Election sign rules are determined by municipal bylaws in Ontario

It’s generally your right to display an election sign, but the location, size, number, display period and other rules for election campaign signs in federal, provincial, or municipal elections are primarily regulated by each municipality’s election signs bylaw.

This power is given to them in Ontario’s Municipal Act:

A lower-tier municipality and an upper-tier municipality may pass by-laws, subject to the rules set out in subsection (4), respecting matters within the following spheres of jurisdiction:
7. Structures, including fences and signs.
Section 11 (3) 7. of the Municipal Act

Municipalities have slightly different requirements. Refer to your municipality’s sign bylaw or contact the municipal clerk and request a copy, which they are required to provide if it exists.

Common sign bylaw requirements

Most municipalities include the following requirements:

Placement on public property – not:
- within 1.5m of the curb/edge of pavement
- within 0.6 metres of either side of a sidewalk
- within 15 metres of an intersection/pedestrian crossover of a collector or arterial road*
- within 3 metres of an intersection/pedestrian crossover of a local road*
- on a median or island
- adjacent to a voting place, City park or a facility that is owned or operated by the City
- without the consent of the owner/occupant of the abutting property
- less than one metre from other elections signs without the consent of the owner/occupant of the abutting property
Placement on private property:
- Consent (eg. of the property owner or occupant)
- Location (eg. must not obstruct/restrict driver or pedestrian sightlines)
Proximity to voting place (eg. not within 50 m)
Size (eg. cannot be larger than 1.2 square metres in area)
Height (eg. cannot be higher than 2 m above ground level)
Content (eg. cannot include Municipality’s logo, crest, or seal, or words such as, “stop”, “look”, “one way”)
Number (eg. one sign per candidate per private property, or one sign per candidate per 500 m of frontage for commercial/industrial properties)
Spacing (eg. at least 1 m between signs)
Timing (eg. not placed before the election is called/Writs of Election is issued)
Removal deadline (eg. within 3 days after the election)

Municipalities that do not allow election signs on public property

A growing number of municipalities do not allow election signs to be placed on public property:

Barrie
Brighton
Burlington
Guelph
Hamilton
Kingston
London
Norfolk County
Milton
Mississauga
Vaughan

Those that do often have specific limitations:

Toronto allows signs on public property, but not:
- within 1.5m of the curb/edge of pavement
- within 0.6 metres of either side of a sidewalk
- within 15 metres of an intersection/pedestrian crossover of a collector or arterial road*
- within 3 metres of an intersection/pedestrian crossover of a local road*
- on a median or island
- adjacent to a voting place, City park or a facility that is owned or operated by the City
- without the consent of the owner/occupant of the abutting property
- less than one metre from other elections signs without the consent of the owner/occupant of the abutting property

Federal election sign requirements

Canada Elections Act requires all partisan and election advertising messages (including campaign signs) to contain a “tagline” stating who has authorized the message (the line that says something like “authorized by the official agent”):

A candidate or registered party, or a person acting on their behalf, who causes election advertising to be conducted shall mention in or on the message that its transmission was authorized by the official agent of the candidate or by the registered agent of the party, as the case may be.

Advertising placed by a third party must include the third party’s name, telephone number, and physical or Internet address.

It does not regulate:

signs displayed outside a federal election period
sign content

Ontario provincial election sign requirements

Ontario’s Election Finances Act requires “election campaign advertisements”, including law signs, to have authorization indicating who paid for it. For example, “Authorized by the XYZ party”.

Elections Ontario has no jurisdiction over the placement of lawn signs.

Ontario municipal election sign requirements

Ontario’s Municipal Elections Act requires “election campaign advertisements”, including signs to:

identify the candidate
include the name, business address and telephone number of the individual who deals with the broadcaster or publisher under the direction of the candidate

Landlords have final say on signs in some municipalities

Tenants must be allowed to display election signs in federal elections

The Canada Elections Act states that tenants must be allowed to display election signs, within reason:

No landlord or person acting on their behalf may prohibit a tenant from displaying election advertising posters on the premises to which the lease relates and no condominium corporation or any of its agents may prohibit the owner of a condominium unit from displaying election advertising posters on the premises of his or her unit.
Despite subsection (1), a landlord, person, condominium corporation or agent referred to in that subsection may set reasonable conditions relating to the size or type of election advertising posters that may be displayed on the premises and may prohibit the display of election advertising posters in common areas of the building in which the premises are found.
Section 322 of the Canada Elections Act

However, the Elections Canada FAQ page states the following:

Someone put a sign on my property without my permission. What can I do?
The Canada Elections Act does not affect the right of private residential property owners to control who enters their property or anything placed on it. If a sign has been placed on your private residential property without your permission, the Canada Elections Act does not prevent you from removing it. You may wish to contact the candidate or registered party whose sign it is to tell them you did not request the sign and to ask them to remove it.

