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ET COR Party founder eyes Aug.by-election h BER SIE Seats eT ------ A al Seated at a small table in a small hotel room in the Oshawa Holiday Inn, Elmer Knutson doesn't look like the founder and leader of a political party. He's a tall, heavy-set man with clear blue eyes and a shock of grey hair combed straight back. * i He's dresséd casually in black slacks, white sport shirt open at the neck and a custard coloured cardigan sweater. But when Knutson starts to talk about politics in Canada, the blue eyes light up and he constantly stabs the air with a beefy forefinger to make a point. And he sprinkles his vocab- ulary with the occasional four- letter word. Elmer Knutson is the founder and leader of the Con- federation of Regions (COR) Party. And while COR has yet to elect a member to the House of Commons or any provincial leg- islature, Knutson is slowly starting to build a profile for the party and himself. And that's exactly why he left his comfortable home in Ed- monton to spend a week in an Oshawa hotel room. There's a federal by- election coming up in Oshawa August 13 to fill the seat in Par- liament left vacant by the re- tirement of former NDP leader Ed Broadbent. Knutson figures this by- election is a golden opportunity for COR to field a candidate and put its message to the people of Oshawa, Ontario and the country. This will be a high profile by-election, considering the rid- ing was held by Broadbent, and the NDP have already nominat- ed Mike Broaugh, who has rep- resented Oshawa at Queens Park for some 15 years. This by-election will be a litmus rod to guage the mood of the country, and Knutson rea- sons that the people of Oshawa and in the rest of the country are in a mood for serious change. "If we can get the right can- didate, a high profile candidate, I know we (COR) can win this riding," he said in an interview with the Star last week. But as of the end of last week, Knutson had not been able to convince anybody to car- ry COR's colours in this by- election. . He had talked to several people, all of whom expressed support for COR programs, but declined to run for a variety of reasons. And one who was asked was Dean Kelly of Port Perry. Kelly, who keeps busy fir- Ascension, July 21st, 1990. -- ANNOUNCEMENT -- Mrs. Nancy Fairburn would like to announce the engagement of her daughter Hilary to Gregory Thomas McPherson of Teeswater, Ontario. Wedding to take place at the Church of CONCRETE ARCHITECTURAL GLASS BLOCK * Clay and Concrete Brick * Arriscraft Brick & Stone A * Portland * Masonry * Sealbond Miscellaneous Builders' Supplies Sunderland 1-705-357-3136 1-800-461-1936 ONTARIO BLOCK & TILE HWY. 7 Sunderland | 6th LINE S1__ShLINE z * ing off letters to the editor of several newspapers, including this one, is a supporter of COR, but for personal reasons he won't run in the by-election. Knutson was disappointed, but said he'll continue to work to line up a candidate in time for the campaign. So what is COR, and what drives Elmer Knutson on his po- litical mission? COR, as the name Confed- eration of Regions implies, sees Canada as nine provinces and three Regions: the West, Onta- rio and the Maritimes. The Party was opposed to Meech Lake, opposed to the GST and opposed to the Free Trade agreement with the Unit- ed States. Knutson thinks the politi- cal power in Canada for too long has been centred in Quebec. "We can never have a unit- ed Canada when he have two sets of laws and standards (in Quebec and the rest of the coun- try) Quebec, he says has asked for more and more wer. Meech was just Brian Mulron- ey's idea for legislating exactly what Quebec wanted. "TI am not anti-French, but 1 am opposed to the two systems Turn to Page 16 NN R nnn V7 RRR er Eimer Knutson is the founder and leader of the COR (Confederation of Reglons Party) in Canada. He's from West- ern Canada, but was In Oshawa last week trying to find a candidate to contest the important by-election coming up on August 13. (see story for details) OF PORT PERRY, ONTARIO 15 WATER STREET 985-3281 Molson Indy Many more prizes!!! rT I ai Chit ilo