With the Federal election in full swing, Airdronians are seeing more and more election signs popping up across the city, with more to come.
Willow Czaban, a senior planner with the policy planning team at the city of Airdrie, explained that election signs are allowed to go up when the writ of election is dropped. According to Election Canada, the writ of election is a formal written order instructing the returning officer in each electoral district to hold an election to elect a member of Parliament.
Czaban went on to share some of the rules Airdrie has when it comes to election signs.
"The sign can't be more than 1.2 square meters in area or more than two meters high. It shouldn't be illuminated or physically attached to a tree."
When it comes to the location of the signs, having them on your property is allowed, but there are some specifics around public property.
"The signs can't be placed between the curb and the sidewalk or within one meters of the curb if there is no sidewalk, and that they can't be placed within 30 meters of an intersection or a pedestrian crossover, or be put up out on a median."
If a sign was placed illegally and the city was made aware, they would go out and verify the complaint, then contact the returning officer for the Airdrie-Cochrane riding.
"They'll contact the candidate office of the sign in question and give them 24 hours to correct whatever the situation is; if it's not corrected within 24 hours, then the city will go, and we'll take that sign down."
Here is a photo of the bylaw provided by Czaban:
The signs must be removed three days after the election.
The current nominees for the Airdrie-Cochrane riding include:
- New Democratic Party of Canada - Sarah Zagoda
- Liberal Party of Canada - Sean Secord
- Conservative party of Canada - Blake Richards.
The nomination process officially closes on April 7. The federal election will take place on April 28th.
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