The city has received 362 complaints about election signs. This candidate’s campaign generated the most

According to city rules, election signs were supposed to be removed by June 29, 72 hours after the vote.

Thestar.com
July 28, 2023
Ben Spurr

The race for Toronto mayor may be over, but complaints about election signs keep coming.

The city says that as of this week, it’s received 362 complaints about improperly displayed signs for the June 26 byelection. And the mayoral hopeful that generated the highest number is a now familiar face: Xiao Hua Gong, the outsider candidate whose blue-and-yellow signs were everywhere during the three-month campaign.

According to city rules, election signs were supposed to be removed by June 29, 72 hours after the vote. Candidates are responsible for taking down signs on public property, while residents can either remove signs in their yards or request candidates pick them up.

City spokesperson Russell Baker told the Star that most of the complaints were about signs either being left up past the deadline, or being installed in contravention of the bylaw that dictates where they can be displayed.

Baker couldn’t give a precise number of how many of the calls were about Gong’s ads, but said Toronto’s municipal licensing and standards division is confident that out of 102 candidates his campaign netted the most complaints.

According to Baker, in response to complaints or during proactive patrols the city removed 1,424 signs that broke election rules, and of those, 964 were Gong’s.

Gong blanketed city in ads during campaign

Gong, who also goes by the first name Edward, is a businessman and founder of a Chinese-language TV station. In 2021, a company he owned pleaded guilty to pyramid selling and using forged documents. He was unknown to most Torontonians until the mayoral campaign, when he blanketed the city, social media channels, and television with ads bearing his face and the promise that he was “Here to rescue Toronto.”

Bonnie Goldberg, who lives in midtown, said about ten days before the election she woke up to find a large Gong sign she hadn’t ordered lying on her front lawn, and smaller ones in her neighbours’ yards.

She said she was “offended and perturbed” that it had been left on her property in apparent contravention of election rules.

“I don’t want that on my lawn for multiple reasons, but I couldn’t get rid of it,” Goldberg told the Star.

She said she tried to throw out the sign, but it was affixed to wooden stakes and garbage collectors wouldn’t take it. She couldn’t find any contact information for the Gong campaign, and didn’t complain to the city because she didn’t know that was an option.

Campaign says it didn’t leave unwanted signs
Gong’s campaign manager, Polly Miller, said Goldberg’s story was “disturbing,” but insisted his team didn’t leave signs where they weren’t wanted.

“It’s not something that we would have done,” she said. “Mr. Gong wanted to make sure that everything was done according to the law.”

Miller also expressed surprise residents had complained about Gong’s signs. She said the campaign worked in shifts over three days to make sure they were all collected.

“It is very possible that one or two might have been missed but not enough” to warrant a high number of complaints, she said, adding that she planned to contact the city to verify the locations of any uncollected ads.

Gong ended up coming eleventh in the election with just under 3,000 votes, well behind winner Olivia Chow, who had about 270,000. He called for a recount.

No fines issued for sign violations
The Toronto Municipal Code prohibits candidates from putting up signs on public property within 1.5 metres of a curb, 0.6 metres of a sidewalk, or in locations that interfere with road safety, among other provisions.

Violations can result in fines of between $200 and $300. In more serious cases that involves a court conviction, candidates can face fines of up to $100,000 or $10,000 each day the violation continues.

Baker said the city takes an education-first approach, and hasn’t issued any fines related to signs for the 2023 byelection.

Anyone with concerns about election signs can call 311.