This FAQ should be worded more precisely to state “without the permission of me or the occupant”.

Tenants must be allowed to display election signs in Ontario municipal elections

Ontario’s Municipal Elections Act states that tenants must be allowed to display election signs, within reason:

No landlord or person acting on a landlord’s behalf may prohibit a tenant from displaying signs in relation to an election on the premises to which the lease relates.
No condominium corporation or any of its agents may prohibit the owner or tenant of a condominium unit from displaying signs in relation to an election on the premises of his or her unit.
Despite subsections (1) and (2), a landlord, person, condominium corporation or agent may set reasonable conditions relating to the size or type of signs in relation to an election that may be displayed on the premises and may prohibit the display of signs in relation to an election in common areas of the building in which the premises are found.
Section 88.2 of the Municipal Elections Act

Municipal sign bylaws

In line with these laws, many municipalities require consent of either the owner or the occupant for a sign to be installed on private property:

Brighton
Guelph
Kingston
Newmarket
Quinte West
Thunder Bay
Barrie

However, some municipalities’ sign bylaws override this by requiring the consent of the property owner:

Hamilton
London

In Toronto, consent of the property owner or occupant, but property owners can remove elections signs from their private properties, if the signs are displayed without their consent.

Example sign bylaws

Ottawa

Signs on private property

No person or entity shall place or cause to be placed or allow to remain placed an election sign more than forty-five (45) days immediately preceding the election date in a municipal election, or, in the case of a federal election or provincial election, the sign may be placed upon issuance of the relevant Writ.
Every election sign together with its appurtenances shall be removed from the premise within seventy-two (72) hours following the election date.
No person shall place an election sign on private property that,
is within three metres (3m) of an intersection,
is within fifty centimetres (50cm) of a sidewalk, or where there is no sidewalk, within two metres (2m) of the roadway or within fifty centimetres (50cm) of the edge of a shoulder where such exists,
Sign dimension requirements contained in this by-law shall not apply to an election sign.
City of Ottawa – Temporary Signs on Private Property By-law

Signs on public property

Despite Sections 4 and 5 hereof, election signs may be placed on an inner boulevard, provided that,
the sign is not placed more than forty-five (45) days immediately preceding the election date in a municipal election or, in the case of a federal election or provincial election, the sign may be placed upon issuance of the relevant Writ;
no sign is placed within fifty centimetres (50) cm of a sidewalk, or where there is no sidewalk, within two metres (2m) of the roadway or within fifty centimetres (50cm) of the edge of a shoulder where such exists; and
the sign and its appurtenances are removed within seventy-two (72) hours following an election date.
Dimension requirements contained in this by-law shall not apply to an election sign.
City of Ottawa – Signs on City Roads By-law

Reporting an election sign violation

A municipality’s by-law enforcement office is responsible for investigating and enforcing the election sign bylaw. The Municipal Clerk and Municipal Bylaw Enforcement Officers may be allowed to remove election signs in violation without notice.

Each municipality sets its own fines for election sign bylaw violations as allowed by the Provincial Offences Act. The amounts are often outlined in the Administrative Monetary Penalty System (AMPS) or Fees and Charges bylaw.

In Toronto, the fines for violating the election sign bylaw are $200 to $300. Hamilton’s fines range from $50 to $200. Newmarket charges $25 and $600 for obstructing a Municipal Enforcement Officer.

Federal elections

You can submit a complaint about election signs displayed during a federal election to the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections.

Ontario provincial elections

You can submit a complaint under the Election Act or Election Finances Act in writing by mail, fax or email to the Compliance Division.

1965 Supreme Court of Canada decision rules that municipalities can’t ban election signs

By a bare majority, the full court in McKay v. The Queen decided that municipal zoning legislation prohibiting signs on private property could not apply to election signs in the course of a federal election.