'The east end has been screaming for this for quite some time. Hopefully the petition can amplify those screams'

It can’t hurt.

That’s part of the thinking behind a petition started by an east Guelph resident trying to get Loblaw to build a grocery store on a parcel of land it has owned for several years.

Tom Poray started the change.org online petition on Friday and quickly got 50 signatures.

Mayor Cam Guthrie gave it a big thumbs up on his Twitter account and Ward 1 councillor Dan Gibson offered to hand deliver the petition to Loblaw’s head office in Brampton once it was complete.

“There’s been ongoing discussions about starting something like this amongst many of us. At least we can have a collective voice heard,” said Poray, who lives on Maude Lane.

“The south end of Guelph has multiple grocery stores. The east end has been screaming for this for quite some time. Hopefully the petition can amplify those screams.”

“Obviously movements are built now on collectives and we need something to steer it or be that catalyst. If we can get a petition out there and get enough people to sign, then maybe the people that can make these decisions will actually look at it.”

For the love of everything that is good in this world, sign this and share it for our Eastenders #Guelph! https://t.co/RCQ4gt7dgp — Mayor Cam Guthrie (@CamGuthrie) December 5, 2019

Happy to drive this to the Brampton head office & hand deliver it if you’d like. 👍 https://t.co/CazcJ6oW6Y — Dan Gibson (@DanGibsonCllr) December 5, 2019

East Guelph has been crying out for a grocery store for 10 years. Loblaw owns the only significant piece of land appropriately zoned for a grocery store but has chosen not to build one thus far, despite pleas from the city.

The city is in the process of creating more land along York Road available for potential retail development, which could provide another option for a grocery retailer. But that land isn’t likely to be available for some time.

Poray knows the backstory. He echoes the sentiment that east Guelph, like most of the city, is growing and there is lots of new residential development, but on the east side the amenities haven’t kept pace.

“You’re moving in all these new people, but what’s there for them? … What services and supports are being put in place prior to these things being built?

He thinks it “needs to be the people themselves” to raise their voices and initiate change.

“It’s getting out there,” he said of the petition on social media. “It’s just a matter of getting everyone to sign it.”

Once finished, he will send it to city council to “hopefully strengthen” its voice.

“There was a tweet by councillor Dan Gibson about driving it to Brampton himself. We can always do a road trip. I’m good for one of those,” Poray said.