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hie tribune 35000 copies vol 3 no 37 a metroland community newspaper saturday september 12 1987 72 pages 25 cents ballinger wins by jim thomas a liberal tidal wave swept across ontario thursday and bill ballinger rode the crest the 41yearold former ux- bridge mayor recorded a better than 400vote majority over his prime opponent incumbent ross stevenson in a landslide peterson win although not official the last count released at 9 am friday by the returning office in ux- bridge gave ballinger 12369 votes to 11718 for stevenson donna kelly of the ndp was well back with 5494 with ken canning of the family coalition barely scratch ing the surface with 1071 whitchurchstouffville went liberal again giving ballinger a plurality of over 500 the winners predecessor greg sorbara won handily in yorkcentre so also did liberal norah ston- er in durham west the picker ing regional councillor stoned in cumbent george ashe of the pcs 16690 to 10963 one of the few pc survivors was don cousens in the new riding of markham cousens is being sug gested as possible conservative leadership material in the wake of larry grossmans personal de feat and subsequent resignation as predicted the ballinger- stevenson battle was a close fight with the outcome in doubt until more than half the polls were in mr stevenson later visited the ballinger victory party in the ux- bridge arena and extended con gratulations newly elected durhamyork liberal candidate bill ballinger right is all smiles as he appears on the podium in the uxbridge arena following his election victory thursday hes accompanied here by his pa rents fred and betty ballinger alan shackleton subdued elation in close race bill thanks peterson by alan shackleton bill ballinger painted the riding red thursday night as the former uxbridge mayor rode the liberal landslide to victory in durham- york ballinger beat pc incumbent ross stevenson by about 500 votes to take the newlyformed riding which includes whitchurch- stouffville uxbridge and con tinues northeast to lake simcoe this is a great night in durhamyork we really did it ballinger told an enthusiastic crowd of about 500 supporters at the uxbridge community centre in his acceptance speech this is a thrilling time in ontario history he added lam pleased im a new liberal i know there are a lot of people whove waited 40 or 50 years for this to happen dressed in a threepiece blue suit and the almost mandatory bright red tie ballinger said the popularity of premier david peterson and the hard work of his local campaignworkers were crucial to the win during his speech ballinger was joined by his family parents betty and fred wife donna and children bradley jill and katie along with key members of his election team there are two reasons we won and the number one reason is david peterson he said were proud to be on his team for a new ontario the second reason was the efforts of my campaign team they had a heck of a job to turn such a solid tory bastion liberal it was a long campaign and they never once let me down we all pulled together and isnt it great when a plan comes together he added there was an air of quiet confi dence at ballinger headquarters all evening as results from across the province showed the liberals on their way to a huge majority and ballinger holdinga consistent lead of 500700 votes over stevenson however with a number of polls from strong conservative areas still not reporting there was no premature celebration and it wasnt until almost 11 pm when ross stevenson showed up to con cede defeat that the local long- suffering liberals let loose stevenson shook hands with ballinger congratulated him waved to the crowd and then beat a hasty retreat as did ndp candi date donna kelly about 30 mi nutes later in an interview outside the community centre stevenson said he was not bitter over the loss though he was surprised by the majority the liberals gained across the province stevenson said a number of fac tors contributed to the tbry de feat the redistribution in the rid ing whitchurchstouffville used to be part of yorknorth cost us and the situation with the federal conservatives hurt us along with the popularity of mr peterson he explained i think mr ballin ger rode ever so slightly on the coat tails of mr peterson it was a claim ballinger did not deny certainly the single big gest factor in the election was david peterson he said by jim thomas tacked to the wall of bill ballin- gers stouffville election office was a copy of a telegram it read in part best wishes to all your workers many thanks for an ex cellent campaign it was signed- premier david peterson perhaps this was the incentive needed maybe it added spark to the liberal fire whatever the result the 564 vote whitchurchstouffville majority gained by ballinger over pc incumbent ross stevenson was sufficient to win the durhamyork riding workers closed up shop at 935 pm most departed for the ballin ger victory party in the uxbridge arena hoping any latepoll re turns wouldnt transform the win into a wake they didnt stevenson later conceded de- feat and offered congratulations despite the liberal sweep across ontario the mood was sur prisingly subdued at stouffville party headquarters about a dozen supporters watched the proceedings on tele vision while elva boyd adorned in party colors of red and white posted poll by poll returns on a nearby board the defeat of pc leader larry grossman brought a spontaneous hurrah so did the loss by toron tos susan fish good for norah called out a listener when word of stoners lengthening lead over incumbent george ashe durhamwest flashed across the screen unbelievable just unbeliev able commented another view er with the prediction of 94 liberal seats cheers greeted the announce ment that whitchurchstouffville had gone liberal by over 500 votes don cousens lead over liberal gail newall in markham brought the comment we gotta give em a few as organizers readied to turn the key a sign was placed in the headquarters window that read simply thank you whitchurch- stouffville preliminary results liberal 12369 ndp 5494 pc 11718 fc 1071 whats inside