Steinberg signs OK: election chief

By Joel Goldenberg, The Suburban

Hampstead mayoral candidate William Steinberg was within his rights to post his election signs on residents’ lawns nearly two weeks before the official Sept. 23 start of the Nov. 6 municipal campaign, says Hampstead chief returning officer Marina Di Blasi.

“Whatever bylaw is passed by a municipality, the Quebec Elections Act rules out whatever bylaw may be in effect,” she said Friday.

Former Hampstead mayor Irving Adessky, who is running for his old job, complained to CôteSt.HampWest about the early signs, saying they contravened a Hampstead town bylaw declaring that the first 13 feet of normally private property is public. The bylaw says election signs can only be posted on public property with the permission of the municipality. Côte St.HampWest agreed and ordered Steinberg to remove the signs.

Steinberg remained defiant and never removed the signs. He and rights lawyer Julius Grey argued that candidates can place any sign on private property at any time, and that one’s property is entirely private.

Di Blasi quoted Quebec’s election law as saying that “no bylaw concerning signs and billboards adopted... under any general law or special act, applies to prohibit or restrict the use of signs and billboards relating to an election.”