St. Albert city council has committed to allowing residents to express political opinions on their front lawns after one resident’s three-month campaign.
Council approved Coun. Cam MacKay’s motion to direct administration suggest amendments to the land-use bylaw that would allow residents “to engage in political expression through lawn signs” by a vote of 4-1. Only Mayor Nolan Crouse was opposed to the motion.
MacKay explained he brought the issue forward after resident Tara Seeger and St. Albert lawyer Brent Rathgeber – who used to be the MP – came to council Sept. 6 to request the change.
They expressed their concerns with existing city bylaws that prevent residents from putting up political signs on their residential properties, in the wake of Seeger’s ongoing struggle with the city about her “Save Canada Post” sign in support of door-to-door delivery, which began during the summer.
Rathgeber pointed to a decision at the Supreme Court of Canada that specifically said residents must be allowed to express themselves through that kind of signage.
“As unpleasant as sign proliferation might be to some, we can all think of a greater harm – inability to protest one government’s action as a result of the actions of another government,” he said.
MacKay said he felt strongly enough about the issue at that time that he did not hesitate to give notice of motion on the issue, and encouraged council to pass it.
“The short of it is we’re not permitted to restrict freedom of expression to a large degree,” he said, noting council can set guidelines dealing with things like ensuring traffic safety and reducing urban blight. “In doing so, we can’t reduce our residents’ freedom of speech, one of our most fundamental rights.”
He added he would prefer the issue hadn’t come up at all, and that the city’s bylaw enforcement staff hadn’t asked Seeger to remove her sign to begin with, since there’s nothing especially offensive about it.
Crouse said his concern about the motion is the idea of making changes to the land-use bylaw for “one-off” decisions, noting there are around 50 changes to the bylaw he would like to see.
“For me, this is a one-off that is going to require research, special work, and if it passes I’d likely be going back to my land use bylaw and looking for others that should be amended and looking at those at the same time,” he said. “This one is only one of a few that we should be doing.”
Other councillors, however, supported the bylaw with little discussion.
MacKay said his intention was not to have the land-use bylaw rewritten specifically for this one issue, but rather to add a definition and specific regulations related to signs for political expression included as part of ongoing revisions to the bylaw.
An administrative report provided to council indicates this work will be included as part of a revision of Schedule C to the bylaw, which is tentatively scheduled for council review in the second quarter of 2017.
