election signs on vacant land draw reaction from kingston candidates
kingston candidates can't put signs on public land, but candidates still spar over where they are going
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a campaign sign for conservative candidate bryan paterson sits on an undeveloped property on midland avenue in kingston.
elliot ferguson
/
the whig-standard
kingston — despite municipal restrictions that prohibit campaign signs on public property, the placement of signs on private property has some candidates crying foul.
conservative candidate bryan paterson has placed several signs on undeveloped lands and in front of apartment buildings in the riding.
those signs attracted criticism from new democratic candidate daria juüdi-hope.
“these signs are located on the properties of a small handful of corporate landlords, and while it seems impressive at first glance, it’s notable that the conservatives barely have any signs on the lawns of actual residents who live in kingston,” ndp campaign manager sean illman-white and voter contact organizer nick pease wrote in a news release.
“the sign game makes clear, the conservatives just aren’t relevant in kingston and the islands.”
paterson’s campaign disagreed with that assessment.
“bryan has spent the last 15 years tirelessly building strong relationships with individuals, organizations and businesses across our communities,” said paterson’s campaign manager elia anagnostopoulos. “there has been an overwhelming response and demand for signs, which has been encouraging and deeply appreciated. we’ve placed two additional orders to keep up with demand.
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“we’re looking forward to a campaign focused on the real issues facing kingstonians and islanders in this election and we look forward to more opportunities to share a positive message of hope and change during this important election,” anagnostopoulos added.
liberal candidate mark gerretsen said he doesn’t get too worked up about signs on commercial property.
“it appears as though there’s two developers in kingston that support the mayor that have chosen to allow (paterson) to put signs on all their vacant lands,” liberal candidate mark gerretsen said.
“we don’t think much of, you know, vacant lands or commercial property where those signs are going up. what means something to us is when somebody puts our sign on their front lawn because that’s their way of saying ‘this household, or at least one person in the household supports mark gerretsen,'” he said.
“that means so much more, in my opinion, for people that are driving around town than just seeing it at an empty, vacant land or at a strip mall or something like that that happens to be owned by one of the developers in town.”
elferguson@postmedia.com
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