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PC leadership 83 A convention notebook Halloa MP Otto Jellnck a hot of eventual winner Brian throughout convention It urn or mm have died down that will give up his so the new IndependentFree Press water Gord Murray spent three days at the Tory leadership convention in Ottawa ding policy sessions to hear the candi dates listening to the speeches reading all the literature distributed by the dates talking to other media watching the voting and floor action on Saturday talking to delegates observers alter nates and workers from coast to coast gnd soaking up the atmosphere of a ma jor political gathering by Gord Murray Graeme a Brampton Georgetown alternate delegate performed the roll of a convention buddy A buddy keeps track of a couple of delegates in other camps in his case one from the John delegation and one David supporter Buddies usually have something in com moo similar Lie experiences They chat about their common interests and also discuss a little politics G acme targets were delegates who l swing to his man Joe Clark on the se cond ballot or even later Before the initial conversation ends pinned buddies In the case of Joe s workers their targets were given a small blue pin with a white check mark in the middle Then tbe MPs and Senators supporting Joe would circulate the convention looking for Clark pinned buddies Spotting one the prominent politician would then try and pitch Joe again Brian CargUl a former prominent Atlas Conservative now living in alternate delegate and codn get to vote be didn mind a bit Brian said he been a delegate to leader ship conventions three other times and en Joyed being an alternate more You see he was a Brian Mulroney sup porter from start to finish so while dele gates were busy coming and going from the polls Brian was busy working tbe floor try to bring delegates over to his man He never bad to lea the fun on the floor delegate Betty as a tracker at the cornen on She also worked on her candidates day day convention strategy team A tracker Betty also trained other Crosbie workers to be trackers while in Ot la wo spends a lot of then- time in Ottawa going from camp to camp spreading good will Betty just presented herself as an indivi dual who was backing Crosbie If they like me think I m a nice person maybe they II be more likely to support John along the way Prior to the convention she worked on tbe Crosbie team doing Ontario delegate pro files Janet Gallln formerly of the Rockwood area went to the convention as a Clark sup porter Janet moved away from home in 1979 to further her education and attended the convention us a delegate from Grant Macewan College in Alberta Her parents June and Jack still live on a farm in the Rockwood area There been a bit of a mystery ding Sine lair Stevens ever since we reported the former leadership hopeful and ex Sooth MP Don Blenkara at right Mc Derm Id looked crushed when the final vole was Bounced and bb party bad a new leader Convention notebook Betty maintains Crosbie best man Batty Fisher wetted hart far Jsta Crash waned as fcaektog Brian Matraney tat foal She erred at a tracker the a strategy team Betty Fisher kept maintaining there was no need for her to have a second choice because her man Crosbie was the best for the Job and was going to win But when be was forced out after third ballot Betty like the majority of people swung behind She said Qrst ballot figure of was right on where expected a were and Clark a counts camp expected se cond strength to be soft lor Joe to tumble on the second vote and a lot of bis rotes to come over to Crosbie But Joes vote wasnt soft it quite firmly Between second and third vote Betty corralled quite a number of Clark sup porters and gave them a strong push to dump Joe and move over to John for the third ballot Just as Newfoundland Premier Betty and others on floor were teQing Clark people they had better swing to Crosbie or watch Joe late to on tbe last ballot They laughed roe Betty explained tbey were teOing dark people that it dido even nuttier if Crosbie went dark after tbe third ballot few of delegates would foUow It was bard to take the Crosbie loss I felt he bad masses and was by far be best man for the Job He would have given tbe Canadian people spirit and nope Tbe beat man lost it makes me shake my bead about theolitical process tbe Georgetown school trustee who also once represented Aden and said What makes me shake my head even more was Inept political thinking of the Clark people We told them most Crosbie votes would go to and they believe us She she felt sorry for Joe be wound up getting another pie the face Fisher observed dark a people were so of then- man who tbey thought had been wronged so many times in the past Sinclair Stevens talks about his brief in Esqu Township Treasury Board president was bom In Es Interviewed in Ottawa on the weekend Sine confirmed he had been born in but didn t live here long only until he was about 3yearsoId He was bom in a house In the Boston Church area in the southwest part of the township Sine said he believes the house is now owned by a nent township resident and sheep it really cattle farmer Seems the Stevens family came to Canada from Ireland in and stayed in until about 1930 They were Intending to become farmers but decided It would be better to gain some practical experience v or king on someone else farm first When the man they were working or mov to Weinberg in about 1930 they went with him Now the Stevens clan resides in Kletnberg beside Pierre Berton Stevens by the way represents and other communities in Parliament Former Halton West MPP including Ac ton George Kerr was In the Michael Wilson camp at the convention However once the Wilson campaign died and his delegates went to and Mulroney Wilson backed Mulroney I t see George again so I don know who he backed after that Kerr used to be a cabinet minister but now sits in the legislature as simply a Conservative MPP He represents Burl riding Welling MP Perrln Beat- ly was another MP for Clark also was branded a Tory for Life Antiabortionists were handing out cards to anyone entering the Civic Centre grounds throughout the convention These cards Bealty Tory for Life enjoys the big PC barbecae In Ottawa at the convention Friday were a lot like sports collection cards with the prominent Conservative photo on front and a bit about tbeir political career on the back Tories for Life were big name Conservatives who are against abortion I don t know about Perrin but reportedly some MPs happy with being named as antiabortionists since polls of the dele gates indicated the majority favored tlon About planned redistribution changes for his seat after the next federal election Beat ty agreed it will mean he has a little less territory to cover in his sprawling riding but added quickly 1 miss it seat will be Just Wellington the Simcoe portion is being split off so he 11 lose about constituents in Adjala and Townships Former Ac tools and tbe present chair man of Peel Region Frank Bean took in convention But he waso t a delegate alter or even an observer Bean who kept reminding me Acton was his old home town attended as a media person He writes a column for sisters paper of this publication Tbe Mississauga News and Brampton Guardian This scribbler has seen Joe Clark numerous times even had my picture taken twice with him In color once to go with an interview during tbe IBM campaign and I mentioned to both John McDermU BramptaoGeergetewa MP and Fran Bahwa of Georgetown that I d never seen him so strong and forceful as be was in tbe policy sessions on Friday He even stopped flailing bis fingers around and was making points with par closed fist suggested he mutt have been taking speaking style lessons Not so replied simply a case of Joe gaining more e John noted even Premier Davis exactly a ball of fire when be started and look at ban now with of exp under his