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I977 PCSmith 13814 NDPPretty 10196 LibBingham 6726 1977 PCTaylor 15876 NDPWessenger 10442 LibCorneau 9555 1977 PCMcCague 15523 LibWales 9430 NDPFox 6539 SocredGervais 433 How Simcoe voted Simcoe East Simcoe Centre DufferinSimcoe 1975 PCSmith 11622 NDPPretty 10482 LibBingham 7334 1975 PCEvans 13557 NDPWesssenger 11628 LibKelly 9116 1975 PCMcCague 14201 LibBeattie 12510 NDPPerkins 3585 SocredComelson 596 the examiner Friday June 10 1977 NDP big losers George Taylor won the Sim coe Centre seat in the Legislature but the real political gain of the night went to Jim Corneau and the real loss to Paul Wessenger The three political parties finished Thursday night in the same positions they held in 1975 It was their total number of votes that made the dif ference Although new candidate Taylor Barrie lawyer held the seat for the Progresswe George Taylor newlyelected Conservative MPP for Simcoe Centre chats with Liberal candidate Jim Corneau and Cor neaus campaign manager Claire Campbell centre after Corneau conceded defeat Thursday Corneau 25yearold Conservatives Unofficial totals give him 15876 votes in 208 polls compared to 13557 earn ed by Arthur Evans in 1975 Simcoe Centre has been Conservative stronghold since 1943 but in 1975 the PCs got scare from the New Dem ocrats Wessenger the New Dem ocrat held his second place finish but there was much larger margin between first and second votes of defeating Evans in 1975 but was 5400 votes behind Taylor this time He polled an unofficial total of 10442 com pared to 11623 in 1975 Corneau the Liberal still came third but managed to pull his party up to within strik ing distance of the NDP He polled an unofficial total of 9555 Thursday night com pared to 9114 in 1975 ENTERED AS UNDERDOG Corneau entered the election Wessenger came within 2000 as the underdog with the Bradford businessman surprised many observers with strong showing at the polls but still finished thirdby less than 1000 votesbehind New Democrat Iaul Wessenger Examiner Photo Taylor sweeps into government on heels of resounding victory By RICHARD DLNSTAN Examiner Staff Reporter Conservative candidate George Taylor who was kicked off the Simcoe County Board of Education last time he faced the voters turned his fortunes around in dramatic fashion Thursday as he drove to crashing victory in the race for the Simcoe Centre seat at Queens Park The 39yearold Barrie lawyer drew 15870 votes to 10442 for New Democmt Paul Wessenger who had been ex pected to gch him close race and 9555 for surprisingly strong Liberal candidate Jim Corneau He will succeed long time Tory MlP Art Evans who is retiring Taylor took the lead with the first poll reported to his cam paign office at about 820a Stroud poll giving him 51 votes to 40 for Wessenger and 37 for Corneau and never looked back At 920 campaign Worker Paul Hermiston shouted thats it as Taylors total top ped 11000 and campaign direc tor Bill Knowles splashed the neatlydressed candidate with champagne much to the distress of sixyearold David Taylor who clenched his fists to defend his father Corneau had already dropped by to concede and workers abandoned headquarters short ly afterward for party at Odyssey 11 Wessenger arrived at 1110t0 congratulatethewin ner FESTIVE MDOD festive mood filled Tory headquarters from the first and campaign worker Ken McPhattcr was forced to call for quiet repeatedly so telephone workers could hear results from the polls Cheers began going Up with the first poll and continued through Knowles 8110 an nouncement that Tory George McCague had won in the neighboring DufferinSimcoc riding reports that Taylor was doing well in lnnisfil Township won in 1975 by Wessenger and Taylors own arrival greeted by numerous kisses from female workers at pm buzz of conversation greeted each new vote total and some workers were almost incredulous as Barrie polls taken by Wessenger in 1975 swung behind Taylor Even solemnfaced campaign manager Gary Palmer cracked smilcmin response to re quest from Knowleshalf an hour after the polls began com ingin lhc merrimcnt increased after the group moved to Odyssey 11 and no one seemed too concerned about the onser vative governments failure to win its hopedfor majority Most seemed cxultant over Taylors swampingof the NDI The most surprised people in the area are the great orange machine the NDI Palmer told partygoers We surprised them we fought them WE KILLEIIIIEI We killed them came voice from the crowd followed by vigorous applause Not everyone on hand was onservative Mayor Itoss Ar cher Liberal showed up to bring best wishes to the winner Sometimes you kick with both feet he explained Others among the near capacity crowd at the disco theque included forincr mayors Willard Kinzie Les Cooke and Bob Bentley aldermen Ed lhompson Ron Lynch and Knowles former aldermen lim lerri George Harper and al Brucker Ed llarpcr president of the Greater Barrie Chamber of ommcrce businessmen Garry lcluskey lim Green halgh