Lake Scugog Historical Society Historic Digital Newspaper Collection

Port Perry Star, 5 Sep 1984, p. 2

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EE J 2 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Wed. September 5, 1984 Allan and Moira Lawrence were all smiles following the Conservative's record victory Tuesday night. Results from neighbouring communities It was over from the beginning, as a massive Progressive Conservative victory was apparent less than half an hour after the polls closed on Tuesday night. But closer to home, in the riding of Oshawa, New Democratic Party leader Ed Broadbent kept his seat from the PC's with a margin of just over 1,700 votes. Mr. Broadbent received 17,932 votes withP.C. candidate Alex Sosna getting 15,229 and Liberal Terry Kelly receiving only 7,162. In Ontario Riding, incumbent Scott Fennell, running for the Progressive Conser- vatives won by a landslide over his nearest rival Liberal Gary Herrema. Mr. Fennell picked up 34,125 votes, to 13,679 for Herrema and 12,108 for Rison of the NDP A very disappointed Gary Herrema said that he would like to have done a lot better, but would just have to fight another day. In other nearby ridings, Bill Scott of Haliburton was returned as the Conservative candidate defeating the NDP by over 11,000 votes and the Liberals by over 12,000. Mr. Scott received 16,991 votes. In Peterborough, Conservative Bill Dom was re-elected with 21,881 votes, beating his closest rival by over 12,000 votes. The Liberals received 9,499 and the NDP 8,846 votes. The above figures were the most accurate available as the Star went to press late Tuesday night. (From page 1) clustered about the two television monitors wat- ching the national results, but there was on- ly the occasional burst of applause as the TV an- nouncers told of Liberal candidates and cabinet ministers going down in defeat in riding after riding from the east coast, through Quebec and Ontario. And after it became apparent that Mr. Lawrence had won the riding easily, few people paid much attention to the campaign workers posting the poll by poll results from Durham Northumberland. GRACIOUS Just after 9:00 P.M., Mr. Campbell, accom- panied by his wife Carole and members of his family, made an ap- pearance at the Lawrence headquarters to concede defeat and of- fer congratulations. Mr. Campbell, ap- peared shell-shocked, but graciously offered personal congratulations to Mr. Lawrence and even managed to crack a joke. "At least at Custer's last stand, they left the horse,"" he said and referred to the 'smashing Conservative victory." He praised Mr. Lawrence for waging a clean campaign that was "never personal," and suggested it was obvious - the people of Canada wanted a change this election. It was a tough moment for the Port Hope realtor who waged an arduous personal campaign in the riding, knacking on the doors of almost 12,000 households. After offering his con- gratulations to Mr. Lawrence, he left quick- ly to return to his own campaign workers and supporters at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Port Hope. New Democrat Roy Grierson also arrived at the Lawrence head- quarters a few minutes later and in offering con- gratulations to the win- ner, he too noted that the campaign had been a clean one. '"Maybe I'll be back in five years," he quipped, adding that Mr. Lawrence in Ottawa will "be my MP as much as he is anyone else's."' Mr. Lawrence responded with some kind words about the hard work Mr. Grierson Darce and Carole Campbell embrace in a happier mo- ment at Liberal campaign headquarters. put into his campaign and said "we see eye to eye on quite a few things. things." As he was leaving the hall, Mr. Grierson, 70, said he was not happy with the fact he didn't poll 30 per cent of the vote in Durham North- umberland, a figure he had been aiming for. When asked for an assessment of why the riding and country had gone so overwhelmingly to the Tories, Mr. Grier- son could only shrug and say it was obvious the people wanted a change. He said he didn't believe the NDP lost any of its support from the last election in this riding, but it was ap- parent the Party did not gain any of the dis- satisfied Liberal voters. However, he did sug- gest that the NDP will continue to stress issues and will be "the most ef- fective opposition Party in Parliament." Mr. Grierson said he has no plans to enter politics again and he is looking forward to taking a vacation, now that the campaign is over. AWESOME But the evening belonged to Mr. Lawrence and his sup- porters. When he ad- dressed them just before 10:30, he too seemed to be in awe at the magnitude of the victory. '""Never before has there been such a sweep," he said referr- ing to Durham Northum- berland. '""'And the national figures are almost unbelievable, awesome. The people of this coun- try have spoken em- phatically. They really do want a change in Ot- tawa," he told the crowd. "And now it is up to us to provide good, safe, sound government for this country,' he stated. He warned that the next four years in Ot- tawa "are going to be tough ones because there is so much work to be done And taking a hard shot at money poured into Liberal ridings, he said it was gratifying to see that "people can't be bought anymore with their own money Mr Lawrence had words of praise for his wife Moira, calling her the 'best campaigner in the riding," and for his campaign manager Bob Election CONSERVATIVE FEVER | Fair, the man "who gives the orders." And he pledged to re- main close to the people who had returned him to office for the fourth time. "I will be looking to you for advice, to keep us on the straight and nar- row, just in case we waiver," he told the crowd. Before leaving the stage, he and his wife Moira accepted a book on Ontario history as a gift from his campaign workers and supporters. MOOD CHANGE By 11:30, there were still eight polls left to be counted and party workers said they had no idea just why these polls were so long in reporting the results. The hall was filling up with well wishers by this time and the subdued mood of earlier in the evening began to change as Conservative faithful sensed total victory across the country and began to celebrsa 'e. Commenting ¢.1 what role he may have :n the Brian Mulroney govern- ment in Ottawa, Mr. Lawrence said he would like to hold the Justice portfolio. He was justice critic in the Commons during the session which ended before the election. TOWNSHIP RESULTS The election results (unofficial and with 190 of 198 polls counted) in Scugog Township broke down as follows. In Reach Township, Mr. Lawrence polled 1429 to 479 for Mr. Camp- bell and 387 for Mr. Grierson. In Port Perry, Mr. Lawrence polled 1028 to 344 for Mr. Campbell and 325 for Mr. Grierson. In Scugog Island, Mr. Lawrence had 523 votes to 177 for Mr. Grierson and 154 for Mr. Campbell. And in Cartwright, which has strongly sup- ported the Conservatives in the past, Mr. Lawrence picked up 1059 votes, while Mr Grier- son had 454 and Mr Campbell 255 In the last Federal elec- tion on February 18, 1980, Mr. Lawrence captured 17, 129 votes. Liberal candidate Ed Schamerhorn polled 11,216 votes whole NDP candidate Fred McLaughlin had 9315 votes. PTR PPR -- a " a ed

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