‘Vote’ movement opens HQ
The Let Us Vote movement in Red Deer has a home base.
Office space has been rented at 5417-50th Ave. for three months while signatures are collected for the petition that calls for a plebiscite on a ward system in the Oct. 21 civic election.
Garfield Marks, the man behind the push, said his team will begin canvassing on April 1.
Right now the office space is being used for organizing the campaign and fielding questions about the petition.
Marks said while the response has been overwhelming, he does need more volunteers to help with the door knocking and to man the office.
“Things are going even better than I expected,” said Marks.
“I have business people looking to distribute the petitions. That’s my biggest focus now is getting the petition out.”
A petitioner has 60 days from the time of the first signature to collect the mandatory 10,000 signatures in order for it to be considered by the municipality.
Marks has heard from the residents that there are so many other issues that they would like to see on the petition but his focus is on the plebiscite.
“I think that’s the biggest issue,” said Marks.
“I think there is a lot of issues but I can’t add them all in. I think people get disappointed but I am pretty shocked at the (widespread) response. I got a call from a guy in Indonesia. He was from Red Deer and he heard about it.
“It’s amazing how big this thing is and how involved people can be when people want to get involved.”
Red Deer city council rejected adding a plebiscite on the ballot in February. Marks began the legwork to force a plebiscite shortly after.
For more information, call Marks at 403-352-8114 or email gjmarks@telusplanet.net
crhyno@reddeeradvocate.com
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