Arielle Mayer…

Arielle Mayer
Senior Policy Advisor, Ministry of Transportation
Policy and Planning Division - Transportation Planning Branch
Environmental Policy Office (Toronto)
777 Bay Street, Suite 3000
Toronto, ON M7A 2J8

Re. Third-party Advertising Along Provincial Highways

I understand that the Provincial government is considering changes to its Corridor Signing Policy, including the use of third-party advertising along Provincial highways.

By way of background, the Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC) is the only non-profit organization in Canada that utilizes an in-house team of former law enforcement to actively investigate and search for missing children. When a child goes missing, the MCSC sends pertinent, time-sensitive and geographically pinpointed push notifications and amber alert information to Canadians, rallying the community to help recover missing children. We have successfully integrated digital signage technology into our mandate and with the support of this industry, missing children have been located and been brought back home across our country.

MCSC and its members fully support the use of third-party advertising along 400 series of highways and encourage the Province to adopt regulations and policies that have a positive impact across our communities. MCSC encourages Provincial regulations to be broad in nature focused on elements such as permitted sign categories (static, digital, etc), permitted land uses (industrial, commercial, utility, rail), illumination limits and size (maximum of 65 square metres).

Digital signs also provide emergency services override capabilities that police can use to disseminate important and urgent information such as evacuation routes, benefitting the public at large.

The City of Toronto previously approved the consolidation of several traditional signs, replacing a fraction of those signs to digital signs throughout the City, and these signs have been well received by MCSC members and Torontonians at large.

As a result of the aforementioned points, MCSC supports the Province in amending its Corridor Signing Policy in order to allow 3rd party digital signs adjacent to 400 series highways and grant municipalities the flexibility needed to address all sign applications within their jurisdiction regardless of whether the sign falls on municipal or provincial right of ways.

Yours Sincerely,

Amanda Pick
Chief Executive Officer
Missing Children Society of Canada

[Original Comment ID: 196097]