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130m Year No. s _ Wodnocday. January so, 1985 Molodoe Martinuk Chronicle Staff Still riding a crest of enthusiasm from last week's leadership can vention, local Tories say the party has emerged a stronger, more unified force, ready for the upcom- ing.provineial election. Although Waterloo North dele- gates were split on the question of which candidate to back, with Treasurer Larry Grossman receiw ing the largest block of support. they reject media reports of a left-wing/right-wing, or young/old split in the party. Youth delegate Kathy Widdis. Meiodee Martinuk Waterloo Chronicle Saturday's selection of Premier elect Frank Miller to lead the provincial Progressive Conserva- tive party opens the door to a Liberal victory in the next Ontario election. says Waterloo North MPP Herb Epp. A play lo build a deli-type variety store adjacent to Columbia Place in Waterloo has brought little opposition from area residents. According to Epp. Liberal "chances" to form the next gov- ernment are greater now than they would have been had Dennis Tim- brell. Larry Grossman, Roy McMurtry or former Premier Bill Davis led the Tories into an election battle. "We have a better opportunity with Frank Miller "m we have an excellent chance." said EPP. "If we can get good candidates, and get our act together, we have an excellent chance " being elect- ed." Residents were given an opportunity to voice their feelings about a proposed zone change on the property, located at 363 King St. N., at a public hearing held last week. Application for the zone change was made by Zevest Ltd., a Waterloo developer. - A "At this point, thirlgs look positive," said Gord Bingeman. a member of the board of directors at Columbia Place, who represented residents at the meet- In explanation. Epp said Miller will take the Conservative party farthest to the right, adding the premier-elect/s philosophy and po- licies do not reflect the desires of the average ()ntarian. Provincial PCs a unified force say delegates "He's known as the Reagan of Hlerb's ready Columbia Place plan causes little fuss (Connnued on page A) who worked on the campaign of Dennis Timbrell, maintained in an interview that the split was entirely "fabricated" because the four leadership candidates were "not all that different and all the dif- ferences had to be blown up." While admitting there will be "bad feelings" for a while as a result of the convention, she added that "anyone who says they won't be a Tory because Miller was elected. wasn't really a Tory any- way." "Certainly it's a party coming out a lot more unified than after the federal convention in '76," re- marked John Kendall, a Waterloo lawyer who was the riding's second youth delegate at the convention. "After the flurry and fury was over, I didn't sense any animosi- ty." Wendall doesn't anticipate the Miller selection will mean a shift to the right for the provincial PC party, and he predicted, "Miller won't change the social aspect, the progressive aspect, of the Progres- sive Conservatives. Despite what others would say, it seems to me that Miller is pretty centre-of-the- roadish." Waterloo North riding's lone Miller backer at the convention, Joan Cassidy of Elmira, noted that Bill Davis won the party's leader- ship in 1971 by a margin of only 44 votes, and she said, "he's managed to govern" all this time." She rejected reports of a generation split in the party by pointing out that Miller had the support of more than one-half of the convention's youth delegates. Grossman supporter Pat Whit- ney, emphasized that it's time for Ontario Tories to shift their focus from the provincial level to the local arena, in order to prepare for the next Ontario election, which many believe, Miller Will call this spring. A "We saw lots of emotion shown by delegates when their candidates were dropped off, but we're all prepared to work for the premier, and our local candidates _ that‘s what we have to remember, we're going back to our local candidates and work for them," she said. [l]]]]]]]]] Problems erode last year when First City Development Corporation of Toronto proposed to build a 24-hour gas bar/variety store on the same property: _ A ing. Greg Romanick of the Waterloo planning department said that only two written complaints were received about the zone change, one from a Columbia Place resident. the second from a Spruce Street homeowner. Residents of Columbia Place voiced their opposition to the plan at a public meeting held in June, 1904. When the matter could not be resolved to residents' saturaetioat, a small group of them took over First City's option on the Feet tapping and hands clapping, comedian /singer Rob McLean was a huge hit with the audience during last week‘s Kloset Komics night at UW Humanities Theatre. Designed to encourage untried comics to strut their stuff and perhaps realize a lite-long dream of performing on stage, Kloset Komics was a good attempt at innovative entertainment. McLean, tor his efforts, was rewarded with first prize - a rubber chicken at the end of a red ribbon. We won't tell you what second prize was, but for more on Kloset Komics, turn to page 14. m CamrrerqttgHtoto YOU, YOU WITH THE STARS IN YOUR EYES property. The resident group considered several proposals from other developers and selected one by Zevest Ltd., which involves construction of a 539 square-meter (5,800 square-foot) building to accommodate two to three commercial uses, one of them a variety store with limited hours. -ihe, rebort will be presented in a formal public hearing and. if approved by council, 1 bylaw will be drafted. hhte Waterloo planning department will now prepare a report, based on the public meeting and complaint letters received, with a recommendation for action._ -- _ _