Sudbury Cyclists Union Sunday Ride Joined By Candidates for Municipal Council

Just a shorter blogpost today (if that's possible for me; let's see). I just wanted to comment on the Sudbury Cyclists Union ride through the downtown today. As many readers are probably already aware, the Sudbury Cyclists Union has been hosting rides every Sunday for the past couple of months. What made today's ride a little different had to do with some of the attendees.

As the last leg of the municipal election is about to kick off next week, and given the horrible collision witnessed by many cyclists during this past week's Share the Road Ride, the Sudbury Cyclists Union invited all municipal Council and Mayor candidates to attend today's ride.

Now, bear in mind that invitation went out with only short notice, and it is the Labour Day weekend, so obviously not everyone running for Council would have been able to attend. A few candidates sent their regrets, including Mayoral candidate (and current Mayor) John Rodriguez, and Mayoral candidate Derek Young.

Although with little notice, and on a long weekend, a number of candidates for Council did come out to today's ride and said a few words to riders before we departed for a ride through the smoke in-”Ribfest”ed downtown. A few even joined us on their own bikes, but the cyclists certainly appreciated the support of all of the candidates who turned out. Especially on such short notice.

Now, please someone let me know if I've missed anyone from the following list of municipal candidates who were present and said a few words at today's ride. With all but one exception, none of those in attendance today currently sit on our municipal council:

Ted Callaghan, candidate for Mayor (and current councillor for Ward 8)
Richard Paquette, candidate for Ward 4
Ron LaPlante, candidate for Ward 8
Lorenzo Tripodi, candidate for Ward 8
Paul Stopciati, candidate for Ward 9
Jeff MacIntyre, candidate for Ward 12

Cyclists were also joined by Gordon Harris, the former federal candidate for the Green Party. Gordon promised everyone some free bike route maps at next Sunday's event. So, if you're in town next Sunday, join us at Market Square for our next ride, time to be announced (usually we've left at 1pm, but today was pushed back to 2pm; more to follow in the Comments section when information becomes available. Of course, if you're on Facebook, why not join the Sudbury Cyclists Union group and get all of the latest updates that way?)

Again, thanks to everyone who came out today. We need to continue to show our City that cyclists are going to be on our roads in ever increasing numbers in the years to come, and that it's time we all moved ahead, and started making decisions, with this fact in mind.

Thanks to Bob Vaillancourt of the Sudbury Star for covering today's event as well.