Sign, sign, everywhere a sign … and not the kind meant to keep the long-haired hippies away.
As another election campaign has drawn to a close, the legacy left behind for us is not just a new, or rather a slightly altered, seating arrangement in the House of Commons, but also a sea of electoral signs reminding us who we should have voted for.
In an election campaign that has focused so much on the economy, and who is or who is not going to be able to pay for whichever promises they’ve made, the proliferation of election signs seems like a cruel joke on the cash-strapped electorate.
There’s no doubt that the election itself cost us a lot of money. Renting space and hiring people to run the election across the country costs millions upon millions of dollars - the unfortunate price of our democracy.
When a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons, as happened when Stephen Harper’s government was found in contempt of Parliament, an election is usually the result – costing taxpayers millions of dollars. That’s how it goes.
Election signs on the other hand are paid for by individual campaign organizations. Whoever has the most and/or richest backers can afford more signs, and are able to plaster their message across a few yards and many public spaces. This is perhaps the most frustrating thing about election signs.
A handful of signs appear in people’s yards – political expression is everyone’s right and it’s wonderful to see people so interested in the process that they want to advertise their interest on their own property. Power to them!
Most of the signs, however, end up in public spaces. This problem is much more apparent in dense, urban areas, but can be seen even out here in Westlock. Signs appear all along the highways and along the median of roads in town.
Partisan political expression is our democratic right, but shouldn’t public lands be out of bounds?
Those highways effectively belong to all of us, so why should a political party that has only 10, 20 or even 50 per cent of the voting population’s support be allowed to plaster their name all over public land?
If a candidate is popular enough in an area they should have no trouble finding private individuals willing to display signs, but let’s keep our public lands non-partisan.
