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a -- a PORT PERRY STAR -- Wed. September 5, 1984 -- 3 Round-up SWEEPS ACROSS CANADA Durham riding Liberals swallow a bitter defeat J } f / y / / / / a 3 - bo An exuberent, Lawrence addresses a boisterous crowd of Progressive Conservatives in Port Hope election night. The Tories swept Durham- New Democrat Roy Grierson dropped by Con- servative party headquarters in Port Hope to offer his congratulations to a smiling Allan Lawrence. victorious Allan Northumberland with the same vigour the party used to take Canada in the biggest landslide win in recent history. Never in their wildest nightmares did Durham- Northumberland Liberals anticipate such a bitter defeat. They had so much hope this time around. A summer election cam- paign with a fresh face, promising change and new directions. They had John Turner re-bounding from a successful leader- ship campaign, and they were confident. They also had Darce Campbell, a 53 year old Port Hope realtor who bubbled over with infec- tious energy and over- whelming enthusiasm. In the beginning of this summertime election, local Liberals were confident. But like hundreds of thousands of other Grits across the country, they were forced to face up to the cold, hard reality of a landslide Conservative victory like no other seen in recent years. When the numbers were tallied up, Liberal candidate Darce Camp- bell had lost out to Con- servative incumbent Allan Lawrence by ap- proximately 8,000 votes. Liberal candidate Darce Campbell concedes defeat to the Conservatives, while Allan Lawrence looks on. The Tories won by nearly 8,000 votes. Things couldn't have been much worse for the 50 or so Liberal faithful who gathered in the Port Hope Knights of Colum- bus Hall on election night. While friends and relatives of Mr. Camp- bell stared morosely at a television screen wat- ching election results, Tories were whooping it up at a Legion Hall, only a few miles away, pack- ed to the rafters with near delirious supporters singing "Happy Days Are Here Again." And until Mr. Camp- bell arrived at the Hall, sometime around 10 p.m., the conversation barely touched on politics. There was talk of golf and movies, but very few words about the Liberal candidate's chances. When pressed, Roly Campbell gave his brother a 60/40 chance of winning the riding saying optimistically "it won't be a landslide but I think he'll have a good chance." He took a hefty slug on a Coke, eyes fixed on the TV screen and added, "I'll back him all the way, regardless if he wins or loses. Blood is thicker than water." But by 9 p.m., Allan Lawrence had already acquired more than twice the amount of seats as Mr. Campbell (with NDP candidate Roy Grierson trailing behind), and in the backrooms, the Liberal candidate was already discussing ways of con- ceding defeat. Shortly after that, white-faced and tired- looking, Mr. Campbell made a brief appearance at the Conservative celebration to offer his congratulations. When that task was completed, he returned to his own party's gathering, more of a wake than anything else. Putting up a brave front for reporters and campaign workers, Mr. Campbell said he had tried his hardest to win over Durham North- umberland and had no regrets in losing. "1 can rest my head down tonight knowing there's nothing I could have done that would have made any dif- ference," he said. "I have absolutely no regrets, except that I thought my hometown (Port Hope) would deliver me, but it didn't. I'm not disappointed." He blames the Liberals poor showing on Canada's need for a change in government and claims the Grits would have lost no mat- ter who was running in Mr. Campbell's place. "Change. That's the name of the thing. I think they (voters) wanted a total change,' he said. 'I believe in the process. It's what it should be, but I don't think it would have mattered who was running for the Conser- vatives. They would have won." A firm supporter of Prime Minister John Turner, (who barely managed to win his own Vancouver seat), Mr. Campbell said he will run in the next election if Mr. Turner returns as well. Still, he pledged his continued support and work to the Liberal par- ty saying 'I'm indebted to the Liberal party and I'm going to honour that debt. 1 don't forget. I have a memory like an elephant." As Mr. Campbell con- tinued to speak to his small audience, the col- our seeped slowly back into his cheeks and the confidence which he seemed to have lost dur- ing the early part of the evening, was evidently returning. "No one could have made it here. No one," he rallied, while sup- porters cheered. 'We did the best we could."