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Penetanguishene Vol. 17, No. 36, Folio 71 Citizen - Wednesday, September 5, 1984 24 pages, 40 cents Lewis wins majority in Simcoe North as Tories sweep the nation by PETER SPOHN Colour the electoral map of Simcoe North deep Tory blue. The Tory tide which swept the nation last night carried Simcoe North Progressive Conservative candidate Doug Lewis to a land- slide win over his political rivals. The Progressive Conservative candidate won close to 60 per cent of the popular vote in Simcoe North. With all 216 of the ridings polls reporting, Lewis had won 23,884 votes for the PCs, leaving Alan Martin of the Liberals trailing far behind with 10,890 votes. New Democratic Party candidate Tim 'Tynan collected 6,884 votes, Green Party candidate John Letts took 357 votes and Libertarian candidate Ian McTeer finished with 238 votes. For Lewis, the margin of victory is particularly sweet. In 1980, the PC candidate was elected by just 66 votes over Liberal Alan Martin. The 1980 squeaker 'is left behind as a distant memory. Lewis's margin over Martin this time was well over 12,000 votes. At Lewis campaign headquarters on King Street in Midland, the mood was ebullient, as soon as the major television networks came on the air at 8 p.m. with computer projections of a Con- servative majority government across the land. One national TV commentator created a few snickers in the quickly-growing crowd when he came to the Simcoe North vote totals and referred to 'Landslide Lewis," an obvious reference to the closeness of the 1980 vote. When Lewis arrived at the headquarters at about 8:30, he was greeted with shouts of congratulations. When the PC. can- didate scanned the poll- by-poll listings in Simcoe North, which were listed on sheets of paper tacked up on the walls of the headquarters, he noted thi zat hos Penetanguishene polls looked a lot better than they did in 1980. Turning to one which showed he had taken 44 votes (compared to 140 for Liberal Martin and 37 for the NDP's Tynan) Lewis said: "'That's a decent loss. I had some pretty crumby losses last time." Lewis said that he looks forward to con- tinuing to serve the people of Simcoe North. He said his first priority is to thank "a lot of people" for their work in the campaign and to get his personal life back in gear after eight weeks of steady cam- paigning. Campaign manager Bill O'Brien said that he had an- ticipated "a fairly close race against Martin" whom he described as a strong candidate. '"'I was surprised at the margin," he com- mented. Not surprisingly, the Midland Liberal headquarters was not a cheery place last night. A handful of campaign workers posted the poll- by-poll results that were coming in by telephone and by a walkie-talkie in the headquarters just two doors down from Lewis headquarters. A couple of PC workers came into the headquarters to say to party workers that their man had put up a good fight. "We tried,' one worker said. Campaign worker Murray Porter said "We put in another good fight." Another said that it was quite obvious "we got buried in a desire for change." Martin commented after the depressing figures were mostly in that he expected a defeat for the Liberals nationally but thought the vote would be closer than it was in Simcoe North. He said that in hindsight, maybe it would have been better for Liberal leader John 'Turner to have served in office longer before calling the election. "If he had waited like (Ontario Premier William) Davis did in 1971 after he won his party's leadership, maybe it would have made a difference." He added that he didn't think the party would be in a hurry to dump its leader in defeat. '"'We don't chew up our leaders like the Tories."' Over in NDP headquarters, Tim Tynan told about 20 campaign workers that he was disappointed with the results, saying that he honestly believed the NDP was going to come in at least second. The mood there, though, was sur- prisingly upbeat. Campaign manager Stephen Kramp said Tynan's workers were proud of their can- didate, and the NDP's performance nationally. : Doug Lewis, incumbent Progressive Conservative candidate for Simcoe North, has reason to smile Block Parent program established in Penetang Beginning in the next few weeks, red and white signs will be going up in windows in some 600 homes across Penetanguishene, si- gnalling the arrival of the Block Parent program in the com- munity. Penetanguishene is the most recent com- munity in Ontario to implement the program, joining 255 towns and-cities across the province which have worked with the Ministry of the Solicitor General to set up the neighbourhood __prote- ction program for children. On Friday afternoon, Penetang Mayor Ron Bellisle unveiled a high- way sign at the entrance to town on Highway 93, beside the angels, which serves notice that Penetang is a Block Parent community. The mayor was joined by members of the municipality's- * School Safety committee and Penetang- Police' Chief Robert Cummings. Chief Cummings supervised three Georgian College students in the college's Law and_ Security Administration -- prog- ram who worked for the summer for the police department in establishing the Block Parent program. The three students, Nicholas Sklar, Timothy Rud and Peter Juneau, have become familiar faces to Penetang residents this summer. Beginning in June, the three sur- veyed every home in the community to see who would be interested in participating in the program. Some 1,850 homes on 53 Penetang streets were surveyed between June and Aug. 21 Asa result of the survey, 656 persons in the community ex- pressed an interest in becoming' Block Parents. 'The Block Parent sign is displayed prominently in a win- dow of a home when a resident of the home, at least 16 years old and screened beforehand by the police department, is available to help out when a child may need assistance in handling an emergency. The emergency could amount to some form of harrassment the youngster may. en- counter on the street, like bullying or the threat of molestation by another person. 'The sign indicates to the child that someone in the home is a Block Parent participant and is familiar in offering on-the-spot assistance. Before conducting their survey, the three summer students visited all public schools in the town, familiarizing students with the program. They showed students a film instructing them how to obtain a Block Parent's assistance when a need arises. The film also shows youngsters how to spot trouble and when it is appropriate to seek a Block Parent's assistance. Now that Sklar, Rud and Juneau have completed the legwork for the program, a committee of Penetang citizens has been set up to take over where the students left off. Bob Skeaff is chairman of the committee, Helgi Kronis is co-chairman and Mary Dubeau is public relations manager. Several other residents are serving on the committee. The summer students report that merchants in Penetang have been helpful in promoting the program. October start anticipated The Penetanguishene municipal office is now receiving tenders from companies bidding for a sewer construction project on Broad Street in the town's north end. Tenders for the project are to be opened at the next Penetanguishene town council meeting, Sept. 24. The town council is expected to award a contract at that time. Municipal clerk Yvon Gagne said Tuesday that the sewer project should begin some time in October.