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Clinton News-Record, 1987-09-16, Page 11\l:ONP()RATINC-THE IRA TH s'TA\UAR 1)-TFIE 1311 FIF.1.1) lit CI+, NO. 37 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1987 50 CENTS Piano factory owner still fighting to keep company alive By Anne Narejko CLINTON - It's been a long, hard strug- gle for Paul Ryckman to keep Draper Brothers and Reid Ltd. open, and the struggle's not over yet. September 15 was given as the day Mr. Ryckman was to have $1 -million in operating capital to keep the last remain- ing Canadian piano factory open. The day came and went and he and his company LIBERALS HAVE MAJORITY GOVERNMENT Riddell wins big in Huron riding HOLMESVILLE - Those who follow politics must have found the recent pro- vinical election quite interesting as leaders resigned and the opposition party has changed. Leader of the opposition, Larry Grossman, lost the election in his own riding and quickly made the decision to resign as the Progressive Conservative PC) Party leader. New Democrate Party (NDP) leader Bob Rae had a few anxious moments dur- ing the September 10 election as he came close to losing his own seat. However, the outcome for Rae was a bit brighter than for Grossman as the NDP became the of- ficial opposition party. As for David Peterson and his Liberal party, they won a landslide majority ,government. In the Huron riding, Liberal candidate Jack Riddell had an extremely strong showing at the polls, taking the majority of votes in all 26 municipalities for a grand total of 16,099. In second place was PC candidate Nico Peters with 6,725 while Paul Klopp finished third with 3,842 votes. Once the majority of polls had phoned in their results to the Liberal campaign head- quarters in Clinton, Riddell journeyed to Holmesville where a crowd of Liberal sup- porters were waiting to applaud the elec- tion outcome and congratulate their can- didate. During his speech, Riddell said he was, "Proud to be a part of the Peterson party and proud to represent the new riding of Huron in the Legislature." He also went on to say he would give all the constituents in the riding, "no matter what their color stripe," good representation. But Riddell did not take all the credit for the win, instead he thanked a long list of volunteers for their hard work and Peters says Liberals used a negative atmosphere to win The Liberal campaign headquarters in Clin- ton was• a busy place on September 10 as well-wishers stopped by to lend their sup- port to candidate Jack Riddell and volunteers manned the phones. Other volunteers, such as Clarence Denomme of Clinton, were on hand to transfer the infor- mation given to the phone operators onto a master chart. (Anne Narejko photo) dedication. "They're the reason why I'm standing before you," he said from the stage. "The candidate is only as good as the team behind him or her," Riddell explain. ed. "And they had to work extra hard because of the time demanded on me by cabinet." Before closing, Riddell mentioned the PC and NDP candidates, saying, "I was glad to have worthy opponents in Nico Peters and Paul Klopp - thanks for the challenge." Both -Peters and Klopp went to Holmesville to concede the election. Defeated Conservative candidate Nico Peters, who finished second in Huron riding balloting in the Sept. 10 Federal election, said Tuesday he feels Ontario Liberals used a "negative," atmosphere in luring the electorate to give them an over- whelming majority in the provincial legislature. "David Peterson was able to scare enough people with a negative stance on free trade negotiations and he managed to come across to the voters as someone who would shelter them in the free trade nego- tions," Peters said. Peters feels he and his campaign team did "as well as we could," considering the massive shift to the Liberals and the ad- vantage of local Liberal candidate Jack Riddell being the incumbent MPP. "That made it an uphill battle — and that speaks highly of Huron., that they're loyal to their incumbent," he said. Huron Riding Statistics Clinton Goderich Goderich Twp. Tuckersmith Bayfield Stanley Hay Twp. Zurich Hensall Stephen Exeter t Isborne Turnherry Wingham Klopp Peters Riddell 210 380 870 626 871 1701 168 290 635 206 307 759 65 124 252 78 224 449 129 148 685 60 75 327 81 135 333 294 370 1324 214 504 1128 85 292 780 80 199 382 148 509 675 Peters feels that Conservative leader Larry Grossman did what he had to do, in resigning the leadership