The Times Advocate, 2008-10-22, Page 3Wednesday, October 22, 2008 Times -Advocate 3
Shipley wins second term in Lambton-Kent-Middlesex
By Ben Forrest won his second term in
TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF office by 12,700 votes over
Liberal Candidate Jeff
MIDDLESEX - With his party lead- Wesley. Joe Hill of the NDP
ing in the polls, a decisive 2006 elec- came third in the race,
tion win still in recent memory, and a roughly 4,300 votes behind
strong base of support gathered dur- Wesley.
ing a career in municipal politics, per- Jim Johnston of the Green
haps Bev Shipley had good reason to Party came fourth with a
be confident Oct. 14. total of 3,366 votes, while
Still, the recently re-elected Christian Heritage Party
Conservative MP for Lambton-Kent- Bev Shipley candidate Micheal Janssens
Middlesex says he headed into last
Tuesday's federal election with a good
deal of uncertainty.
"I go into this always running like
you're losing," he said. "I felt positive
about it, but you never really know what
the numbers are going to be. I was blown
away, quite honestly."
Shipley, a 61 -year-old Denfield farmer,
garnered 683 total votes,
and finished fifth.
Shipley said potential voters repeatedly
told him they didn't need higher taxes,
something he believes would be crippling
to agriculture, and "was not the right
thing to be doing."
He added that he believes the public is
also warming to the Conservatives' envi-
ronmental plan, which has been heavily
criticized.
"I think people are understanding now
we've got an achievable target with our
environmental plan," he said.
He accused the previous Liberal govern-
ments of inaction on the environmental
front, saying "The critics are the ones
that didn't do anything, and it likely both-
ers them that actually there was a gov-
ernment came in and took immediate
action."
He cited Conservative commitments to
agriculture, rebuilding the military,
increased infrastructure funding and fis-
cal management as key election issues.
Though the Conservatives fell short of
winning a majority, Shipley believes they
have received a strong mandate from the
Canadian people, and hopes Liberal
leader Stephane Dion will make good on
his pledge to work with
Lobb raring to get started
By John McPhee
WALKERTON HERALD TIMES
WINGHAM — The newly elected MP for Huron -
Bruce is "energized" and raring to get started.
Conservative Ben Lobb, whose 22,202 votes (45
per cent of all votes cast) was almost equal to the
combined total of Liberal Greg McClinchey's
16,346 and NDPer Tony McQuail's 7,426, said he
was "honoured and very, very happy" to have won
the riding in the federal election Oct. 14.
Final tallies for other candidates include the
Green Party's Glen Smith - 2,617, Christian
Heritage Party's Dave Joslin - 747, and
Independent candidate Dennis Valenta - 242.
"It's nice to see fruition of all the hard work and
to have a win for the hard work of all my support-
ers," he said in a telephone interview Friday morn-
ing.
"It's a good feeling."
Lobb said his immediate goal is to set up con-
stituency offices, most likely in Port Elgin and
Goderich.
"I would love to have an office in every communi-
ty, but the budget won't allow that," he said,
adding that he still plans to be "accessible to all
parts of the riding" and may hold visiting office
days similar to what Grey -Bruce -Owen Sound MPP
Bill Murdoch has done.
Lobb said he's proud of the turnout for the vote
Regional wrap
Health Centre open
SEAFORTH — The ribbon on the Huron East
Health Centre was cut last week with the build-
ing already at full occupancy, said the Citizen.
Huron -East clerk -administrator Jack
McLachlan said several tenants had to be
turned away and one of the main tenants will
be the Huron Community Family Health Team.
Also in the building will be Healthkick Huron
and the Gateway Rural Health Research
Institute.
The building will also be staffed with a psy-
chologist, a social worker, a dietician, a phar-
macist, a nurse practitioner and a primary care
physician.
in Huron -Bruce which saw approximately 65 per
cent participation, higher than the national aver-
age of 59 per cent.
