C-K staff remove hundreds of election signs
The Five Man Electrical Band once sang, “Sign, sign, everywhere a sign,” but these days in Chatham-Kent, many a property is missing campaign signs.
That in the wake of the great election sign purge of 2026. Earlier this month, municipal staff removed hundreds of campaign signs they said were on municipal property. Most of those were in front of private residences, but were too close to the roadway and thus were in violation, staff said.
Chris Bantok, election co-ordinator with the municipality, said municipal officials were simply following up on a horde of complaints.
“What we were seeing was a growing number of complaints and concerns regarding election signs placed on municipal property when they aren’t supposed to be there until Aug. 27,” he said of the 60-day campaign period leading up to the election. “We made attempts to remind everyone of the rules and the regulations of the (election sign) bylaw. We worked with candidates to educate on where signs should be. Unfortunately, we continued to get complaints. We had to take steps to remove the signs and enforce the bylaw.”
Long-time councillor Michael Bondy believes as many as 450 of his signs were pulled.
Bondy, who is on the sixth election of his political career, is running for mayor. He was essentially the first candidate out of the gate, filing his candidacy papers with the municipal clerk’s office May 1, the first day of the election cycle.
He said as of early July, he had an estimated 600 signs on properties around Chatham-Kent. About 450 were pulled down during the great election sign purge of 2026.
“I’ve been at this for six elections. I have never seen signs taken off front yards,” he told The Voice.
He picked up about 200 of his signs a couple of days after they were pulled. Bondy said some were ruined, as they had split at the seams.
He understands the letter of the bylaw, but called the sign removal “splitting hairs.
“I think it’s tasteless. It took me a month to get them out there. I didn’t put any on what is perceived as public land,” he said. “To take them off people’s lawns, I think is in terribly bad taste.”
Incumbent Mayor Darrin Canniff said he was also a victim of the sign purge.
“We’ve had a lot of signs removed. We tried really hard to ensure the sign regulations were taken care of, but when you have numerous volunteers and homeowners putting signs in, they tend to put them close to the sidewalk,” he said.
Canniff said he is aware people did call up the municipality to report out-of-place signs prior to the purge.
“I know there were several complaints that were put into 311,” he said. “I know some councillors pointed out how to report signs that are in the wrong spot. The municipality took action.”
Steve Kenney, who is running in Ward 7 for council, estimated he had about 30 per cent of his 170 signs yanked by Public Works personnel.
He said his campaign team was able to track where the signs were pulled and had replacements out in short order.
“I have a pretty good campaign team. We have a good database of where our signs were,” he said. “They’re all back on the lawns now.”
But a little further away from the roadways.
“Some of my signs were out of compliance by a couple of feet. They want them back behind the cable boxes,” he said. “There were some supporters of mine who were quite angry about it. I’m OK with it. I’ve moved on.”
The widespread removal of the election signs caught Bondy off guard. He said bylaw enforcement is complaint-driven. If someone had an issue with a sign on a particular property, then pull the sign there, he added.
“Nobody complained about 450 addresses. It’s totally insane,” Bondy said.
Bantok said municipal staff, as they went to retrieve signs known to be in violation, picked up other signs they saw in contravention of the bylaw as well.
“As we heard about different situations, staff, as they were driving around, were pulling signs on municipal property, but it got to the point it wasn’t only complaints based,” he said. “Because of the volume of complaints, enhanced enforcement was required.”
That “enhanced enforcement” led to the mass purge.
Bantok said no candidate was excluded and none were singled out, adding he did not have a count on how many signs were pulled, and that the removals took place in urban and rural areas.
“We want to apply things fairly and consistently. We’re not picking and choosing which signs were pulled,” he said.
Despite the loss of the signage, Canniff said the rules are the rules.
“The idea is it creates a level playing field so the signs are in a spot where they are allowed,” he said. “We’re given rules and we have to follow them collectively.”
Kenney agreed.
“We weren’t completely in compliance. I get it. Now we are. I’m hoping it’s behind us,” he said.
Bondy said he has no idea where every sign of his was located, as he’d leave 15 signs in his driveway in the morning and encouraged people to stop by and pick them up.
“It’s very, very frustrating, but I’ll get them all back out there,” he said.
Bantok said complaints about candidate sign placement occur every election year, and he doubts it is unique to Chatham-Kent. However, the increase in the number of candidates this time around has led to more signs and more sign bylaw violations.
“We’re at 70 candidates as of today (July 7). In 2022, we only had 59 candidates,” he said, referring to mayoral, council and school board totals.
The nomination period does not close until Aug. 21.
