CALGARY -- For at least the past year in Calgary, lawn signs have been popping up one after another, expressing support for a string of issues. Alberta Parks, headwaters coal mining, post-secondary education, health care workers are just some of the hot-button topics raised by the abundant signage. There might not be an election in sight for a while, but one expert said that's what it's all about. "To think that these signs aren't political would be very much misreading them," said Janet Brown, a pollster and political researcher. "They are a new tactic that a lot of public affairs organizations are using."