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WHITBYFREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, SPTMBR12, 1990, PAGE 7 PAGE -SEVEN M.M Januairy1981 bail te be the culdeetin decades. Scuffling ini the frost-crunching snow, we went from house te, bouse, from door to deor, and niittened purpoeefully on every deor i our polling d istrict. M That was my first adventure i polities, and I have thought of it often i the past few days. Back then the Big Blue Machine governed, nay, ruled, Ontario. The dynasty had then lasted thirty-eight years, and no one could foresee a time when Ontario would not be colored Tory Blue. But not i everyone basked ip eta sunabine. One day in January that __ year disgruntled hosp italwrkers across the provinoe rolled years of grievances and complainte into their lunch baga and walked off the «job.~N In labor cfrcles, that's called a strike. In government circles, however, it!s called a crime. Hospital workers are forbidden by law from striking. We're not tafldng about dectors here, nor administraters, nor even registered nurses. We're talldng about nursing assistants, orderlies, maintenance stafi; cleaners, kitchen workers. Workers ordered backCl The second day of strike, Premier Bill Davis announced a provincial electioný and issued buHlying orders te berd the workers back te teir jobs. Pbi opinion swug qickly against the strikers, and eventual hyditdack t the job But the issues thteause h tie- low pay, poor hours and___________ _______________________________ lazy, uniresponsive negotiations -- reniied. A family member directly involved convinced me that simply voting against the________ ______________________________ goverment was not enougb; it was time for political action. Thus, that January and February, we covered the entire polling area around our borne. Three times. I learned many valuable lessons from that. One, that people who knock on doors during elections are not se mucb eout. te sway yourî vote as te determine what your leanings are. Then on election day, teame ef Tories pick up Tory voters and get tbem eut; the Liberals provide rides (t.hey hope) for Iàboral voters; sud NDP supporters make sure NDP voters get te the poils. That's the theeiy. I tbought of this over the weekend when I read a news ireport about the victerieus NDP- candidate in my borne riding. Scrutineers? He had none. Party workers te drive veters te the poils? IIey, he said, he had only ten workers thxnugh the whole j camaiga.They had ne acrutineers, se certainl didn't have the herses te do suything that sophisticated. And stit he won. Numbers don't add up Reflect ogiýa couple of other facto. Bob Rae; for example, won bis xnAjority on 38 per cent ef the popular voe. Five years ao, Frank Miller lest bis miejority, sud the Premierls cap, on 38 per cent. Wben the election was called la July, David Petersen sud bis Liberals enjoyed the support of 51 per oent of the voters. On election day that had dwindled te, 34 per cent. W e market teothpaste, baircra, deodorant, seap, cars, beats, vacations, razers, razorblades, and ye pliticians. DonIt like this brand? Then tiy Br X The price of Brsud X tee high? Surely semeone wifl market the same preduct cheaper. Give enough peepl e enougb choices of enough products sud sooner or later eveiyone wiil be bappy, rigbt? In the midst of ail this, I went eut this week te buy razer blades. Tract Il, bey they look sharp. They aise look like the ones at home Ive juet rua eut of. Se Trac II, five blades, $2.99. And wben I got home I found they donft fit. Now I bave te buy a FfS WORWD WAR AMBULANCE DONATED BY SAMUEL TREES AND razor. O PN P1 5 -Having exactly wbat te de witb politica?CO P Y,11 Samul Tees wh oprate a lanet actry o Brck ret Nrthwhere the Frii-kReal upougmunicipal election. Bey! What happened to me? *A >Mjom motel ia propôsed for the intersection of Dumdas and Hopkins Streets. eWhitby's banka have denated $22,500 to the general hoapital building campaign. >Jut the politic we are developing may smen becone the politica cf * Tendors are being called for an addition.te E.A. Fairman Public Sehool. despair. Goveramenta ceuld cail elections and be tuxfed eut of office for ne reason cennected at ail with performance. 125 YEAR.S AGO There' DavidePterson, riding Meghet 51 Per cent in the poils. Re from the Thursday, September 7, 1865 edition of the oeils su electien twe years befere h as te se he' outmoebecanse WrI'mY CHRONICJZ votera are angry with Bnian l*oney. eWiW ala tto gn ..Nn ilb ie opietr uprpirt AdBb flie? IWeD, bes got mwe than feur years te cenviace *rfwysainaetWC unwl egvnacmbetr uprpirt AndthB . . l dmM ti onrenead ïtbis transfer fi-om Whitby te Belleville. an wthneflmyscm athe bsnT O htwev egi D * John Crosséo f Port Wbitby drowned on Sept. 4 wbile bathing at CorbeW-s Point.(now razorblades, lets hope wefind they do fit ourraer. 'Thicksons Point) on Lake Ontario. e John Eflitt, a blacksmith living on the WhItby-Plckering Town Une, was severely _____________________________stabbed. A suspect is in custody. . * Roibert Campbell, oneof Whithy's leading merchants, la niaking fail and.winter purchases for bis store, in England Doug Anderson's The Other Side of the Fence will ________________________________ appear in another part of the paper from time to time