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C C N A BETTER NEWSPAPERS CO M PETITIO N 2000 w w w .o a k v ille b e a v e r .c o m Leaf Blower & Snow Blower Repairs C U R R E N TP O W E RMACHINERY INC. (2M o c ke a s to fS o u th d o w n QOO A044 1661 L a k e s h o re R d. W . M is s is s a u g a Sprotts issue Aquinas gears up United Way for OFSAA hoops Challenge focus Sports WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29,2000 M e rc e d e s -B e n z Pages 75 Cents (plus GST) AM etroland Publication Liberals retain O akville, H alton ridings B o n n ie B ro w n ! p re v a ils in O ak v ille By Rod Jerred OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF * Julian R eed ~ m akes it look ea sy in H alton By Steve LeBlanc SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER In football betting terminology, Liberal Bonnie Brown beat the spread against her political opponents in Monday night's federal election. While her two main opponents, Dan Ferrone, of the Canadian Alliance, and Rick Byers, of the Progressive Conservatives, split the right wing vote in Oakville, Brown ran up the middle (or perhaps a little off left tackle) to scored a touchdown for her third suc cessive term in Ottawa. Two other opponents, Willie Lambert, of the NDP and the Green Party's David de Belle were benched early on election night. A victorious Brown lashed out against Ferrone, a local businessman and former captain of the Toronto Argonauts football team, for running a negative campaign. "Poor Dan Ferrone. He thought he was a tough guy, but he turned out to be just another pretty face," Brown said in her victory speech at Le Dome Banquet Hall. "He thought he was a football play er, but he is still wandering around the endzone looking for a Hail Mary pass and we turned up with the game ball," said Brown, as she held up a football to the applause and laughter of her sup porters. Brown described the campaign run by the Alliance as the "dirtiest' she has witnessed in more than 25 years of per sonal involvement in municipal, provincial and federal elections in Oakville. "It was disgusting," she said. "It was a disgrace to Oakville." Her tone marked an abrupt turn around from a Nov. 17th interview with the Oakville Beaver in which she described the local campaign as civil. But all that changed with the first all-candidates meeting in which Brown said she was personally attacked by Ferrone. "Instead of telling people what he stood for, he attacked me," said Brown. "I've debated (former Oakville-Milton MP) Otto Jelinek and he was a perfect gentleman. I debated Stephen Sparling and Ann Mulvale and they were both professional." During the campaign, Ferrone attacked Brown on health care and her role in the funding scandal at Human Resources Development Canada, in which she served as parliamentary sec retary under two Cabinet Ministers.. The negative campaign culminated with an outside right-wing lobby group, the Progressive Group of Businessman (PGIB) posting `Show us the money, Jane,' signs (in reference to Human Resources Development Canada Minister Jane Stewart) next to Brown's campaign signs in Oakville. Brown didn't think all of the nega tive attacks originated from Ferrone because many of her Liberal colleagues in Ontario experienced the same nasti ness in their campaigns. "I think it was canned and sent out to him, but in the end the candidate has (See `U.S.' page A5) Photo by Riziero Vertolli Photo by Peter C. McCusker Photo by Graham Paine Oakville MP Bonnie Brown (top) easily retained her seat for the Liberals. She will again be joined in Parliament by Halton riding Liberal incumbent Julian Reed who won his seat handily. He's pictured (above right) with his wife Deanna. Defeated Oakville Canadian Alliance candidate Dan Ferrone (above left) still manages a smile with wife Barb as they watch results come in showing Alliance finishing second in Oakville. i*Ferrone says only way to beat Liberals is to amalgamate right-wing parties By Kim A m ott SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER The s-word was on everyone's lips. As Canadian Alliance supporters gathered at the Holiday Inn to watch Monday night's federal election results roll in, the split in the town's right wing vote caused frustration, anger and anguish. Voters seeking a right wing alterna tive to Bonnie Brown and the