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i 10 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tues. August 28, 1984 Lawrence : by Cathy Robb Right from the beginning, Allan Lawrence has taken his politics straight up. | He's always had a clear view of what's right and what's not and set his own path accordingly. He's 58 years old, running in his fifth election campaign in this riding alone and he's been wrapped up in political circles most of his life. Not that his parents were ever interested in politics. They weren't. The senior Lawrence was a carpenter, trying to etch a living for his family in the Dupont/Avenue Road area of Toron- to. No, young Al Lawrence didn't inherit his enthusiasm for politics. He earned it as a seaman in the navy, during World War IL. When he returned from the war he enrolled in an arts pro- gram at the University of Toronto where, because of the times, he was surrounded with people like himself, young war veterans with a calloused outlook on governments and their decisions. graduates were war vets. We were a gener- ation that saw to what I guess, in wartime,' he recalls. "Seventy-five "We'd all come through some pretty harrowing experiences, per cent of the under- ant abi sh LE pe Conservative encumbent, Allan Lawrence and his wife Moira, haven't had much time fo spend at their beautiful coun- BUYING AN RNA For Highest extent poor political judgements could take the world"'. As a result, Lawrence and his schoolmates took their politics ser- iously. It was at U of T that struck up many influen- tial friendships includ- ing (Liberal campaign manager and Senator), Keith Davey and the outspoken Tory George Drew, who inadvertent- ly helped convince young Lawrence that Conservative was the way to go. "I was very, very impressed with him", he remembers. By the time Lawrence had completed his BA and his legal education at Osgoode Hall, he was try home lately, but when they are home, they both like to garden. ANNUITY? Quote Call: Paul Burnett ... 986-5250 LAW OFFICES OF RISEN. ESPEY & FARQUHARSON LORD SIMCOE PLACE Suite 1C - 57 Simcoe St. S.. P.O. Box 278 OSHAWA, L1H 713-571-3942 (After Hours: 985-9012) ~- Su L) SAVE YOUR BODY _-- _ ER NW sd\ TYTTZ oP) VAN CAMP CONTRACTING Lio. 90 LAY por Perry (416) 985-8469 Rt Vanedward Drive, Headquarters for 'Freeman Formalrwear (ju (Joy « = Ueno eat Lid. PORT PERRY PLAZA STORE HOURS Mon Tues & Thurs 10106 Fri 109 Sat 105 985-8160 wm VI HELP WANTED Short Order Cook & Dishwasher Full/Part Time. Apply in Person. HAUGEN'S CHICKEN B.B.Q. - MANCHESTER - deeply involved with the PC's, having helped set up a Conservative student club, He was also active on the Hart House debate comm- ittee, immersed in the stimulating political climate at the school. 'MARRIED He met and married his wife Moira at univer- sity ("She worked my way through law school") and when he was finished with books, the newlyweds swept off to Europe for a year, with nary a responsibil- ity in sight. Allan did some supply teaching in London for three months at a time to save enough money to travel. And when they ran out of money, he borrowed enough to get them back to London so he could work some more and save some more and travel some more. Although tripping through Europe became fashionable for young adventurers in the six- ties, it wasn't so common when Allan and Moira did it. Some people wondered what they were doing but they were merely having fun. "It was a wonderful year, really'"', he says, his campaign-weary bones curled up on a soft couch in the Lawrence's Janetville country home. But when the year was up, it was time to face reality and for Allan Lawrence, reality was a position with a small law firm in Toronto, where he eventually worked his way up to junior part- ner. He also kept his finger in the local political pie, working within the Con- servative party on an organizational level. YOUNGEST P.C. And in 1958, when the Provincial constituency became vacant, Al Law- rence ran for the PC nomination and won. He also won the election and became the young- est member of the provincial legislature at the time. It wasn't too long before John Robarts noticed the young MPP"s talents and ask- ed him to join his cabinet, 'quite remark- ably, at the time, he made me the Minister of Mines". Remarkable, because Lawrence was a city boy and the mine post had traditionally been held by a northerner. Still, he had done some mining law and he knew a few people in the mining business. Be- sides, Robarts figured Lawrence fit the bill. So he left his law practice and made politics a full-time job. After he'd been in the cabinet for awhile, he saw a need for a new department. While carrying out his mining duties he came across some pretty isolated communities in the pro- vince that weren't being served by the govern- ment as well as they should have been. - When he stated his case, the powers-that-be agreed and the Depart- ment of Northern Affairs was christened. Later, thanks to Al Lawrence, the mines were amalgamated with the department of forests to become the Department of Natural Resources. From that point on, Allan's career sky- rocketed. He was made attorney-general and even ran against Bill Davis for the leadership of the provincial Conser- vative party. NEWCOMER But in 1972 he wanted out of provincial poli- tics. He'd built a home in the "boonies" of Durham-Northumber- land, in between Beth- any and Janetville, and when the local riding office asked him out-of- the-blue to run in the '72 federal election, all he could say was yes. However, his odds of winning the race seem- ed almost insurmount- able. He was a relative newcomer to the area, running against a popu- lar Liberal incumbent by the name of Honey. "I really didn't think I'd beat him", he says, and then adds with a grin "but to my sur- prise, and everyone else's horror, I guess, I won". He immediately dis- covered the difference between federal and provincial politics is like night and day. Local issues were suddenly head and shoulders more important to local people than anything else. And because the riding was so vast, with eight or 10 succinctly different communities to contend with at the same time, campaign- ing wasn't so easy. In the riding of St. George, where Law- rence spent his provin- cial days, he could "walk from one end to the other in 10 minutes". People were concentrat- ed in one area, issues affected most people the same way and it was an easy area to campaign in. Suddenly, things were different. "When I first came here I realized the only thing you could do was set up a constituency office", he says. "Ten years ago, there was no such thing as a constit- uency office, but it was the only way they (con- tituents) could keep in touch with me'. Other politicians in. other areas watched Lawrence's success with the offices and eventually they became commonplace in nearly every riding across the country. And of course, there was Moira to help him campaign, Moira who "is a better campaigner than I am, really", to field phone calls, answer questions and accompany her husband on the often gruelling campaign trail. Each time he has been sent to Ottawa, Moira stays home to hold the fort until he can get home - which he does each weekend. Lawrence makes it a point to be in the riding as often as he can, talking to the people who elected him and trying to solve their problems. He resents the way - some politicians get elected and literally move into Ottawa, buy- ing houses, uprooting their families -- and forgetting all about the ridings that put them in ° the nation's capital in the first place. But then, in a lot of ways, the trim white- haired MP doesn't think much of Ottawa, calling it "insular" and *"'isolat- ed". "It's a very classified place. If you're a politi- cian, you speak only to other politicians. If you're a civil servant, you speak only to other civil servants. It's like living on a totem pole", he explains. 'I just welcome the chance to get away from Ottawa and get back to what I call the real world". FRUSTRATED But he appreciates the work that can be done through Ottawa, although he ladles the Trudeau government with ~~ over-governing, and says he's been nothing but frustrated with trying to get things accomplished in the last five years as a Conser- vative in a House full of Liberals. "I just hope it's going to be a majority govern- ment', he says about this election, noting that as far as he's concern- ed, it's the only way to get things done. He's also cautious of the reports he's been hearing that the Conser- vatives are going to take the country by land- slide, via a majority Canada hasn't seen the likes of for a long time. The polls are uplifting, but he's wary of them. "Which scares me. I've had people say to 'me, 'Oh, you don't need any help. You're a shoo-in' ", he says, sipping on a mug of hot tea. "Whenever 1 get involved in a campaign, I run scared'. ar A AN et EE } } I | i | L