HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1979-05-16, Page 2ONTAP110
WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1979
Serving Brussels and the surrounding community.
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
By McLean Bros. Publishers Limited
Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Pat Langlois - Advertising
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $10.00 a Year.
Others $20.00 a Year. Single Copies 25 cents each.
Tree down in the Maitland at Brussels
Brussels Post Behind the scenes
Vote as you like but...
Well, the 'great debate between Trudeau, Clark and Broadbent is
over. On television and in the newspapers there was great discussion
as to who had won,the debate but it all seemed to depend on what your
viewpoint was.
Some thought the debate would help Voters to decide who woul dbe
the best person to act as the Prime Minister of Canada and which
would be the best party and indeed after watching the debate many
people may have finally made up their minds.
But listening to the three leaders debate should not be the final
method of choosing who should govern our country. Skill at debating is
not necessarily the measure of skill needed to govern a country..
Everything the three leaders and their parties have said and done, not
just during this election period but during their tenure as leaders,
shout id be considered.
May 22 is coming up fast but so far nobody can make a really good
prediction about the election. One thing is certain though. If people
don't get out and vote on that date the less chance they have of getting
the party in that they want to rule the country on May 22 it's up to you
as the voter to get out and do your part,
by Keith Roulston
nElectio s -
So you're tired of the length of the
present election campaign. You're red up
with the pettiness of the opposing parties
as they pick away at each other. You think
there must be a better way to run the
country. Well cheer up, this could be
worse. Indeed they once were in this
country.
I happened to be reading W.H.
Graham's book The Tiger of Canada West
recently and couldn't help but compare
elections in the 1800's with those of today.
I think even the most cynical of us will
agree that there's been a marked improve-
ment.
After the 1837 Rebellion there were
attempts to assure more democratic
practices in Upper Canada (Ontario) and
Lower Canada (Quebec) to prevent some of
the abuses by the rich and powerful which
had caused the rebellion. Tiger Dunlop,
who had become a severe critic of the
Canada Company for which he had once
worked in bringing settlers to major areas
of Huron and Perth counties had decided to
run for the seat his brother Robin had held
until his death. He was representing the
interests of settlers (particularly a group of
well-to-do- settlers of Colborne township
known as the Colborne Clique) against the
Canada Company and its representative
Capt. James Strachan, son of the infamour
Bishop Strachan of the old family Compact.
But his opposition was more than that. His
opposition was also the Orangemen, the
protestant Irish movement which struck
'fear into the hearts of those who opposed it
in those rough and ready days when Huron
County was still a frontier.
Today our leaders jet back and forth
across the country to sell themselves and
their, policies to the voters. Their ease of
getting from one side of the nation to
another is contrasted to the efforts needed
by Dunlop and Strachan to just get from
voter to voter in the Huron riding where
roads ,wete still mud trails, bridges often
non existent and voters scattered over a
wide arewfrom.Stratford to Goderich and
huge area to the north and south.
A good Candidate in those days would
" have needed to be bilingual; not English
and French, but English and "Gaelic,
'41
because there were many who were just
over from Scotland and the highlands and
didn't understand English the best.
At last the election arrived, but the real
fun had just begun. Unlike we today who
will have a few hours of peace before the
actual election, there was no such thing as
a cooling off period in those days.
Electioneering went on right until the last
possible minute. There weren't polls
scattered conveniently throughout the
riding, but one only, in Goderich, which
was hardly a convenient place for most of
the voters. People had to travel all the way
from Stratford and St. Marys to vote there.
Although the candidates had been
campaigning for weeks, they still had to be
officially nominated. A platform called
"the hustings" was set up in the square,
where the nominations and speeches were
to be made. Choosing the official nomin-
ator and seconder was done with great care
to make the best impression. When
Dunlop's nominator tried to get up to the
platform to make his nomination he was
nearly stopped by Orangemen who wanted
to prevent him from making the nomin-
ation. He made it, but when Strachan's
turn came, Dunlop's people managed to
find out that his nominator was not eligible
to make the nomination because he wasn't
qualified as a voter in the election.
Once the nominations were made, the
elections could begin. The voting was to
take place in Rattetibury's British Hotel.
There was a voting book and each voter
had to step forward and identify himself
and prove that he had a right to vote. Only
those who could present a clear deed to the
land they lived on could vote, so they had
to bring the deed with them, Then they had
to say out loud in front of everyone in the
building which party or candidate they
supported. Woe to the man who owed
money to a prominent Tory but voted for a
Reform candidate, or vice versa. HiS choice
would soon be known all over the riding,
The Viking could go on from MOnday
Until Saturday as long as one vote was cast
every hour. Strachan's support came
generally from around Goderich while
Dunlop' a came fret), farther away so it Was
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