Some candidates in the municipal election have apparently broken a rule that criss-crosses the city. Although they are within city boundaries, Highway 16 and Highway 97 jointly bisect the city and are provincial jurisdiction.
The province's rules for placing electoral signs are different than the municipalities. Signs are not allowed on the rights-of-way of the highways unless it is within 36 days of the election. Counting election day - Nov. 19 - that puts Saturday as the first day of eligibility.
"Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has jurisdiction over the installation of political signs within highway right-of-ways," said Wendy Nordin, Manager of Policy Initiatives for the City of Prince George. "Candidates have been provided with a copy of the policy."
Those candidates who mistook the highway rights-of-way for municipal land will have to act quickly to get them down again, or risk losing them. Provincial crews have already begun the task of removing noncompliant signs.
"I don't have a total count but between 10 and 14, and some candidates removed their own signs, so that was to their credit that it wasn't an onus put on us," said Ron Marshall, the ministry's district manager of transportation. "In their candidates package they include information, but ours may not have been as clear. I do not think any of it was on purpose. The candidates have been really good about it, we did not need to be hard-handed about it, we did, though, need to ensure our policy was being met."
The province set the 36-day display period based on that being the day after nominations close, so it is equal for all who join the electoral race.
Ministry staff double-checked all locations in question to ensure the signs they acted on were definitely on provincial land.
