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Stevenson wins easily, but opponents make gains The riding of Durham York stayed solidly Tory blue in the provincial election last Thursday. Ross Stevenson had no trouble holding the riding for the Conservatives as he easily fended off any challenge from Liberal Don Hadden and New Democrat Marg Wilbur. But it was a bitter- Vol. 119 No. 23 sweet victory for Mr. Stevenson as he express- ed shock and surprise at the province-wide results which plunged the Con- servatives to a narrow minority position in the Legislature. "1 didn't expect such a drop. My own prediction was that we would win about 60 seats," he told the Star in an interview late Thursday evening at his election night head- _ quarters at the Uxbridge Arena. When asked why the party slipped to 52 seats and finished behind the Liberals in the popular vote, Mr. Stevenson said bluntly the Party had run an 'unimaginative cam- Tuesday, May 7, 1985 paign," especially in the early going. This, he went on to say, helped to create a poor environment around Tory leader Frank Miller in which the Party was not able to get its ideas and policies across to the voters. He added that during the campaign, Frank Miller 'was not 44 pages Durham Board of Education _appeevesbudget.of $166 M. The Durham Board of Education has approved its new budget for the coming year at $166.3 million, an increase of 8.25 per cent over the previous year. : It means that the average property owner Scugog Memorial in Durham will be paying about $40 more in the 'education component of the tax bill. The total tax hike for property owners in Scugog Township will average about $50 this year as local taxes and Regional taxes have add- ed under $10 to the bill. Of the total education budget, taxpayers will be responsible for $39.5 million of the elementary portion and $36.3 million of the secondary portion. That's an average of Library librarian Judy McColl received a pleasant surprise last week from the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 419. Having purchased a microfilm reader recently, the library was still trying to find a way to pay for it, when the Legion made a generous offer. President Bob Ar- cher is seen here handing over a cheque to about 45 per cent of the total. The remainder comes from grants via the government. The budget was ap- proved by the Durham Board at a special meeting April 29. Judy McColl for $2,112.18 to pay for the reader. With Mr. Archer is, back left; Dave Durham, newly elected Zone F1 Deputy Commander and immediate Past President of Branch 419; Ed Mulholland, 1si vice- president and Andrea Weir, 3rd vice- president. provincial himself." When pressed as to whether this lack of im- agination was the fault of Mr. Miller or those run- ning the leader's cam- paign, Mr. Stevenson declined further comment. "I think I'll just leave it at that," he told the Star. During a ten minute speech to a subdued group of party workers and supporters, Mr. Stevenson called Frank Miller *'likeable and per- sonable." But he also had words of criticism for some of the early campaign strategy decisions which "allowed the media to take some well deserved shots."' However, he said the media criticism con- tinued throughout the -. campaign and much of it was not justified in the last two weeks. While Mr. Stevenson, like Tories. across the province, was dismayed at the decline in Party In an effort to reduce the total impact, trustees deleted several construc- tion projects, including some $50,000 for renova- tions to schools in Scugog - Township. Also deleted was $279,000 to double the amount of core French instruction, and $200,000 ear-marked for renova- tions to the Board's head office building in Oshawa. The board this year will spend about $800,000 more for hiring 24 addi- tional teachers to reduce the size of elementary classes. Port Perry could be the site of a major power boat racing competition this LLabour Day Weekend. Township council has given approval in princi- ple to a proposal by Dan McLarnon to organize two days of boat racing on Lake Scugog on August 31 and September 1. Mr. McLarnon, who is an avid power boat racer himself and has placed in national competitions, told councillors Monday afternoon that up to 50 boats in various classes could take part in the event. "There will be sea fleas to tunnel hulls, and fortunes, he was bouyed by his own strong show- ing in Durham York. He had high words of praise for his own cam- paign team, saying his supporters worked very well together in this large riding. Almost from the mo- ment the first of the 189 polls in Durham York began tabulating results just after 8:00 P.M. Thursday, it was obvious that Mr. Stevenson was going to hold the riding without much difficulty. Durham York remains true blue The unofficial tally shows he picked up 14,353 votes, about 50 less than he polled in the 1981 elec- tion. Liberal Don Had- den, a well known farmer and municipal councillor from Brock Township, made some strong gains for his par- ty as he polled 9749 votes, compared to the 6330 the Liberal candidate receiv- ed four years ago. And New Democrat Marg Wilbur, a veteran campaigner from (Turn to page 2) Ross Stevenson of Epsom. Concession 8. not injured. Youth killed A ten-year old youth was killed Mon- day evening in a tractor accident north Durham Police said Daniel Powell was riding on a tractor when it went out of control and flipped into the ditch on Blayne Paton, 19 of RR3, Port Perry suffered serious leg injuries, and Sean Pearsell, also of RR3, Port Perry was Further details were not known at press time late Monday evening. a possibility for the Can/Am in-boards, but not the larger hydro planes,' he said. He added that the more powerful racing boats can hit speeds of up to 115 mph around the oval course in the bay in front of Palmer Park. The event would be sanc- tioned by the Canadian Boating Federation, and he has lined up corporate sponsorship from Labatt's for such things as promotion and publicity. Mr. McLarnon asked council for permission to fence Palmer Park as a viewing area for the races and said admission fees would have to be Council gives nod for boat racing charged to ensure a total purse of $10,000. About the only real concern expressed by councillors to the pro- posal was whether ad- mission can be charged to the Palmer Park. The municipality receives government funding for park up-keep, and the Township will check with the government authorities to find out if admission can be charg- ed for a special event like boat races. McLarnon said he has been working on this pro- posal for more than a year, especially lining up the corporate support (Turn to page 8)