Liberals divided their votes between the Alliance's Dan Ferrone and the Progressive Conservative candidate Rick Byers. If all the votes for Byers had gone to Ferrone, he would have squeaked out a win with a narrow margin of 37 votes. With both candidates in the race, Brown managed a comfortable victory, while Ferrone trailed a distant second and Byers finished third. A surprisingly cheerful Ferrone said he expected as much would happen, and added that there needs to be a national amalgamation of the Alliance and Conservative parties. . "If there's going to be two parties on the right, why run, because you're going to split it and the Liberals will come up the middle," said the former Toronto Argonaut football player. "Will quality people continue to run if they know there's still going to be this split?" Ferrone, who owns and operates a fitness centre in town and has earned a reputation for community involvement, told his supporters that the campaign experience was a wonderful one for him. "I've been in a business where sometimes you don't win the prize," he said. "We got the prize the day we got involved in this." Although the Canadian Alliance failed in its bid to make a political breakthrough in Ontario, Ferrone cap tured almost 28% of the vote in Oakville, up from the 9% garnered by the Reform Party in the last federal (See `Lobby' page A5) The Liberal red tide steam-rolled its way to another majority government last night, and Julian Reed went along for the ride. The actor turned politician C a n a d a -- much like V b t¥ s party leader Jean Chretien -- pulled off the three-peat, once again winning the 2000 Election lion's share of votes in Halton and remaining firmly entrenched as the riding's MP. While early results strongly sug gested a convincing victory, the 64year-old Norval resident kept his emo tions well guarded until local NDP flag bearer Brenda Dolling dropped by his Main Street campaign office to offer congratulations. At that point it was nearing 11 p.m. and both media and supporters were becoming anxious for Reed to recog nize his win. So in keeping with past days spent on stage and screen, he gave the audi ence what they wanted. "This is very satisfying. The people of Halton have been very good to me, I just hope I can live up to their expec tations," said Reed, who took all but one of the first two dozen polls show ing and won many by more than twice that of the Alliance Party's Tim Dobson and Progressive Conservative Tom Kilmer. About the only difference once the polls closed last night -- compared to the country's 1997 election -- proved to be a favourable one for Reed's Liberals. The party made significant head way in previously Liberal unfriendly Atlantic Canada -- which, according to campaign manager John Day, was a good omen for the night ahead. "This speaks well to a majority (government) in Canada. At this stage, it bodes well," said the Georgetown regional councillor, Day gave high praise to the over 100 volunteers who helped return Reed to Ottawa. The incumbent was equally appre ciative, stating, "It (support) was a lit tle slow with the municipal election, but it was there when we needed it and the phone gang was fabulous today (Monday)." "Elections are not won by one per son, but a dedicated group of people. I'm just the medium at the present time," said Reed. Taking an overview of the first few dozen polls, Reed said he was some what surprised by the support for T o (See `Reed' page A5) IN S ID E todayspaper Ecftoriais _ ----------------------- A6 Focus___________________ B1 entertainment......................... d o Tis the season_____________C1 Sports__________________ D1 Classified---------------------------D4 Automotive--------------------D8 Bonnie Brown (Incumbent Liberal MP) 2 3 ,0 7 3 (47.8% of vote) D a n F e rro n e C a n a d ia n A llia n ce 1 3 ,5 2 4 (28% of vote) R ic k B y e r s 9 ,5 9 4 m pc »«»+ W illie La m b ert NDP 1 ,3 3 6 (19.9% of vote) (2.8% of vote) T o tal n u m b e r o f v o t e r s : 4 8 ,3 1 0 Progressive Conservative D a v id d e B e lle G re e n Party 795 (1.6% of vote) Special fuppli m n ilr H o m ed e ive iy: HenW-PadeiA Business D e p o t. Party City Partial d e liv e ry : The Bay Eatons Grnnfan D re g s ,H o m eDepot, Mark's Wort Warehouse, Party Packagers. Permetcn. 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