A political campaign sign bylaw continues to be a bit of a contentious issue on Quesnel City Council.
First reading was approved by a count of 5 to 2 last night with Councillor Shushil Thapar and Ron Paull opposed.
Paull called it “heavy handed” saying a 10 thousand dollar fine is too much and that he doesn’t think they have a bylaw anywhere that imposes that much.
Mayor Bob Simpson noted that that amount is standard for all of their bylaws that they could possibly take court action on which allows the City to then get punitive damages for all of the time and expense of court.
The bylaw, as it stands now, would allow candidates to have only 6 signs on public property.
The idea is to level the playing field so that the candidate with the most signs doesn’t have an advantage over someone who can’t afford a lot of signs as well as to keep old signs from going into the landfill and cutting down on what some refer to as “visual pollution.”
Simpson proposed public consultation as the next step that could include a public survey or something on their facebook page.