The new MP doesn't want to predict how long
this newest minority government will last, but
knows from the 8,800 doors he knocked on during
this campaign "people don't want to see another
election for a while."
Lobb said he's hoping his colleagues in Ottawa
will "put down party partisanship, put it aside and
work for the people of Ontario, and of Canada."
With economic challenges ahead, Lobb said all
MPs should "work together in the way of what's
best for the people."
He vows to "work tirelessly on behalf of the resi-
dents in Huron -Bruce" especially turning his atten-
tion to the needs of the manufacturing, tourism,
and agricultural sectors.
He said he hasn't even had time to discuss such
things as living accommodations and travel with
his wife Andrea.
"Right now I just want to focus on hiring staff for
here and Ottawa," he said.
He took a breath then said, "now the hard work
really begins."
New reporter at TA
The Times -Advocate welcomes Ben Forrest as
the newest member of its report-
ing team.
Ben grew up in the Hensall
area and attended Hensall
Public School and South Huron
District High School before pur-
suing post -secondary education
at Brock University.
Ben will be covering sports
and general assignments for the
Times -Advocate, and comes to
the publication after stints at a
number of rural Ontario news-
papers.
Most recently, he served as the acting editor of
the Clinton News -Record
Ben has fond memories of the Times -Advocate
from time he spent here as a co-op student eight
years ago when he was in Grade 12. He looks for-
ward to reconnecting with the Exeter community,
watching as many local sports as possible and
helping tell the stories of those who live here.
1111111.
Ben Forrest
Conservatives in the
months ahead.
"I'm hopeful that he's
had a change of mind
and recognized that
what we're doing, par-
ticularly in the economy
and the environment
and for agriculture is
the right way to go,"
Shipley said. He added
that he hopes for Dion's
support on the
Conservatives' forth-
coming crime bills.
He cited stabilizing the economy and
helping industry as top priorities heading
into the next session of Parliament.
"We can't do a lot about the United
States and the world markets and the
world influence, but it sure does affect us
because we're an exporting nation," he
said.
"We always have to be competitive to
keep these companies," he added. "That's
why we've focussed our attention on
making them competitive by having lower
taxes, giving them capital cost write-offs
and getting rid of some of the red tape
that they have to do."
Agriculture is another key area of con-
cern for Shipley, who said the fairness
and accessibility of certain farm pro-
grams need to be addressed.
He said his personal goals during his
second term are to make committees as
constructive and productive as he can,
and to "build a trust and confidence with
my counterparts so that we can do good
business for Canadians."
"We've got some things to do in a cou-
ple of areas, particularly in agriculture,"
he said. "We've got the beef and the pork
industry that's hurting, and particularly
the beginning farmers, so those are some
things that I want to focus on."
Shipley added that he hopes the
Conservatives can work with all the
Opposition parties in the next Parliament,
putting aside partisanship in order to "get
down to doing what's good for
Canadians."
Saturday,
October 25th
9:00 A.M. - 3:00 P.M.
519-262-3634 94 London Rd., Hwy #4, Hensall
NO ONE DAY ONLY
Ili'
on all in -stock
clothing & accessories
Refreshments • Door Prizes • Great deals on all product
No Payment, No interest
until March 2009
OR
Up to $700 in INSTANT
Customer Rebates
OR
Up to a 3 year warranty
•
Fioor4 7@')
pesigns
onsaliswaas
sommaio•••
amsamos.
280 Thames Rd. E., Exeter
Tel: 519-235-1652
Toll Free: 1-866-285-5516
Fax: 519-235-2543
Hardwoods • Laminates
Ceramics • Carpets • Vinyl
DECORATING
with Vinyl today
ON SALE NOW...
PI.MANNINGTON VINYL
Save up to 40% OFF
all
savings
event
Ale"
FREE ESTIMATES • PROFESSIONAL INSTALLATION
int