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4- PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, April 29, 1997 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" NDP picks Argyle at Port meeting Integrity is the issue New Democratic Party candidate Colin Argyle hopes to address with vot- ers in Durham during his run for the MP's seat here. Mr. Argyle, a 20-year GM employee, was select- ed as the NDP candidate by about 25 party faithful at a nomination meeting in Port Perry Sunday. He said he'll get in touch with voters here by phone and on their doorsteps, trying to hammer home the mes- sage that the Liberals have failed to deliver on promises. Those failings include a lack of action on job crea- tion, a national child care strategy, and alleviation of child poverty, said Mr. Argyle. He adds that the government has hurt peo- ple with its cuts to other social programs. And voters are upset with what they've seen for the past three and a half years of Liberal rule, he said: "I think they're dis- appointed with the people they elected," said Mr. Ar- gyle in his first interview as the NDP candidate. "People don't like people that don't keep promises." The NDP theme in this election will be the need for a conscience in the Commons. That's a role the NDP has played often in the past, when it was Tories will choose a candidate May 9 Durham's Progressive Conservatives will meet again to select a candidate for the federal election on May 9. A court ruling throwing out the results of a Feb. 15 nomination vote means the local PC party must hold another nomination meeting.A tie between the two candidates -- Newcastle lawyer Sam Cureatz and Scugog Point resident Llewellyn Jones, a teacher -- was broken by the meeting chairman, who chose Mr. Jones. That result was rejected by the national wing of the party, which ruled another vote should be taken and appointed April 26 as the date. But a court deci- sion in Mr. Cureatz's favor resulted in cancellation of that meeting. Colin Argyle (left) and fellow nomination contestant Jim Morrison speak to an NDP supporter Sunday afternoon at a nomination meeting in Port Perry. Mr. Argyle won the nomination. the third party but held enough seats to have some impact in Ottawa. The party currently has nine: MPs, and obviously needs to. elect many more, said Mr. Argyle, who feels there's ground to be gained here, and across the country. "I'm hoping to focus on the undecided voter," he said, adding he hopes as well to attract "soft Liber- als" who are disenchanted with the swing to the right their party has made while in power. There weren't many people out for Sunday's nomination meeting, held in the neighborhood hall in the Borelia housing co- op in Port Perry. Around 30 people were there, in- cluding the party execu- "tive, the two candidates -- Jim Morrison, a school custodian and CUPE rep also sought the nomina- tion -- an NDP fundraiser, one print reporter, and a crew from CBC television . workingon a documentary piece. But Gord Mills, the man from Orono who was part of the NDP sweep of Onta- rio in 1990, told the party faithful not to despair. Turnout was high in '93 Here are some of the facts and figures that were part of the election of Oct. 25, 1993 in Durham 0 The winner was Alex Shepherd of Seagrave, a Liberal, who defeated incumbent Ross Stevenson. Mr. Stevenson, a long-time Tory representative in the area, served as both MP and MPP. a His win was part of a nation-wide landslide for the Liberals, who took 177 seats, capturing along the way all but one of Ontario's MP positions. a Mr. Stevenson's loss, meanwhile, was also part of a country-wide trend. His PC Party under the leadership of Kim Campbell was swept from power and left with just two sitting members. a Mr. Shepherd took 22,334 votes, while Reform candidate Ian Smyth came in second, with 18,500. Third was the Conservative, Mr. Stevenson, with 15,014, and NDP candidate Lucy Rybka-Becker was fourth, garnering 2,519. A variety of fringe parties shared the remainder of the ballots cast. a Voter turn-out in Durham was much higher than in past federal votes; 60,289 of 86,611 eligible voters cast ballots. He's taking a second run at Durham Reform hopeful will tackle Grits' record set to Says he'll run on his record Incumbent Shepherd's take on Reform Reform candidate Ian Smyth is enter- ing the federal election race with the firm belief it will be a showdown bet veen him and incumbent Alex Shepherd -- once again. Mr. Smyth lost Durham riding to the Liberal contender by a margin of just over 3,800 votes in the 1993 election, and says this time, he's got the ammu- nition he needs to grab the seat. He plans to attack the Liberal gov- ernment on what he says are unfulfilied promises to reduce taxation, and increase employment. "Jobs are a concern to people," said Mr. Smyth, a Courtice resident who works in the travel industry. "We haven't seen job growth under the Liberals." The government has also failed in its efforts to kick-start the Canadian economy, said Mr. Smyth. And the drea- ry outlook has Canadians wanting a change badly. "I think people are tired of this," he said. "We don't seem to be pulling out of this stagnant economy." Another factor that will give Reform a boost in Durham is the fact that the Progressive Conservative campaign here is stalled, said Mr. Smyth. A dis- pute over methods used to break a tie at a nomination meeting in February wound up in court this month, and a new meeting has been scheduled for May 9, nearly two full weeks after the election call. "It's politics old-style," said Mr. Smyth. "It's infighting, and I think it turns people off. "I think the Tories are portraying themselves as divisive with their infighting." Mr. Smyth acknowledges that his campaign begins without the benefit of a surge in interest in the Reform Party, as was the case in 1993, when they were relatively new on the Canadian political scene. He said, howev- er, that his organiza- tion locally is tight, and backed by volun- teers, and enough money to run a cam- paign right. Smyth He said he'll take his message to the peo- ple of Durham door-to-door and in town hall meetings, and woo them. "Once the election gets going, I think you'll see momentum shift, kind of the way things did with the provincial elec- tion," he said, alluding to the Conservatives' surprising win over the favored Liberals in Ontario two years ago. His message will also counter the continuing criticism that Reform is a haven for intolerance and bigotry: "I wouldn't be a member of a party that had that sort of intolerance in it," he said. Incumbent Liberal MP Alex Shepherd says he's standing on his record as he seeks reelection in June's federal vote. The Scugog accountant who was first elected in the Grit sweep of 1993 said late last week his government his achieved the important objectives it targeted, and now seeks a mandate to take Canada into the 21st Century. "We talked about cutting deficits and debt, and that's sort of behind us," he said Friday, as he prepared to hit the campaign trail in Durham riding. "It means we've got other options to present to people." The nagging problem that remains to be solved is employment, said Mr. Shepherd. He contends that jobless rates are stubbornly high in part because of changes in technology that exclude many workers. - It will be the government's job to train and prepare Canada's workforce for the future with education and tech- nology, he said. "Wave gone through a period when we've paid for that (technological) adjustment, and in Durham we've paid dearly," said Mr. Shepherd. "We're going into the 21st Century as a nation; how do we do that effectively?" Mr. Shepherd seized Durham by a margin of around 3,800 votes over Reform contender Ian Smyth in 1993. He said he is proud to put forth the record of his government, and his as an individual MP. He hasn't always had the smoothest relations with the party. A few years ago he was disciplined by Prime Minister Jean Chretien for voting against the government's controversial gun legislation -- an unpopular bill here -- and also ruffled feathers by tak- ing a stand and vowing he'd turn down the attractive pension MPs are entitled to upon being re-elected. He's consistently played down those dis- t agreements, even after being removed from committee positions on Parliament Hill. "You do have dis- agreements with your party from time to time, and I think that's healthy," he said. He's ready to square off against Reform's Mr. Smyth, who gave him his best run in 1993, once more this time around: "I don't think the people are that supportive of Reform," he said. "I think if they want real reform, they'll stick with our agenda." Shepherd