Judges dismiss former MLA’s appeal of $250 fine for illegal election signs

The battle between a former Wildrose MLA and the province’s top elections official is over for now after Alberta’s Court of Appeal dismissed a case that began over the font size on election lawn signs.

Joe Anglin, former MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain HouseSundre, challenged a $250 penalty imposed by chief electoral officer Glen Resler related to the small font on his campaign signs during the 2015 election, in which he was running as an independent candidate.

Anglin never disputed the fact his signs breached Elections Alberta guidelines. Instead, he argued in his 2017 case that those guidelines don’t form part of the Elections Act, so Resler had no basis on which to slap him with a fine.

In its ruling last Friday, the three-member court disagreed.

“General principles of statutory interpretation do not support (Anglin’s) argument,” they wrote.

The court found that the Elections Act expressly requires candidates to act in accordance with advertising guidelines.

Further, it ruled that the chief electoral officer is not only authorized, but also required to make those guidelines, and has the power to impose a reprimand or an administrative penalty.

Anglin was elected in 2012 as a Wildrose MLA but became an independent in 2014.