HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1981-03-25, Page 1Wale Cop. 3.50
,WEDNE SI
T, MARCH •25, 1981.
24 PAGES
Liberal moray Elated held ak victory party it the Teeswater.Comrnunity Centre Thursday
alight "when, the count showed he hid edged 'passed his Conservative challenger, Clary
fl&rrton,. by 224 votes. Shown with Elston, centre, are John. MatKensle, president of the
Hitronarrice Liberal .. Association and Elaton's wife, Trudy.
[Windham Advance -Times Photo]
Conservatives gain
Gary Harron, who ran for the Progessive
Conservatives in Huron -Bruce told his
supporters at an election night party Thurs-
day night, they can be' proud to be Conser-
vatives. He said Premier William Davis has
made tremendous gains in. almost every
riding and "it'll be our turn in four years in
Huron -Bruce."
Harron told about 50 campaign workers
and party supporters at the Lucknow District
Community Centre that the party will start.to
paint the riding blue in the next election.
next election. .
"Let's not "give up hope, yet, said
Harron. "we've come_from .quite a deficit."
Harron said the Conservatives are knock;
ing on4he door in 'this riding and .in four
years they are going to do it.
The battle between Harron's, chief oppon-
ent Murray Eistonfor the Liberals seesawed
back and forth throughout the night. At one
point tarron's workers had Harron down by
only 100 votes and the results from Port
Turnto page 2+
Increase popular vote
G+'
BY CATHY YORK
A quiet crowd . el about 10 loyal NDP
supporters . turned out at the United
Autoworkers camp south of Port 'Elgin
Thursday night _ to view the election
returns with candidate Tony Mcquail.
Arriving at the hall at about 9 p.m., Mr.
McQtii1 said he was. pleased with the
returns which gave the NDP about 300
more votes than in 1977 and increased, their
popular vote to 7.6 percent from 6.6 per-
cent in the last election. He received 1,989
votes 'in this election.
"Y thought we ran a good campaign and we're the only party to address the issues
and to ask the voters to look at and support
our,individualpolicies, "he said.
4
"The increase in the .vote is better in
each election and although it's a slow
process we're making improvements," he
added. •
Len Hope, the Port Elgin co-ordinator
for the IADP ,campaign said this was the
most organized and largest campaign the
ND? have run in Huron Bruce.
"We went into the campaign 'without a
riding association and ended up with well
over 1110 people working for us in the last
two weeks," he said.
"In terms of advertising, we have done
more in the media than ever before and
our door to door canvassing produced a lot
of feedback from the residents" he added.
.Asked about the c mpE gn. in Huron
Turn to page '26
Storm i s Collision
.•INv01. unknow men received minor injuries
when their vehicles struck headon during it
snow storm March 17;
A pickup truck driven by Onvid
was southbound at the time of the saideni
and collided With a car driven by Leonard
MacDonald who was northbound,
The accident occurred ..just . south of
Lucknow on Huron County road 1 about 1.00
p.m. Visibility was nil at, the time with
blowing snow causing a whiteout,
n
By Henry Hess •• • "Thanks from the . bottom of my heart ^hi
It was 'nip and tuck; but in the end .M.urray
;Elston accomplished what he had set out to
do: keep the • Huron -Bruce riding in the
Liberald•fold.
He overcame a strong challenge` from
Conservative Gary Harron, in a race which
.saw the lead. change hands several times, to
win the seat by 224 votes, 12,164 to 11,940.
NDP candidate Tony McQuail polled ,1,979
votes.
" It was a tense' night for. Liberals in this
riding, grown accustomed . to watching.
Murray Gaunt sweep to victory with margins
approaching 1.0,000 votes., However they
were happy to see. their candidate win in the
,face of a strong Conservative, tide across the
province.