Bill McCullough Millet Salter and Arch Brown lawyers letcr llowden Hill Leslie and harles Style and former Examiner publisher Kcn Walls Evans whose wife is ill did not attend Champagne dunking for victor Hard work free enterprise and Bill Davis added up to strong win for the Progressive Conservatives in Simcoe Ten tre victorious candidate George Taylor said Thursday after sweeping to 5434 vote win And though the rookie 3111 will form part of another minority government he said he is confident Premier Davis will find himself in stronger position than before the elec tion opposition parties have derided as unnecessary think it tminority govern ment will stay even longer than the past 20 months Taylor said in an interview dont think that either party would dare to defeat the government except on very major issue Taylor said the Conser vatives ran better campaign than in 1973 when longtime Tory Mll Art Evans was chas cd to the wire by New Democrat laul Wessenger who along with Liberal lim Corneau was Taylors victim Thursday 11 was more vigourous and there were more people involv ed he said The surprisingly strong vote Victorious Conservative candidate George Taylor takes slug of champagne to celebrate his election to Queens Park from the Simcoe cntre riding Ilis son David ti clenchcs fist in the background to ward off any further attacks on his father who got splashed with the bubbly before he got to drink it Taylor succeeds longtime Conservative MII Art Evans as member for the riding which stretches from Bradford to Ienetangnishene Examiner Photo for Corneau added to the on servative vote shows voter preference for free enterprise as compared to the socialist philosophy of the NDP he said IIIillIItSIIII And leadership too was an issue he said particularly as between Davis and NDP leader Stephen lxtwis both of whom showed serious concern with the fate of Simcoe Centre Taylor said he is pleased with the prospect of Liberal leader Stuart Sinitlt taking over froin Lewis as official opposition leader Smith has some good ideas he said and can be ex pected to show spirit of co operation in running ntario Taylor said ltarries massive annexation bid was frc quentlymcntioncd local issue but he is not certain how it af fected the outcome at the polls His own approach to annexav tioii he said will be to press for fitll provincial funding of the costs of the lengthy Dntario Municipal lloard annexation hearing ttlow adjourned until Seplcmbcrt to the muni cipalities involv ed The pledge follows the llllt taken by Evans iarlierthisycar Barrie probably will not get and not need all the land its asking for he said in reference to the 20000acrc ap plication Its for the MB to decidethat Nt IIMII Ull liiylor who spent the clcc tion day visiting most of the polling stations in the 10 municipality ruling said he docs not expect to take any time off before assuming his new duties True to pledge to be fulltime Mll he plans to spend the time cleaning up his law practice Handling constituents pro blems will take tnost of his time he said dont think theres much time left over for lawyering He said he will wait to see what assignments Davis gives him but would like to involved in housing or industry and tourism Liberal riding association still hurting from the 1975 campaign which saw Margaret Kelly and the party drop to third place for the first time think they know who Jim Corneau is now in Barrie he said It wasnt so much the Liberals winning as it was the New Democrats losing said Wessenger Wessenger lost his stronghold in lnnisfil Township where disenchanted voters split their vote between the Liberals and NDP allowing the Conser vatives to come out ahead Taylor made solid sweep of Barrie allowing Wessenger to win only handful of polls within the city The PCs retained Elmvale Bradford Vespra Township and fair chunk of Flos tthe New Democrats made some gains there Wessenger showed well 111 Penctanguishene and Tiny but the major portion of the vote went to the Liberals Penctanguishene which is predominantly French and Catholic has always been Liberal stronghold NDPs moment is soon ended The first poll was called in to Paul Wessengcrs election night headquarters at about 820 pm It was from lnnisfil and Wessenger won But in few minutes it was over Workers at New Democrat headquarters were posting results on large cardboards on the walls After each poll he marked the winner in big black letter7P for Paul and for George Taylor 13y 840 the wall was mass of Ts larty workers returning from their polling stations glanced at the board asked the press what was happening on television then went and bought drink The workers were deflated but not totally depressed Oh Im taking it well said one party worker Im just waiting for later when can find corner to tear my hair out and cry Wessenger did not arrive at headquarters until about 10 In the meantime ltred ltuemper kept workers entertained by handing out 3310 blank cheques JLST DATE ll The campaign ran deficit of about 32500 lust date