No changes coming to election sign placement in Sault Ste. Marie

City councillors in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., has voted no changes will be made to the placement of election signs in the city.

A report recommending regulations on the placement of signs was presented to councillors last night. It recommended that a bylaw be created prohibiting election signs on public property, including parks. It also called that illuminated or flashing signs be banned.

The request for the report came from Coun. Sandra Hollingsworth, who said she "had a hard time" with the report.

"When I put this forward originally, I was concerned about too many signs anywhere," she said.

"This past election I think is a good example where I believe all candidates did a wonderful, outstanding job and tastefully placing their signs in a safe area."

She said she had concerns about candidates only being able to place their signs on private property.

"There has been people that reached out to me to say that they purposely didn't put election signs on their business because they have in the past, lost business," she said.

"People have said you're voting for this group, I'm not going to do business with you. So I'm just worried that if we basically take the piece where you can't put it on public, you're going to limit the opportunity for candidates to display basically their sign."

'Signs don't vote'

Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said he was opposed to the motion.

"I don't agree that this is a problem that needs resolving," he said. "I think that the use of signs is not something we ought to be policing. We frankly don't have the resources to police this."

Coun. Sonny Spina, who has run for the federal Conservatives twice in the past, said signs don't necessarily mean strong support for a candidate.

"Signs don't vote," he said. "Signs aren't the only way for us to advertise who is running in the upcoming elections on any level. I think it's incumbent upon anyone who's about to engage in the process of entering an election to know all the ways they can reach the constituents because it isn't just one way by using signs."

Coun. Angela Caputo said she had concerns about the environmental impact of election signs.

"The signs are made of corrugated plastic and they are finished with a thin sheet of some type of plastic that from what I read, takes up to 400 years to actually disintegrate," she said.

"You might use them once, you might use them twice, but eventually, they're going to end up in the landfill."

Councillors voted 6-5 to defeat the motion.

Voting against were Shoemaker and councillors Hollingsworth, Marchy Bruni, Kinach, Ron Zagordo and Corey Gardi.

Coun. Lisa Vezeau-Allen, Spina, Caputo, Matthew Scott and Luke Dufour voted in favour of the motion.