Historic Quebec City hopes to take down a modern roadside decoration—the ubiquitous billboard.
The 400-year-old city is proposing a bylaw to wipe out large ad panels across much of the Quebec capital region in the next five years.
Serge Viau, the city’s assistant director general, said billboards mask Quebec City’s European architecture and stunning views.
“With the goal of cleaning up the urban landscape in mind, we decided to make the signs disappear,” Viau said of proposed changes to the city’s urban plan.
He said that in today’s age of junk mail and overloaded e-mail inboxes, there’s no need for imposing visual pollution.
“These days, there are lots of ways to advertise,” Viau said. “We are inundated by advertising everywhere.”
But companies that own the billboards say their signs provide an economic boon for the community.
Jeannot Lefebvre of CBS Outdoor said the panels create jobs and fund municipal coffers through taxes and sometimes rent.
“We don’t understand,” said Lefebvre, whose company has more than 100 signs in the capital, including a massive ad promoting Quebec City’s 400th birthday. “There are closures in different industries, of different scales, and this would be creating additional unemployment. Ask a citizen if he would want to increase his taxes by a dollar or two, I think they will say, ‘No.’”
CBS Outdoor would consider relocating unwanted billboards to accommodate the changing urban landscape, Lefebvre added.
Quebec City is not the first Canadian town to consider signage restrictions.
Vancouver limits large signs perched on rooftops, while the leafy Toronto suburb of Oakville is in court protecting its strict anti-billboard bylaw.
Billboard company Vann Media Group Inc. challenged Oakville’s ban several years ago, calling it unconstitutional.
The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled the city could limit the size of signs, but could not ban them altogether, said Oakville lawyer Barnet Kussner.
In January, an Ontario Superior Court judge quashed the bylaw. The city launched an appeal, which will be heard in May.
Also, last year, Sao Paulo, Brazil, one of the world’s most populous cities, dismantled signs and unplugged neon lights as it banned almost all forms of outdoor advertising.
Rami Tabello, creator of the anti-billboard activist website Illegalsigns.ca, called ad panels “urban blights” that can kill the nuances of a neighbourhood.
“I think it’s a fantastic thing,” Tabello said of Quebec City’s proposal. “The nature of the city and the history of the place is perhaps something that they’re looking to protect. If there’s a French word for kudos then we give that to them.”
Viau said changes to Quebec City’s urban plan call for a ban on new panels in the greater metropolitan area, which includes 11 former towns that merged several years ago.
Quebec City will host public consultations this fall on the proposal, which could be adopted as early as December.
“Certainly, the companies that manage these panels are not in agreement,” Viau said. “But in general, public reaction has been relatively good.”
Billboard companies, meanwhile, vow to defend their position during consultations.
“The industry will certainly be heard,” Lefebvre said. “We are surprised with [Quebec City’s] position, but we will learn the dossier and present our case.”
