Dear Voters,
After a long five month campaign period since May, I want to express my gratitude to my volunteers, donors and everyone who supported and contributed to my campaign. I have learned so much running this campaign. My experiences listening and talking to residents have taught me a lot both as a candidate and as a person. As the final voting day is coming up very soon, I’d like to write a letter for all of you to express how I feel, and also tell you one more time why I want to be your city councillor.
If you live in Markham Ward 2 and you haven’t decided who to vote for, I hope you will decide to vote for me after knowing what I stand for. I was born in Hong Kong and came to Canada when I was 14. I studied, worked, got married and started my family here in Canada. As a proud first generation Canadian, I want to represent the core value of Canada – Freedom, democracy, fairness, diversity and inclusiveness. We do not want our city council to be heavily influenced by political parties, developers and big corporations, that is why I ran my campaign 100% on donations from my friends, family and my own pocket. I did that so I can be your voice and stand by our residents best interests, which means – I do not support rooming houses in Markham; I support a vacant home tax plan; I believe the quality of our existing neighbourhoods must not decline because of new developments; I am against over-development especially in Ward 2 where people bought their homes here 20, 30 years ago wanted a lower density, Canadian suburban life style; We need transparency and public accountability in the council therefore I support the implementation of a lobbyist registry. From your TV news anchor becoming your city councillor, I will bring integrity from my previous 15 years of work to the city council. To support true Canadian values, vote Ritch for Markham Ward2 on Oct 24.
Sincerely,
Ritch Lau
Your next Markham City Councillor for Ward 2
