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I“ YOU No. 37 Chronicle Staff Ontario was painted Liberal red last week, and Waterloo North riding was no exception. - - - Liberal incumbent Herb Epp easily swept to his fourth provincial election win, bringing in 16,792 votes to his nearest rival Tory Elizabeth Witmer's 8,681. New Democrat Richard Hastings tallied 5,785 votes, while Libertarian Ian O‘Neill finished fourth with 817 votes. "It's a great feeling to be a Liberal, particularly toaight." Epp told a crowd of cheering Liberals at his victory party. - _ The major Waterloo North issue which must be "grappled with" in the near future, Epp said, is a water pipeline for the region. "Whether it's Lake Erie or Lake Huron rm not sure, but a pipeline is needed to give us the security of having water breause of the strong economic growth we have." "rni feelihg great about the victory in Waterloo North and for the rest of my colleagues elected this evening." When Epp returns to Queen's Park, he will be one of 95 Liberals sitting in the house, The once-mighty Conserva- tives have been relegated to third place, with only 16 seats, and the New Democrats' l8 seats is enough to make them the official Opposition. Epp says Petersonmania. and the public's apprecia- tion of Peterson's open style of government, were the main reasons for Thursday's overwhelming victory. "I think it's a comment on the way the Liberals have performed in the past two years. I think the public is giving a mandate to the David Peterson government to chart a new course for the province for the next four years through a lot of consultation. The people appreciate the consultative process." Other priorities are a new arena and library for Waterloo, a new roof on the Elmira Arena, and a separate licensing office in Waterloo. "We need to get more educational funds...and last but not least, all of us are getting older. We need better services for our senior citizens," said EPP. The veteran Liberal MPP wouldn't speculate on whether he'll be getting a cabinet seat when Peterson forms his next government. "With 95 members there's a lot more competition now," he said. Epp admitted to being surpised by the size of the Liberal win, and said he E Tatum.“ SW NW coetgratt+ M Em onhhwln. ‘No losers’ Epp opponents claim Liberals triteamrolllll!, “A“. Equally plated was New Democrat Richard would have been happier if they had taken fewer seats. "Ninety-five seats or 85 seats doesn't make much difference...you can't do any more with 95 seats. The public is going to be expecting a lot more from us." Although Eirp won slightly iron seats in this election, he actually took fewer polls, and his share of the vote Liberal incumbent Herb Epp was all smiles Thursday as he and his party swept to easy wins. "We were indeed winners," said Witmer, proud to have maintained her party's support in this riding. "We knew it would be an uphill battle. This was a victory for us because we did buck that provincial trend. My people are happy. There were no tears of sadness and we felt l" truly had won a Nictory." Herb Epp may have won Waterloo North's seat at Queeu's Park, but if you talk to his challengers. there were no losers Thursday night. _ PC Elizabeth Witmer, New Democrat Richard Hastings and Libertarian Ian O'Neill are all calling their showings at the polls "victories." Witmer said that the PCs poor showing at the polls was primarily due to the “tremendous popularity of Liberal leader David Peterson" and “concern and misunderstanding" about the Tory support of free trade. "There's no question (Larry) Grossman‘s ability to lead the party was also a factor. As I knocked on doors I met a number of people who said they were Tories but just couldn’t support Mm." dropped from 54 per cent to 52 per cent. The Tories dropped a few seats-9,552 compared to 9,149 in INS-but didn't experience the sharp drop in support experienced in other ridings. The New Democrats fared better this election than in 1985, and watched their share of popular support increase trom 15 per cent to 18 per cent. Nn View of the fact that l was completely unknown and had a campaign that cost less than 31,000, I'm very pleased," he said. O'Neill is already planning the next move for his party, the establishment of a constituency association in this riding. He hopes to have no active members for the Waterloo Libertarian party try use, when he expects to he campaigning in a federal election. . For Libertarian Ian o'Neill, this election cam- paign accomplished all he set out to do-take the Libertarian message to the people of this riding. “I thought we would have done better, but to move into the official Opposition is definitely not a defeat. New Democrats have always done well in the opposition-we'" always been able to get our ideas implemented. We will continue to carry our idas to the public and they'll take them to the government," said Hastings. Hastings, whose 5,785-vote finish translated to a slight increase in the NDP share of the popular vote. 'Wm pleased, really pleased," said Hastings. While saddened to see the number of NDP seats Jn the house reduced to 18, Hastings was pleased to see his party form the official Opposition.