Doug Ford tops city in number of illegally placed campaign signs

Candidates who wanted to place signs on the boulevards of public streets paid a $250 deposit, but each sign confiscated costs $25.

Campaign signs can’t be posted in front of a civic building or park, along the Don Valley Parkway or Gardiner Expressway, or in any place where they "pose a risk to the health and safety of pedestrians or motorists."

Bylaw enforcement staff who took away Ford’s signs acted on 177 separate complaints, said Tammy Robbinson, a spokesperson for the city’s Municipal Licensing and Standards Division on Wednesday, Oct. 29.

Workers for John Tory, now the mayor-elect, put 119 signs in the wrong place, and generated 31 complaints.

Olivia Chow, the third-place finisher, was caught with 96 in illegal locations and drew 44 complaints.

In all, city crews removed 1,636 signs between Oct. 2 and Oct. 23.

You might be interested in

{{type}}

{{title}}

• Dec 31, 1969
• Comments

{{type}}

{{title}}

• Dec 31, 1969
• Comments

That’s less than the 2,593 taken during the 2010 municipal campaign, so perhaps some candidates this time were more careful.

That doesn’t appear to have been the case, however, in Scarborough’s Ward 42, where a sign war took place between Raymond Cho, the incumbent councillor, and several challengers.

Cho, whose campaign accused certain rivals of destroying his signs, had 78 seized – making him number one in illegal placement among candidates for council.

Neethan Shan, a repeat challenger for Cho’s seat, had 56 signs hauled away, while Neethan Sabaratnum and Mohamed Gulam, also running in the ward, had 38 seized apiece.

Other notables included Munira Abukar, who ran unsuccessfully for council in Etobicoke’s Ward 2, with 70 signs seized.

Also in Etobicoke, Justin De Ciano, who won a council seat in Ward 5, had 53 signs removed, and Mark Grimes, re-elected in Ward 6, misplaced 42.

Israth Velshi, who didn’t manage to win Ward 26 in East York and North York, had 47 signs taken by the city, and 39 were wrongly placed by David Mousavi, a council challenger in North York’s Ward 23.

In August, a city committee voted to limit placement of campaign signs to two weeks, but that decision was overturned by Toronto council.

Removing and storing the signs costs more than the city can get back in fines, according to city officials, but those campaigns whose signs were snatched by the city will be sent a bill, and there could be more to come.

Candidates have just 72 hours after the election to remove their signs, or the city will collect them and charge the campaign for each sign removed.