‘I’m going to be standing up an awful lot’: Kamloops MP’s Red Bridge petition nets 1,500+ responses

“Every 25 signatures you can stand up, so I’m sitting there thinking to myself, ‘Wow, 1,600 divided by 25 – I’m going to be standing up an awful lot,’ because you can only stand up once a day at a certain time. Very excited to have that engagement back,” Caputo said.

“People don’t often read out mailers, although I am surprised by how many people stopped me in the street and said, ‘I saw this in your mailer,’ but the fact 1,600 people took the time [to return the petition], it tells me this is something people are very serious about, really passionate about.”

It’s not clear when Caputo might present the petition in the House of Commons, but once it’s done, the federal government is required to respond within 45 days.

While the rebuilding of the Red Bridge is a provincial responsibility, Caputo said as an elected official, he had to act to keep up the pressure on both the provincial and federal governments – in particular Liberal Vancouver MP Gregor Robertson, the current minister of housing and infrastructure.

“I can’t wait to stand up, whether it be 20, 30, 40, even 50 times in parliament to say, ‘Look, the people of Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola want federal funding for this project,'” Caputo said. “There’s often federal money for infrastructure, so why aren’t we [seeing] it in this riding?”

“That’s going to be the point I hope to make that Kamloops is a place where this money should be spent.”

This Saturday (Sept. 19) marks the two-year anniversary since the Red Bridge was destroyed in a suspicious fire. The City of Kamloops and Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc will mark that anniversary with a public rally at Pioneer Park as part of the local effort to continue advocating for the bridge.

by Victor Kaisar

‘I’m going to be standing up an awful lot’: Kamloops MP’s Red Bridge petition nets 1,500+ responses

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