after the crushing deafeat Thursday. "I see Mr. Grossman as a man of his word and his word was that he would have the party back in power within one term and he didn't do what he set out to do," said Peters. "I admire his courage," he added. Peters, for whom this was his first cam- paign for provincial office, said he expects to be involved in the next election as well. "If not as a candidate, then certainly as part of the team," he said. Klopp could not be reached for com- ment, but his campaign manager Tony McQuail, of Lucknow, said the NDP may have inadvertently contributed to the T ihr'ral's popularity this time 'ten'+nd. "When you look at it, the Liberals gained a great deal of popularity from the accord ( with the NDP after gaining a minority lead in the last election) and we were able to put pressure on them to get a lot of things done. But I think people look at the situation and say 'Yes, we're getting this done because of minority government,' not because of the NDP involvement and the liberals benefit from that," he explained. Locally, McQuail feels the NDP did "very well," in this riding, in light of the Liberal sweep. The party more than doubl- ed their share of the vote in the riding from the last provincial election, in which Klopp was also their candidate. "We have a strong sense that what we need to do now, is get organize for the next federal election," he said, adding, "the mood of the NDP locally is very upbeat". could not produce the necessary money, but at press time, Mr. Ryckman said he was hopeful of an extension. "It sounds very positive that we will have an extension," said Mr. Ryckman during a phone interview on September 15. On August 31, Draper Brothers and Reid Ltd. were given a two week extension, Turn to page 3 • Father's concerns are heard By Shelley McPhee Haist A father's concerns were heard and action was taken by the Huron County Board- of Education (HCBE) in quick order to ensure the safety of a five year old girl. Tudor Wain, a Goderich Township resi- dent addressed board members at their September 8 meeting to discuss the safety of his daughter. Little Ruth Anne Wain faced her first day of school with the prospects of walking down a stretch of Highway 21. The board address- ed the situation and later took action to pro- vide a bus route that would d liver the kindergarten pupil to her farm gate. "We're quite pleased now," commented Mrs. Wain in a later telephone conversation with the News -Record. The Wains can breath a sigh of relief in knowing that their young daughter is safely delivered home from Holmesville Public School. The HCBE action resolved a situation that saw the young girl being dropped off by the school bus some .2 k from her home. From there she walked from a -sideroad corner along Highway 21 to her home. While a bus picked her up at her farm gate in the morn- ing, the same bus route was not available to her at night. "A five year old walking along a high speed road, it shouldn't be allowed," Mr. Wain told board members when he met with them. He noted that in order for his daughter to reach home, she had to walk past a deep gul- ly. He suggested that she could face other hazards including winter snowplows, being picked up by strangers, encountering highway accidents and high speed drivers. "A five year old can't deal with irregular actions ( like those )," he stressed. "All I want is to get her back to the gate at night," Mr. Wain emphasized in his plea to find alternate busing for his daughter. It was suggested by board member Tonv Turn to page 3 • CLINTON PUBLIC HOSPITAL BUILDING FUND Howick Ashfield West Wawanosh East Wawanosh Blyth Morris Twp. Brussels Grey Colborne Twp. Hullett Twp McKillop Twp. Seaforth ADVANCE: TOTAL: 169 306 71i 132 185 422 82 113 298 62 138 254 65 148 232 90 215 398 73 203 2.39 109 174 441 179 190 472 95 191 519 51 130 400 150 211 672 141 292 780 3,842 6,725 16,099 Souvenir hunters were out to the Liberal party held at Goderich Township Hall on September 10, taking David Peterson posters off the wall as well as Jack Riddell signs. One souvenir hunter wasn't satisfied with just the sign, he wanted the Huron riding representative to put his signature on it. (Anne Narejko photo) Nico Peters, the PC candidate, conceded the election to Liberal candidate Jack Riddell during the evening of the September 10 provincial election. Riddell was first elected in the 1973 election and received 16,099 votes in the 1987 election. (Anne Narejko photo) 4