it the chequet for your next payday he said Wessenger arrived without wife Mary Lou who was still working at the Iene tanguishcnc headquarters He thanked his party workers and promised he would be back again Wes senger said he had been active with the NDP for 16 years and would be back fighting in whatever Capacity the party wanted him He then sat down with the press to review his campaign Wessenger has always com municatcd well with the press and freely vcntcd his frustra tions with how the campaign was run He lost his stronghold in In nisfil Township but said it was provincial issues not annexa tion that caused it If annexation was big issue they wouldnt have voted Tory he explained Liberal lim Corneau did well in lnnisfil The Liberals really killed us he said $1IIIRITD The NDP promise of St minimum wage hurt too Wessenger estimated he lost few hundred votes over the issue There was no question the power groups were against the NDP he observed It is very hard fighting the establish ment he added Wessenger said the turnout at the polls was not exceptionally good but for sotnc reason the New Democrats were having trouble getting their own people out to the polls As for himself Wessenger said he was tired but has prcl ty good resilience cmot ionally Ive gone through lot of defeatsl havent got scir sitivccgo Its very difficult being can didatc he said particularly when there is business or law practice to be kept up Wessenger said he had been overloaded with work at his Barrie law practice and liadni done as much preliminary work as he had hoped Wessenger said he wont be takinga vacation he cant real ly afford to Six uccks away from his law office and llHlll fulltime babysitter ctrt inn about 54000 hc cst llllillitl Finishes strong third New Democrat Paul Wessenger defeated candidate in Simcoe Centre talks to his 12year old daughter Kristina at election night headquarters while wife Mary Lou looks on in the background Kristina is the oldest of the Wessengers three children The campaign was tainin at fair for the Wessengers and Mrs Wessenger was not on hand to hear her husband speak to his workersshe was still in Penetanguishcne supervising the vote there Ex aminer Photo We blew it Softsell approach to Metro lost us Ontario Wessenger By SHEILA IcilllN Examiner Staff Reporter The ntario New Democrats adopted softsell approach to save Metro loronto and in do ing so lost the rest of Ontario says Paul lcssenger 1t was bad campaign we blew it Wessenger who lost in Sitti coc tcntrc by 2000 votes in 1973 saw the gap between htmsclt and Progressive on scrvativc George Taylor widen to 104111 hursday night ttiittiiio voters cast their ballots on provincial not local issticx he said and the NDP litllttlliitxtllfllSllpCtlplC The litigenstrciff polls in the Toronto Star showed the NDI in trouble in Metro Toronto he said oi the provincial party adopted 11 softscll approach and tamed the leader to suit loiotto The people outside Toronto were fed up with the Davis govtrnmcnt Wessenger said noting he and Liberal lim Torr ncau totalled much higher voti than Taylor the Pt can ilitfxttc Stcphcii Lewis and the party should hate been more ag tlltS1t ht gttlltl liic Nltl campaign started off well and it showed in the polls he said but the party did not raise enough issues to polarize the vote DIDNT IIII HARD The NDP didnt touch on regional government he said They didnt hit hard on issues in the North and lost seats there Environmentally we didnt say anything he added Lewis zeroed in on mercury con tamination in the English Wabigoon river system but didnt broaden the environmen tal aspect Lewis didnt hit hard on pro perty taxes and dont understand why Wessenger said The provincial govern ment is passing the burden of the economy onto the property taxpayers he said The NDP didnt hit hard on housing and health care and they really arent radical issues he added The whole area of dental care for children was untouched because the NDP didnt want to make promise it couldnt keep Wessenger said unlike Davis who makes all kinds of promises he never keeps The economy cant afford dental care program right now he explained Wessenger had fought strong ly for the farm vote in Simcoe Centre bringing Gordon Hill and Walter Miller both well known farm leaders into the riding He didnt get it LISTEN TO LEADER Lewis didnt deal with agricultural issues and they the voterSt only listen to the leader Wessenger said The NDP should have fought to form the government not the opposition in minority government he said Wessenger told his workers Lewis is the only man to lead the party and in press con ference afterward told reporters the NDP should be less cautious Lewis is not at his best be ing cautious he explained he should keep his style Wessenger said this cam paign showed him people are willing to sacrifice income in order to create jobs The Davis economic policy dates back to the 19505 and believes growth will solve everything he said and people do not accept this personal victory