Brampton Bans All Exterior Election Signs

Brampton City Council has put a ban on all exterior election signs. The motion was presented by Councillor Santos and Gurpratap Singh Toor seconded it.

The city has amended the Sign By-law to only permit the display of election posters in windows or in windows in doors with this restriction applying to all private property, including residential and non-residential lands. It has only exempted election posters displayed from the interior of the building and restricted the use of all exterior election signs for candidates and third parties, and the amended sign by-law will apply to all future elections.

There will also be a subsequent increase in the fines associated with the illegal election signs.

Earlier, the sign by-law only permitted election signs on private property with specific regulations on size, placement, timing, and quantity per candidate, and did not permit election signs on public property. However, research and experience demonstrate no real correlation between the number of election signs for candidates and results related to voter turn-out or candidate support.

Over the past years, Brampton’s election sign regulations were consistently being contravened and despite, candidate guides and education seminars offered through the City Clerk’s Department, the volume of contraventions continued to grow.

A large number of complaints pertained to signs placed on public property, including boulevards and parkland, excessive signage on residential and non-residential properties, billboards exceeding 2m² in sign area, signs placed on City fences or noise walls, and signs displayed for more than 72 hours after the close of the election.

Campaigns for candidates in all elections have experienced an increase in sign tampering, including vandalism, theft, and misplacement and the illegal signage also has an impact on municipal resources for enforcement, with an average cost to the City of investigating and prosecuting an illegal municipal election sign at approximately $125.00 to $130.00 per sign.

Prabhnoor Kaur