Wednesday, October 27, 1993 - North Shore News - 3

Tory Cabinet minister soundly defeated in Capilano-Howe Sound

A SENIOR minister fell in Capilano-Howe Sound Monday
as Reform party green replaced Progressive Conservative

blue across the North Shore.

Health Minister Mary Collins
was decisively defeated by Reform
party political newcomer Herb
Grubel, a professor of economics
at Simon Fraser University.

Unofficial poll numbers give
Grubel 19,247. Collins toak a vote
count of 8,122.

Liberal candidate Audrey So-
jonky gathered 14,495 votes.

National news of the size of the
Liberal majority and the number
of populist seats taken by the Bloc
Quebecois in Quebec and the

- Reform party in the west was the
first of two shocks for supporters
gathered in the ‘‘war room’’ of
Mary Collins’ headquarters near
the Capilano River in West Van-
couver.

Tenuous hope by Collins’
backers for Tory chances in B.C.
quickly evaporated as the stunning
early B.C. numbers made
themselves known.

A video political pundit beam-
ing into the war room described
the Liberal victory as a
“slaughter.”’ The Tories were
“hurled’’ from office.

Collins seemed nonplussed as to
why,

“I think it’s a confluence of
reasons. I couldn’t attribute it to
any one in particular. It’s time for
a change,I guess. A fot of Cana-
dians felt they wanted something
different — they got it.

“We'll rebuild, and I’m sure
that we'll be back in another four
or five years,’’ Collins vowed.

Several blocks away, on the
other side of the Capilano River,
the electric power of victory
sparked through a room full of
Grubel supporters tracking the
election returns on two big TV
screens.

Cheers filled the ballroom as the
Reform wins rolled across B.C.

Supporters chanted, ‘‘We want
Herb! We want Herb!" while Van
Halen’s rock ’n’ roll song Jump
blared from speakers to preface
Grubel’s arrival and victory
speech.

“The old parties are shaking.
Politics in Canada will never be
the same again. Democracy has
been revitalized,’* Grubel said.

“The taboos of political cor-
rectness have been broken. We
have raised issues that concern
you and all the people of Canada,

By Michael Becker
News Reporter

not just the elite and the old-line
parties and the media and the
special-interest groups.””

Said Grubel when asked how he
felt about toppling a cabinet
minister: ‘‘Well, Mary has served
this riding very well for two terms,
and I think her defeat was not her
own fault. I think bigger forces
were against her.”’

Said Grubel supporter Kris
Frith, ‘‘We’ve been wanting to see
this for such a long time. h’s
really wonderful.”’

Her husband Darrell Frith,
Reform party coordinaior for the
B.C. and Yukon region, said the
results exceeded his expections.

“] guess for lack of a better
term, my outlook coming into this
has been relatively conservative,”’
Frith said.

An early Reform member, Frith
joined the party in 1988.

“td worked hard for the Con-
servatives in 1984 and became very
disillusioned about a year and a
half after they came to power.

“All the promises that sounded
so good were not miaterizlizing.
Each budget that got passed was a
bigger joke and a cruel hoax on
Canadians.

“Basically I threw my arms up
and existed for a few years in the
wilderness until f found out about
the Reform party.’”’

Frith acknowledged that the
many neophyte. MPs will have
much to learn in Parliament, but
he said party representatives will
arrive in Ottawa with a ‘‘wide
open agenda.”’

Collins was first elected to the
riding in 1984.

During her time in office she
held the posts of Associate
Minister of National Defence,
Minister Responsible for the
Status of Women, Minister of
Western Economic Diversification
and Minister of Health.

Said Collins, ‘I've worked at
every level of the national policy
issues and it’s just been a great
privilege to be part of the deci-
sion-making process of this great
country. [ feel very good about
what I’ve been able to do, and
now it’s time to move on.””

V voters send

Candidate triumphs over criticism

FIVE MINUTES before the polls closed in B.C. during
Monday night’s federal election, North Vancouver Pro-
gressive Conservative candidate Will McMartin conceded

defeat.

Ju: after the polis closed, a
short distance from McMartin’s
campaign office, North Vancouver
Reform: candidate Ted White
predicted that not only would he
win his riding, but the Reform
party would win every B.C. feder-
al seat. .

The prediction failed to materi-
alize, but North Vancouver voters
are sending White to Ottawa as
their next Member of Parliament.

White said his first priority will
be to gain the trust of all North
Varicouver residents. ;

“My number one priority is to
make sure everyone in North

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

Vancouver understands that I
represent everyone, regardless of
how they voted.

‘In Preston’s (Manning)
speech, he said clearly that we
want to introduce a new type of
activity to Canada, where we rep-
resent the people.

“} really would like to work
with the North Shure News to
make sure there’s back and forth

See Canadians page 5

NEWS photo Paul McGrath

DEFEATED CAPILANO-Howe Sound Tory MP Mary Collins looks concerned after hearing election

results on television.

NORTH VANCOUVER Liberal candidate Mobina Jaffer talks te a
campaign worker during Monday night's election.

index

E3 Budget Beaters ..
GB Business........
Doug Collins... .
2 Crossword ......
Bob Hunter......
& Inquiring Reporter
Lifestyles .. .
News of the Weird .
H North Shore Now. .
FBSports............
BTV Listings......
BB What's Going On .

Weather

Thursday sunny with cloudy
periods. Highs 12°C, lows 6°C

Canadian Publications Mai! Sales
Product Agreement Number 0087238