Burlington Committee & Council to look at Election Sign Bylaw Review
Coming to the Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk & Accountability (CSSRA) Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 2, the Office of the City Clerk will be bringing a report to committee members reviewing the City's election sign bylaw. This will head for ratification to Council at our regular meeting on Feb. 15.Click the links below for the:
- Staff report: CL-04-22 Election Sign By-law Amendment
- Appendices:
The recommendation in the staff report is to:
Enact a by-law to regulate election signs in the City of Burlington and repeal By-law 18-2018, attached as appendix B to office of the city clerk report CL-04-22; and Enact a by-law to amend By-law 034-2007, as amended, being the Sign and Advertising By-law to delete references to election signs, attached as appendix C to office of the city clerk report CL-04-22.
The proposed changes to the Election Sign Bylaw are aimed at providing more clarity to candidates and the public at large, as well as to respond to what worked and didn't work for the 2018 municipal election.Staff are recommending keeping the proposed bylaw as a stand-alone bylaw as it provides a central location for all election sign provisions for candidates and their campaign teams. While additional amendments to the Election Sign bylaw are also recommended to remove duplicate references to election signs and to provide clarity.Background:In April 2018 staff provided report PB-19-18 to the Planning and Development Committee introducing a new by law to regulate Election Signs. The By-law was written in response to changes to the Municipal Elections Act, 1996, S.O. 1996, c. 32 (MEA)- through Bill 181, the Municipal Elections Modernization Act 2016, S.O. 2016, c. 15. One fundamental change as outlined in the report was the addition of third-partyadvertisers.Report PB-19-18 recommended that Council enact a stand-alone Election Sign By-Law, (attached as appendix A) to provide ease of access and clarity on election signage for candidates, their campaign teams and third party advertisers for municipal, provincial, and federal elections.As part of the election preparedness program, staff are conducting a review of the 2018 general election and are slated to review all election related policies. A survey was issued on all aspects of the municipal election, to allow for public input. The survey included the Election Sign By-law. The survey results were presented to Committee by way of report CL-21-21 at CSSRA on July 5, 2021, and is discussed in greater detail in the Engagement Matters section to this report.Due to the amount of changes, it is recommended that By-law 18-2018 be repealed and replaced with the proposed by-law attached as appendix B to this report. The draft bylaw before committee has been reviewed by key staff in By-law Enforcement, Legal Services, and the Office of the City Clerk. In addition, staff are also recommending that Council approve an amendment to the Sign By-law (034-2007) to remove the election sign definition, and another election sign references as there is currently duplication, and this may cause confusion.Proposed Changes to the By-law: Definitions have been inserted for campaign headquarters and registered third party advertiser to be applicable to all levels of government. Staff are proposing to make a change to the definition of election sign to include signs in opposition to a candidate or party.The vehicle election sign definition has been removed. Based on review there are no other provisions within the City of Burlington by-laws regulating vehicles wraps or signs placed on or in vehicles. Therefore, removing vehicle regulations will align the Election Sign By-law with the City of Burlington regulatory landscape. In addition, staff recommend removing the previous section 3.4 which requires a vehicle with a wrap or sign to be registered. Upon review, staff were made aware that the City of Burlington did not have appropriate administrative clearance to look up license plates through the Ministry of Transportation to issue tickets. Staff recommend that Council support the approach that vehicle wraps are considered advertisements and not applicable to this by-law.The placement of signs and safety has been augmented through the proposed by-law. Sections have been included that address safety for pedestrians and vehicular traffic which includes protecting warning devices and traffic signals, and discourages the placement of signs that are in a state of repair that may be deemed unsafe or unsightly or that impede city maintenance or operations.In addition to a new definition for third party advertisers, staff are recommending a clause that stipulates that third-party advertisers be registered with the Office of the City Clerk before signs are placed (applies to federal and provincial elections). In addition, third party advertising signs are required to display contact information, and this will link back to a list of registered third parties kept by the Office of the City Clerk.In terms of timing for the placement of signs, staff are recommending keeping the timing of when signs can be placed as is. Keeping the provision of 45 days prior to Voting Day (September 9, 2022) will allow municipal candidates additional time after nominations close to organize their signs and will afford greater equity amongst candidates and campaign teams. Staff are recommending increasing the days after an election has occurred to remove signs from three to four days (October 28, 2022). In recommending this change, staff took into consideration that most campaigns rely on coordinating volunteers and that an extra day may assist in removal of all signs and compliance with the by-law.Election Signs are prohibited on properties used as voting locations when in person voting at that location is being conducted. In context of the current By-law this was further refined as it could have been interpreted to mean any voting location, throughout the entire previous (three week) advance voting period. In addition to the by-law, in person voting has additional protections against voter influence through section 48 of the MEA, which states:
- 48 (1) While an elector is in a voting place, no person shall attempt, directly or indirectly, to influence how the elector votes. 1996, c. 32, Sched., s. 48 (1).
- (2) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), no person shall display a candidate’s election campaign material or literature in a voting place. 1996, c. 32, Sched., s. 48 (2).
- (3) For the purpose of this section, “voting place” includes any place in the immediate vicinity of the voting place designated by the clerk. 2002, c. 17, Sched. D, s. 18.
For the municipal election, voting place vicinity will mean the entire voting location property. Staff are not proposing implementing a distance prohibition, as this may cause confusion amongst candidates and the public and may include adjacent private property. Staff do not recommend infringing on private property rights to display an election sign. Staff will interpret that section 48 does mean that vehicles that are wrapped, have interior election signs or bumper stickers are not permitted on a voting location property during hours of in person voting.Options ConsideredFollowing the 2018 municipal election, several Ontario municipalities have amended their election signs provisions. In review of this By-law staff have conducted a jurisdictional scan and review of these new election sign provisions and have made the appropriate adjustments. As the current City of Burlington By-law limits signs to private property, staff have tried to keep the proposed by-law and any changes as simple as possible.In review of the By-law staff proposed making vehicle signs part of the proposed by-law with an alternate start date for when a vehicle wrap could be implemented. Based on a review of current City of Burlington regulations there are no other sign regulations involving vehicle signs, as they are considered an advertisement. Therefore, items related to vehicle signs were removed from the By-law.In reviewing the By-law, it was considered to place a ban on all election signs in Burlington. This was considered based on environmental concerns, and the perception of some survey respondents that election signs are a nuisance. Election signs are considered part of freedom of expression, by way of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and therefore staff recommend striking a balance to keeping the current provisions, allowing election signs but to relegate them to private property.
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Delegating at the Meeting:Residents who wish to will have the opportunity to delegate at the meeting. If you wish to arrange in advance to speak at the public meeting, please register online at www.burlington.ca/delegation. If you have presentation materials, they must be submitted to the Clerks Department at clerks@burlington.ca no later than noon (12 p.m.) one business day before the meeting to allow its distribution and review by all members of the Committee. The content of all submissions is considered to be public and will be posted to the City’s website.Speakers are limited to a maximum of 10 minutes each and are webcasted online.