The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

4 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, June 8, 1999 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" Durham votes: Tories returned Victorious O'Toole hints he'd like to be Speaker By Chris Hall Port Perry Star Durham residents continued to show their true blue colours last week, re-electing incum- bent Tory MPP John O'Toole in the June 3 provincial election. Durham was rated as 'the eighth safest Conservative seat by the Tories during the 28-day campaign. Mr. O'Toole had no trouble keeping his seat, receiving more than 26,000 votes compared to his closest competitors, Liberal - Garry Minnie, who lured 14,600 votes. Cheers of celebration were heard at Mr. O'Toole's cam- paign office in Bowmanville about 40 minutes after the local polls closed at 8 p.m., and results began flowing in. As more and more numbers poured in and were posted on a wall, the question of whether or not the Tory would win were replaced by whether or not he would lose a poll. Roughly an hour after his victory was assured, the MPP made his way into the small office and was met with cheers, hugs, and flowing champagne. "This is an 'honour... it is very humbling," Mr. O'Toole | said. "We now have four more years to manage the changes we've made... some of the deci- sions we've made have been dif- ficult for everyone, but this party is not here to dismantle the province, we're here to take it back to first place where it belongs," he said. "Any change is difficult to make if you're not prepared to make it... but if you don't move forward, then you're going to slide back. I think we've sent a clear message to Mike Harris," he told the crowd of more than 50 family members, friends, and supporters. It was the second consecu- tive landslide win for Mr. O'Toole, who handily defeated NDP incumbent Gord Mills in the 1995 election. But he was- n't gloating about the margin of victory. "I'd be quite content with 50 per cent plus one," he said out- side his office during a media scrum. "There were two very worthy opponents in this election. Garry Minnie was very respect- ful, he ran a very decent cam- paign here, which is very" important because this is a democratic process. I think we'd consider ourselves work- ing friends," said Mr. O'Toole. "We werent cocky or over- confident. This is an interest- ing riding... a slice of Ontario." As for his return to Queen's Park, Mr. O'Toole hinted that he may be looking for a little more than a backbencher's role. "There's some strong mem- bers in caucus, although some ministers may not return," he said, referring to the ousting of Education Minister Dave Johnson, Agriculture Minister Noble Villeneuve, and Culture Minister Isabel Bassett. "There's some good people here in the area -- Jim Flaherty (Whitby-Ajax), Janet Ecker (Pickering-Ajax-Uxbridge), and Chris Hodgson (Haliburton- Victoria-Brock) -- and we'll all do what the Premier asks of us," said Mr. O'Toole. "I'll work hard for my con- stituents and Mike Harris.... and if things come up, like speaker, well, that would be an interesting location. I have a neutral voice and that would suit my style." And as for a return to the office, Mr. O'Toole says it's back to work this week. "First I want to reward the people who have helped me; I want to take some time and say thank you," he said, estimating up to 60 people assisted him in his re-election campaign. "The budget is still not bal- anced and I suspect we'll be called back at the end of the summer, maybe before, so we can move forward and make sure there is a strong economy for our health care system and education," he said. "We've got to make some changes and then adjust those changes to make sure the out- come is appropriate." John O'Toole is joined by wife Peggy for a toast of his elec- tion victory Thursday night. wish you well... the respect of the people." A few blocks east at the Liberal elec- tion headquarters, however, many peo- ple were not as upbeat. "Durham Riding is the eighth safest By Chris Hall Port Perry Star Dreams of a Liberal government in Ontario will have to be put on the shelf for at least another four years. After running neck-and-neck with the Conservatives in a number of polls leading up to the June 3 provincial election, Ontario's Liberals -- including Durham riding candidate Minnie -- didn't get the support they were looking for from the province's voting public. "'m not thrilled with the results here or across the province, but we have to accept the people's decision. We put our platform out there -- they knew what we were offering -- and I'm not making any apologies for the outcome," Mr. Minnie said outside Conservative MPP John O'Toole's cam- paign office shortly after conceding defeat. Mr. Minnie received the support of 14,694 voters, far short of Mr. O'Toole's 26,111. Unlike the three main party leaders, candidates in the Durham riding ran a quiet campaign. "We ran a clean campaign and kept it out of the mud," Mr. Minnie told Mr. O'Toole. "You did everything right and I you clearly have won Garry of eo Grit hopeful applauds clean campaign in Durham that was our first indication there would be no change. I don't know if it was voter apathy or cynicism.... every poll I went to there was no one at." Despite the disappointing outcome, Mrs. Pearce described the '99 election as one of the best she's ever been involved with. "We had a huge turnout here," she said, pointing to nearly 100 supporters who joined the Liberal team at the Royal Canadian Legion in Bowmanville. "We've never had more volunteers than this. This was a dream campaign, except for the result. We had the vol- unteers and the money, just not the support at the polls." Mrs. Pearce, a former ward and regional councillor in Scugog, and a provincial candidate for the Liberals, said she's not quite ready yet to back out of politics. "No, this isn't it for me," she said, fighting back tears and accepting sup- port from passersby. "The job's not done. I stayed in municipal politics when I thought the job wasn't done and I'm staying in provincial politics because I know the job's not done." Throughout the 28-day election cam- paign, Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty may have taken the most personal crit- icism, but Mrs. Pearce notes that this election will only make him stronger. "He is a young man... certainly the last two weeks of the campaign Dalton seat for the Tories and that continues. Defeated Liberal candidate Garry Minnie (right) talks with a supporter at his McGuinty started to grow into his posi- We couldn't 'buck the trend here or Bowmanville headquarters Thursday night. In background is campaign man- tion. He'll lead the Liberals to another across the province," said campaign ager Marilyn Pearce. Local Grits had high hopes for a win in Durham as the election... we're not going to give up on manager Marilyn Pearce. final days of the election wound down, but saw the riding goTory with the rest Dalton McGuinty, he's a decent young "The voter turnout was light, and 4f the province. | man."