Mr. Gaunt, who hadstepped down at the
start of, the camppaign explaining he. wants to
.spend more time with his family, showed the
strain as muck as anyone, having cam-
paigned -hardford his successor,
• "That was too close for comfort!: he
declared as he arrived at the Teeswater
Community Centre for . the Liberal victory
celebration. He calledthe race "a real nail -
biter", recalling that one of his own early
elections was even. closer,. •
He assured Mr. Elston this was the
important one, however; now he has four
years` to work hard before his' next *impart.
rt.,
He prnamised JO!_hellp his younguccessor
*anyway he cafe offering to: take °hhh m down
to Queen's Park, "`and introduce you to .all
those good,_Toriess down theree
Mr. Elston arrived a` e"-hhaving wai d
. the race a �a fbld ` from .. his , headquarters in
Wingham, and he appeared tired but clearly
happy with his success.
each and every one of you," he told the
cheering crowd. "I should be, standing up
here applauding you."
He thanked all his campaign workers,
paying a special tribute to Mr. Gaunt, whose
contribution he described as "tremendous",
and promised he will continue working hard
for the next four years.
"The whole, riding of Huron Bruce will be
my home," he pledged. "I'll work as hard as
possible for everyone."
Although Mr.. Elston's campaign manage
er, Terry Merkley, had predicted two days
before the election that the Outcome would
be 'decided by fewer than 1,000 votes, the
closeness :of the race appeared to take many
Liberals by surprise.
As the evening wore on, small groups of'
supporters scatteredaround the community
centre kept one eye on the two television sets
showing Premier William Davis heading for
a majority government and ,the otheronwall
charts giving the 'results from local polls. .•
Optimism grew as it became clear the
young- `Wingham lawyer was carrying the
southern end of the riding by a comfortable
. margin. Mr- Harron,: a farmer from the. Tara,
area, closed the gap . by sweeping polis in
Port Elgin -and Southampton, .
• With only fourpolls left to :report, the tally
showed Mr. Elston holding a• slim, 240 lead,.
Elgin in Harron's:home territory were still to
come in. ;The final report:` of the , nigh
however, Waved Elston : leading by • 324
votes t
Harron Vsatd it was too close a _molly "tri
° „,conoecleAnt.decided 'tO :Sal for the officaial
results Saturday morning. w
He was 'meeting with ca»paign workers
Tura to pa 26
Olive Phillips is I00
Olive Phillips of Pinecrest Manor, Luck-
nbw celebrated her 100th birthday on St.
Patrick's Day, March 17.
A large number of guests attended
celebrations at Pinecrest on the afternoon of
her birthday including family members from
Edmonton; Alberta, Winnipeg, Manitoba,
Ottawa, Listowel, . Ether; Atwood and
Wingharn.
She was presented with a corsage of pink
and white carnations by Aubrey Higgins on
behalf of the residents at Pinecrest. She
wore the corsage next to her shamrock.
Murray Gaunt attended to present Mrs,
Phillips with a•plaque from Premier William
Davis conveying congratulations from the
government of Ontario. She also received a
telegram from Buckingham Palace with
congratulations from Queen Elizabeth,
Archie Mann entertained with his violin
and birthday cake was served at : the
conclusion of the celebrations.
Mrs. Phillips was born in Mornington
Township, Perth County, a daughterof the
late Priscilla (nee McMane) and Richard
Attridge of Milverton.
....."She moved to Flint, Michigan at the age of
17 to work as a milliner and married 'the late
Elmer Phillips in 1902. They operated a
business for several years and then moved to
a five acre farm between Saginaw and Flint.
They were very active,raising poultry and
keeping many kinds of ;fruit trees. They
returned to Flint and . later moved to
Pompano Beach, Florida:
Mr. Phillips died in 1961 and Mrs. Phillips
remained in Florida until she was in her 91st
year when she moved to Kitchener and lived
with her sister, Mrs. Francis Abram. She
moved to Wingham- to live ryithher niece,
Mrs. Albert Cowan during her sister's
illness and remained with her niece until
Mrs, Cowan's death in 1979, She then lived
at Pine Lodge in Lucknow until she became a
resident of Pinecrest Manor Nursing Horne.
Mr, and Mts. Philips did not have a
Olive Phillips
family of their own but always had an open
house for their friends and -relatives. •
Mrs. Philips' sister, Minerva McEwen •
who was 98 on March IS. is also a resident of
Pinecrest. The ladies have two sisters. Mrs.
ra
-neis Abram of Listowel and Mrs. -Cyril
�y
surviving
They are the
Knight. Sarnia.
members of a family of seven sisters and one
brother.
Q