Mayor Scott Aitchison thinks Huntsville should do away with election signs during campaigns.
“One of issues I raised during the campaign was the concept of not having plastic election signs anymore and using other mediums to advertise our candidacies,” he said at the General Committee meeting on March 30. “They are ugly, it’s kind of wasteful and there are other mediums we can use to get our message out there.”
Councillors’ reaction to the proposal was mixed.
“I think doing away or significantly limiting them is a good idea and would be a good step in the right direction,” said Councillor Jonathan Wiebe. “We are proud of our surroundings and the beauty of it and we do an incredible job of making them look quite the opposite during those two months. I’d be in favour of exploring this.”
Councillor Dan Armour wants some thought to go into the idea. “If you’re an incumbent it’s easy to run an election but if you’re a new face it can be hard to get your name out there.”
What’s unknown is if the municipality has the legal right to prohibit the signs, a question raised by Councillor Bob Stone.
Town staff were asked to gather information to bring back to Council.
“Asking staff to prepare a bylaw doesn’t actually mean we are adopting the bylaw,” said Mayor Aitchison. “It will give you time to think about how many signs you can give up and how many more doors you can knock on and how many more ways you can use social media and print media to communicate versus just a sign on the lawn.”
It’s not the only potential change we could see during the next municipal election. Earlier this month, the Ontario government introduced changes to the Municipal Election Act. If passed, the changes would include the option to use ranked ballots, allowing voters to rank candidates in order of preference, shortening campaigns by opening nominations on May 1 instead of January 1, and regulating third-party advertising including contribution and spending limits. The changes would take effect in 2018.
Ranked ballots??? Great! Now everybody’s second choice will win. What a tremendous victory for society’s never-ending battle to reduce everything to the lowest common denominator!