Access members mobilize petition

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This article was published 23/04/2015 (3283 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The access to a possible merger between two of the largest financial cooperatives in the province has been reopened.

A petition began circulating Thursday to revisit a marriage between Access Credit Union’s 17 branches in southern Manitoba and the 21 branches Assinboine Credit Union boasts, predominantly in Winnipeg.

Carman and Community Chamber of Commerce president Scott Johnston has spearheaded this petition. He said he has individuals in numerous communities, including Grunthal, Sprague, Vita and Morris, with copies.

Johnston can be contacted at 1-204-750-2320 if you would like a petition emailed to you. He said Friday afternoon he has no petitions in Dominion City or Emerson yet.

Wednesday’s narrowly defeated rejection, which lost by 25 ballots, can be revisited if a member-driven petition obtains 500 signatures. Access directors must then call a vote within 30 days.

Of the more than 700 Access members who voted, 63 percent were in favour of amalgamation, which is shy of the two-thirds majority required.

Assinboine members were more supportive, with 95 percent support.

Carl Reimer, who is allocating petitions in Grunthal, said he left copies at Grunthal Welding, Grunthal Lumber, Grunthal Grocery, Patio Grill, Ste Anne Co-op and Oakland Petro.

If approved, the combined entity would become the province’s largest credit union, dethroning Steinbach Credit Union.