, new platforms and the spectre of Donald Trump, past voting patterns might mean little.

And while on some streets in urban NOTL, the Kaiser signs outnumber Baldinelli signs six to one, the rural constituency seems far more blue than red.

As well, the pro-Conservative shouting and fear-mongering proliferating on various social media groups around NOTL (countered occasionally by some pro-Liberal voices) could be a sign of some deep divisions among voters in the community. Or perhaps it’s just all noise.

What it definitely means is this Monday night’s result will be compelling and fascinating to watch unfold.

kevin@niagaranow.com