Haldimand "Signs.....Signs......Signs....."

Well here we go everyone, 30 days of speeches, flyers, door knocking, commercials, and signs, oh that’s right all those signs! It reminds me of a song…signs…. signs….everywhere……signs. Honestly for me, I would prefer to see an election "without" the signs, as I find it can get quite messy looking! Regardless, this is not my rule, so I also played the "sign game".

Can you tell that I have a "pet peeve" with signs?

As some of you know I ran in the last municipal election here in Haldimand County, and I know all to well of the antics that go on during a campaign period. One of which is my favorite, "the sign game".

The "sign game", I was accused of playing what is called the sign game. All my signs did adhere to the by-laws, and all my signs were on "private property". I will not say this for others that plunked their signs everywhere and anywhere! One election campaign sign was even posted at a graveyard site! I did not "loose" one sign during the whole election. So why was I accused of the sign game, well I will never know the answer to that question!

Each Municipality has their own by laws on signage. These by laws are not only for elections, it is for "All" signage, eg; real estate signs, advertising signs etc. The strange thing that happens during an election, is that all of a sudden the by laws that have been in place, and have not been adhered to, are ever so critical, just because it is an election. So if Municipalities are going to remove election signs because they are in violation of the by law, they should remove "all signs" that are in violation of the by law!

My point that I am getting at here is the Provincial Election is in full gear, and all those signs are going to be appearing everywhere, whether you like it or not. Some where they shouldn't be! The big difference with a Provincial Election is the candidates rely on a lot more volunteers. And the truth be told, many volunteers put countless hours into helping out the candidates that they support. They are doing it out of passion and the belief that their perspective candidate will win the election.

Volunteers for each candidate are fully aware of the rules of the placement of election signs, but in saying that, some do sway a bit from the rules. The job of making sure that "all" signs are in their proper place at "all" times is up to each Municipality according to their by laws. The only request I have of the Municipalities is that they adhere to their respective by laws entirely!

Don’t change the rules because it is election time, it is for only "30" days.