Rural billboard ads an issue of property rights

A recent survey revealed that as many as one-third of Canadians have worked in the so-called “gig economy” at some point in the last five years. Exact numbers can be difficult to pinpoint, but it’s no surprise that many Canadians are taking advantage of opportunities to earn additional income.

Certainly here in Alberta, with individuals and families facing economic uncertainty, the idea of using one’s own resources to bolster one’s financial position is an understandably attractive option. The idea of governments needlessly interfering with that should be of concern to us all.

When it comes to services like Uber and Airbnb, there is arguably a need for some level of regulation, if only to ensure that members of the public are safe when being transported by vehicle or being put up in a home for the night. But those concerns simply don’t exist when it comes to landowners earning money through billboard-style advertisements on their property. As such, government attempts to stifle these partnerships are unfair and unjust.

Foothills County would appear to be an example (although, unfortunately, not the only example in Alberta) of an unfair and unjust attempt to interfere not only with landowners’ ability to earn some spare income in this manner, but with their freedom of expression.

The county recently beefed up its bylaw so as to prohibit any signage — whether commercial in nature or otherwise — attached to trailers or hay bales and placed near roadways. Although this is ostensibly for esthetic reasons, the bylaw does not ban trailers or hay bales without signs from being located near roadways, regardless of how dilapidated they might appear.

Some landowners were facing a Christmas Eve deadline to remove their offending signs, otherwise the county was prepared to remove the ads themselves and slap the landowners with fines of up to $2,000 for each sign.

With the help of the Justice Centre for Constitutional

Freedoms, a group of landowners and the ad agency Spot Ads, Inc. have filed a constitutional challenge against the bylaw. That challenge won’t be heard until February, but a last-minute court injunction ensured that county officials wouldn’t be ruining Christmas.

Hopefully this reprieve won’t be a temporary one.

All these landowners are asking for is to be left alone. That does not seem like an unreasonable demand. The bar should be set rather high for this kind of state intrusion, and the reasons rural municipalities have put forth to justify these policies are rather specious, to put it mildly.

It’s absurd to argue that these signs are an eyesore and a distraction, but that somehow actual billboards are not. If rural municipalities are losing out on billboard revenue as a result of these ads on private property, then they should be honest enough to come out and say so.

Furthermore, the number of signs encountered by motorists on Alberta highways pales in comparison to the number of billboards and business signage that motorists encounter while driving through urban areas. The distracted driving argument here is especially dubious.

Not only does this unfairly punish landowners who are able to earn some extra income, but this punishes the small business owners who stand to lose an affordable option when it comes to advertising. Times are tough as it is for many small businesses in Alberta. Why would we go out of our way to compound their problems?

Ultimately, this is about property rights and free expression rights. Whether it’s an ad for a local business or a banner declaring one’s personal or political views, it really isn’t something that the government needs to concern itself with. Governments will get their cut of whatever additional revenue is generated. In fact, keeping up with ever-increasing municipal property tax bills is one reason some of these landowners have sought these partnerships.

If governments won’t come to their senses, hopefully the courts will do it for them.