How You Can Participate
Familiarize yourself with our draft lobby document. If you have recommendations, feel free to contact us with them.
Write to the candidates in your ward and to the mayoral candidates. You can base your letter off of this example letter for council and mayoral candidates, or use this example letter for school board trustee candidates. Ask them to commit to fully fund and support the Bicycle Transportation Plan. EBC has sent all candidates a letter and questionnaire but we want many cyclists to write letters too! The more people who ask about cycling, the more it will be on their policy agenda. Make sure your letter is framed by the big picture issues, but offer some personal stuff too. What parts of your own bicycle routes needs to be improved? Include info@edmontonbikes.ca as a carbon-copy in your letter, so we know what candidates have been asked, and forward any responses that you receive to us. We’ll be posting the responses we receive from candidates to their individual pages so that we can all learn about their positions.
Attend forums in your area. You can view a list of city-sponsored forums. Know of other forums? Let us know. Here’s a list of sample forum questions that you could ask or base your own questions on.
Results
We’re not expecting to change the results of the election. We’re non-partisan. We’ll post information that we receive here without additional commentary and let you decide. But we do want all the candidates to be aware of the concerns that cyclists have, and be constantly reminded that supporting cycling infrastructure rejuvenates neighbourhoods, and benefits both cyclists and drivers. Remind them that many of us are both drivers and cyclists. Cycling reduces congestion and road maintenance/expansion requirements, and dedicated infrastructure makes us both more comfortable.
Accountability: After the Vote
The campaign isn’t over on October 18. By then, the elected officials will know the importance of cycling issues, and we’ll have their word that it matters to them as we move into planning, budgeting and other decisions at City Hall and on the school boards.
We’re just getting started! If you want to be more involved, please contact us at info@edmontonbikes.ca, or send a message using the form below.
