INNISFAIL – Lindsey Forget refuses to just sit back.
The 34-year-old well known realtor has lived in the Innisfail and area her entire life and now she wants to add her voice to town council for the Oct. 18 general municipal election.
Forget, who never before has run for public office, feels the town is currently going through a transition and she wants to be part of the decision-making process that will guide the community of almost 8,000 citizens through the challenging days ahead.
“I just can’t sit back and ignore what is going on,” said Forget, who has called Innisfail home for the past 17 years after being born and raised in the Spruce View area. “There is a struggle. The main reason there is a council is to bring voices of Innisfail to the meetings and let that be heard, and I think it’s important to have unity and to have their voices heard in decisions that are being made or presented.
“I am going to take everybody’s voices and what they are saying and I am going to keep pushing forward with it, and not just abandon them and ignore the situation or let it fizzle,” she added.
For the past eight of her 17 years in Innisfail Forget has found success in the real estate industry. She now wants to give back to the community and see it grow and thrive during what everyone hopes will soon be a post-COVID-19 pandemic era.
“We have a lot of amazing businesses, a lot of amazing community members. I just want to put some positivity out there, and stop focusing on some of the stuff that is all the noise and just start focusing on all the good,” said Forget, a huge supporter of local businesses. “It is time to settle that noise and try to just go forward and build something greater.”
One area in the community she would like to see become greater is a marquee venue for Innisfailians to embrace health, comfort and feel a sense of community. She is a huge supporter for the immediate planning of a multiplex, an issue that is also supported by other municipal election candidates.
“I think we should have done it years ago. We need to give families more opportunities and more amenities to be using. We have a seniors’ community but we also have a really big family community,” said Forget, who is married with two young children. “Finishing school here and raising my own family, it would have been nice to have a little bit more offered to stay and raise families here.
“I know a lot of people left and went to Red Deer or different cities and towns,” she added. “I just wish there was a reason to keep them here a little bit more because we have a really tight knit community and it would be great to have some things like that in place when I was raising my kids.”
The municipal election is still seven months away. Forget is just beginning to campaign, and there is a lot of work to do.
Forget said she plans to do a lot of campaigning through social media, as well as newspaper advertising and knocking on doors, safely of course with COVID in mind.
“Knocking on the door, standing back with the mask on and getting the sense of what the homeowners and people want,” she said, adding she’s up for the long campaign ahead as she is a candidate with plenty of drive.
“I am resilient and young and ambitious. I like to make things happen. Once I start something, I finish it.”
