Signs, 'shadow campaigns' give Toronto council's incumbents a leg up
· Toronto Sun
They dumped a big pile in a corner of David Crombie Park and stuck a sign in the ground with the words “free compost” and “Ausma Malik.”
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Sometimes in politics, it’s nice to have dirt associated with your name.
While it’ll be months before most candidates in Toronto’s next municipal election can put up signs with their names, things are a little different for the current city councillors and the mayor, although there are plenty of rules.
Take compost drop-offs, for example. Malik’s website says the compost dump at David Crombie Park, at The Esplanade near Lower Sherbourne St., was just one of six in the councillor’s ward this month.
Paul Nash has registered as a candidate for Ward 10, hoping to replace Malik at Toronto city council. He said city hall does a good job explaining to candidates the rules about campaign signs – so he knows that unlike Malik, he can’t put up a sign with his name on it until Oct. 1, and even then never in a public park.
Given Malik still has responsibilities to her constituents as a city councillor, Nash said he thinks the compost sign is “probably acceptable, but it does put other candidates at a disadvantage.”
(Malik, who has yet to register as a candidate, ignored a request for comment from the Toronto Sun .)
Ian Stedman is an associate professor at York University’s school of public policy and administration. He said there’s a “line that’s being toed” with these sorts of signs, compared with a proper election sign.
“It does the same thing as in raising awareness of the individual’s name, but technically speaking, it’s not saying: I want you to know my name because I’m running for election,” he told the Sun .
City resources – personal goals?
The City of Toronto confirmed there was no issue with Malik’s name being next to the big pile of dirt, as restrictions on communication materials featuring a councillor’s name don’t kick in until Aug. 1.
While the election date of Oct. 26 is still a long way off, the nomination period began at the start of May. Some candidates are already trying to get noticed, such as promoting themselves on social media. In a bit of an election calendar quirk, political hopefuls can sign up to run as late as Aug. 21 – well after the restriction on communications by councillors kicks in.
In the meantime, things like the compost program give councillors such as Malik the home turf advantage.
There are other unusual cases that can keep a councillor in the public consciousness. Chris Moise, who represents another downtown ward, has been criticized for rolling out cycling safety decals that include his name on local sidewalks. (Moise has defended that program, saying he cleared it with city bureaucrats.)
That incumbents get the inside track isn’t lost on Nash.
“I can’t use city resources … it does put candidates at a disadvantage, and I believe that’s what Brad Bradford right now is criticizing Mayor Chow for,” he said.
Bradford, a mayoral favourite, has accused Olivia Chow of running a so-called shadow campaign, rolling out the distinctive purple she used in her 2023 run for mayor at what should be City of Toronto announcements.
Progress Toronto, a group aligned with Chow, has made similar accusations of Bradford using his role as councillor to amplify his own mayoral campaign.
While Bradford has registered to run for mayor, Chow hasn’t, nor has she said she will.
‘Shadow campaigning’
Much like campaign signs, Stedman said shadow campaigning is nothing new.
“That’s the kind of thing that politics does to people: It makes them want to raise their profile so that people know who they are, because there is such a thing – and the research has demonstrated this time and time again – as an incumbency advantage,” Stedman said.
“And the incumbency advantage is supposed to be the fact that people know your name, but what we’re seeing now is that the rules also allow you to make sure people know your name as an incumbent, because you’ve promoted your name and you just do it in the right way.”
An accusation of shadow campaigning is “much stronger” when it’s against a declared candidate, Stedman said, so an incumbent can play coy about whether they’re running again or not. Some might even hold off to take advantage of the extra attention city hall will get because of the World Cup this summer, Stedman suggested.
“It’s unpalatable for those of us on the outside looking in and thinking, ’Oh my God, we know for sure they’re going to run for re-election.’ It’s obvious what they’re doing, but the rules aren’t written in such a way that they’re on the wrong side of the line,” he said.
“So, they’re toeing the line hard, and everyone knows they’re toeing a line. You and I do, everyone who’s making these complaints knows they are. And the response always is, ’Yeah, I’m not over the line.’”
There’s nothing to say that the rules couldn’t be changed to level the playing field, for example, by restricting any sign featuring an incumbent’s name once the nomination period begins, Stedman said.
“If we find this shadow campaigning stuff distasteful, the solution is to have rules around what incumbents can and cannot do during a campaign period or once they’ve announced they’re running for re-election, and that’s not something we’ve done historically,” he said.
“This toeing-of-the-line thing is something we’ve accepted.”