for Liberal Corneau By IAll DICLEAN Examiner Staff Reporter The floor of the Simocc cn fre Liberal headquarters on Dunlop Street might have been worn through Thursday it can didate lim orncau had kept up his nervous pacing all night orncau made his entrance to campaign headquarters shortly after the polls closul 111 and spent the first liiilflliour lll perpetual motion gravitating bctwccn supportcrs two tclcvi sion sets refreshment table and listing of individual poll returns was very calm up until lllt time llit icsults started coming in Then got nervous lalways get nervous when there are livtotis l1tgtL1l£lllll ftcr about an hour the lltttllttll businessman had started to wind down It became tiltHitliS that he would finish third Ill the riding after Simcoe entrc Liberal candidate liin Corneau gets hug from campaign manager laire ainpbell Ihursday after presenting her with token of appreciation for her work during the campaign group of about 10 Liberal supporters gathered at the Liberal headquarters on Dunlop Street to follow the outcome of the election orncan 20 finished third in the threeman race but was less than 1000 voles behind Inul Wessenger of the NDI lhc Brail ford businessman conceded to Progressive Conservative iiorgi Taylor at about pin Though disappointed at not winning orneau said he was pleased with the campaign and predicted that he would run again in some future election The associations riding presi dent Kevin arrolL said the Liberals had accomplished lot in cry short time and with little amount of money Nevt time around well beat them tExaininir Photo initial optimism that he might take second Corneau 20 was nonetheless very strong third in his first provincial election finishing less than 1000 votes behind NDP repeatcandidate Paul Wesson ger PERSONAL VICTORY It was for him personal vic tory Like his party leader Stuart Smith Corneau started the campaign slowly picking up momentum in the latter weeks In the last week it looked like we had good chance of winning We were optimistic think they know who liin torneau is now in Barrie he observed Corneau entered the race for the Simcoe Centre seat in September when unopposed at the Liberal association nominating convention llis involvement with the par ty dates back to 1968 when he worked for John Roberts In 1972 he assisted in Margaret Kellys campaign in the Brad ford area was area chairman for Bradford when got call last summer asking if would con sider running as candidate said was interested In September got another call was told there might be couple of others contesting the nomination throw my hat into the ring although the others who had aspirations didnt run IltllllNG NI SIIMIHJNG We started slow tripping and stumbling but we finally made it to election day he said torncau is encouraged by his first political foray At 20 dont think my political career is over There will be next time he stated adding that he is interested in both the federal and provincial jurisdictions Im quite pleased with the campaign feel it went well You always like to win but there are degrees of victory tine battle is not the war think this election has given us place credibility Were not going to enter the next campaign with the press writingusoff Corneau feels that perhaps failure to make our annexation position clear cost the Liberals healthy chunk of the lnnisfil vote and maybe the whole election The Liberals were the only ones to enter the election with wellresearched specific an nexation policy he said think the media failed to analyze this and the PCs and NDP slid through on the annex ation issue STOPPING THE RAPE But if weve done something to stop the rape of lnnisfil we have accomplished something this election Corneau admitted that the In nisfil vote had been bit of disappointment We were hoping to get 40 per cent of the popular vote in In nisfil We didnt get it We knew wed be strong in the south and North Corneau drew the most votes in Bradford and Penetang and hoped we could do battle in Barrie though we never had any dreams of taking Barrie The local Liberals ran their campaign on shoestring budget of less than $15000 We didnt have the bucks to spend our volunteers worked their hearts out Corneau said He feels that the Grits have developed strong organiza tional nucleus in the area Its young team that now has one campaign under its belt Theyre looking to the next 0110 According to Corneau the election as whole was $20 million waste of time LOSER IS DAVIS The real loser tonight is William Davis His political career is ended dont see him going on to the federal govern ment and the PCs are too shrewd to run him again in On tario theyd be threetime losers PM Jim Corneau the end of the campaign trail will coincide with return to the business hes had to neglect for three months He is partner along with his father and brother in Cor neau and Sons Pallet and Box Co of Bradford guess theyll be looking forward to my return to ease the pressure Ive been at this pretty well fulltime since March