Out-of-Home Marketing Association of Canada requests by-law delay in Toronto
By Adnews Staff
The Out-of-Home Marketing Association of Canada has requested that the City of Toronto sign by-law project team defer for one month the presentation of a draft by-law regarding signage in the city. The draft is scheduled to be presented to the city's Planning and Growth Committee on Nov. 4. The association maintains that the draft was developed without sufficient consultation with the out-of-home industry and will introduce increased fees and new regulations that the association describes as "punitive, unrealistic and unfair." "We are disappointed the City sign by-law project team chose to shut the industry out of a proper consultative process and is pushing forward with new untested rules and new unsubstantiated taxes that may devastate the industry financially and put at risk significant revenue earned by the City of Toronto as well as many small businesses," said Rosanne Caron, president of the association. "This is not a fair, open or transparent process. We have attempted to dialogue with the City over the past eighteen months but have never received a response of any kind concerning our many submissions including an independent economic analysis of the proposed billboard tax."