IT’S JULY 20, 1991, at the Vancouver Trade and Con- vention Centre. Chairman Peter Hyndman surveys the

1,900 delegates, the explosion

of color, bunting and the

dual ranks of candidates’ booths and the media control rooms. Signs, banners and placards bear the names and the faces of the prospective leaders whom, the polls still say,

will lead the party of W.A.C. fall.

Hyndman sees party president Hope Rust and its bastion of in- tegrity Les Peterson make their way toward him. The crowd whimpers in silence, tension lining every face. The candidates stare expectantly.

After the usual formalities of ballot tallies, and spoiled votes, Hyndman’s resonant tones fill the air: ‘‘Duane Crandall,’’ he an- nounces. ‘‘34 votes.’ No reaction. “*Mel Couvelier, 306.’’ Couveiier supporters prematurely erupt into cheering. Much stronger than the pundits had expected.

When he reports Norm Jacobsen’s 255, there’s disap- pointment on the candidate's face, but an excited burst of energy from his gunslinger manager, John Laschinger of Toronto. The supporters show more confusion than enthusiasm, when exorred to cheering.

And now the tension is palpable. ‘‘Rita Johnston,”’ Hyndman proclaims, ‘‘595 votes."* And the room vibrates with ex- citement. The Johnston sup- porters, convinced by recent polls that Grace McCarthy was a shoe- in, see strength in their ranks.

And finally, beaming stoically through it all, the first lady awaits the verdict. Hyndman reports that she had attracted 687 votes, a clear lead, but not quite so domi- nant as what had been expected.

Campaign managers flash through the rcom like scud missiles, descending upon Duane Crandall and Mel Couvelier. Crandall, who had spent a lonely few weeks, seems to bask in the sudden attention. Couvelier just shrugs, and muttering ‘‘no, no, no,’’ he pulls his way toward the television cameras. He explains that he had chartered an indepen- dent course through the campaign

NV woman

A NORTH Vancouver woman won the $250,000 jackpot prize awarded during the June 29 Lotto B.C. draw.

‘4 always play the Lotto 6/49,"" said Mabel Mathewson. ‘But I thought with the jackpot so big | would try my luck on Lotto B.C.

Her luck came through when the $2 Lotto B.C. Quick Pick ticket she purchased from a Mac’s convenience store in North Van- couver won her the jackpot prize.

By correctly matching the six winning numbers drawn, Mathewson won $250,000. And because Mathewson, 64, also mat- ched three winning numbers on one of her other sets of numbers, she won an additional $5 for a total prize cheque of $250,005.

“IT thought my chances were better to win something.”’

For every $1 played, Lotto B.C. players receive two sets of numbers which are eligible for the jackpot prize plus several smaller prizes. For the four Saturdays in July, every $5 Lotto B.C. Lucky Dip is also eligible for a bonus prize of the winner’s choice of a Mazda MPV mini-van, Toyota 4-Runner, Chrysler LeBaron convertible or $25,000 cash equivalent.

*) had a feeling 1 would win,” said Mathewson, who has also won severa! smaller prizes on Lot- to B.C. in the past. ‘It was just like a dream come true.”*

She and her husband Bob plen to share the winnings with their

Bennett to certain defeat this

Gary Bannerman

OPEN LINES

and he felt that there was a chance he might be seen as the compromise, if a deadlock occurs between the two women.

As Couvelier struggles to finish his comment, he can see he is los- ing the attention of the reporters. They race off toward a commo- tion in the corner. It's Bill and Lillian Vander Zalm, smiling as though they had just won the polka contest at the country fair.

“It’s not enough,” he tells the reporters. ‘I don't think Rita can do it now.’* The former premier had been frequently visible throughout the campaign, but un- characteristically discreet about preferences. He now chooses to drop a bombshell: ‘*It seems to me that Norm Jacobsen may have a good chance."’

As the crowd crupts, the faces of John Laschinger and a Jacobsen family member are spot- ted as they fade from the scene.

Duane Crandall, who has been cut from the ballot, finally an- nounces that he will be supporting Grace McCarthy and he mounts her podium for a warm hug.

Jacobsen’s Laschinger and

wins jackpot

family. The couple said they would also like to travel and buy a new apartment.

In other lottery news, a June 28 News story reported that North Vancouver resident Gloria Muz- zin, who won a new car in a Pro- vincial Bonus lottery draw, had decided to take the cash equivalent of $40,000.

In fact, the cash equivalent of the Chrysler vehicle is $20,000.

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Johnston's Pat Kinsella have the backroom computers dissecting the ‘second choice’ preferences of the delegates. An army of aides is dispatched to talk to the voters one at a time.

The veteran backroom sirate- gists were once colleagues in the Norman Atkins/D.C. Camp blue machine factory in Toronto. There is deja vu at wo. \ here, as Yogi would say, ‘‘all over again."* Laschinger was here in $986 masterminding the Bud Smith campaign. Kinsella was on the other side orchestrating Brian Smith's mystifying laser-beam profile. This was the conceptually brilliant ‘*Two Smiths" strategy. Laschinger and Kinsella were equally thunderstruck when Bud Smith marched to Vander Zalm.

(Forgive my suspicions any time the hired guns seem to be oppo- nents.)

After a wearying, lengthy in- terlude, the delegates again start parading through the voting booths. And 90 minutes later, the second ballot tally is announced: Couvelier, 140; Jacobsen, 367; Johnston, £90; and, McCarthy, 838.

Couvelier doesn’t even wait for Hyndman to finish the an- nouncement. He marches over to Norm Jacobsen, before the Mc- Carthy and Johnston teams can capture him. Stubborn to a fault, his only real choice would have been to support no one. But he couldn’t endorse McCarthy, whom he felt betrayed the gov- ernment, or Johnston, who had so improperly fired him.

Grace smiles. But the Jacobsen forces are jubilant.

Kinsella, marshalling over half of the cabinet behind him on Rita's behalf, makes an impas- sioned plea for Jacobsen’s sup- port. The former Maple Ridge Mayor seems oblivious to the overtures, quietly satisfied by a race well run.

Kinsella finally gets Laschinger aside. ‘‘He can be the hero ...

1

Sunday, July 7, 1991 ~ North Shore News - 9

Socred scenario played out in the trenches

Grace has got the votes ... we know we can’t hold our people any longer ... and they're not go- ing to your guy,’’ Kinsella advises, urging Jacobsen to ‘*come aver.’

Laschinger just smiles. ‘‘ht won't wash Pat. Norm can win for winning ... or he can win for losing. He won't support any- body. But he has already scored a huge victory. You will come to us or Mrs. Johnston should start planning her retirement.”’

Kinsella tries one last low blow: “Do you have any idea how many delegates are determined to make a woman Premier?”’

Laschinger grins, shrugs and concisely answers: ‘‘No."”

And he walks away.

Grace McCarthy’s triumphant entry to the race created a wave of euphoria. She is the heavy

favorite, but it's not going to be easy.

When she left the cabinet in 1988 and began her machinations from the sideline, her colleagues were a divided camp. The Vander Zalm loyalists had come to in- tensely dislike her. A third of the cabinet were neutrals, who felt she aborted any chances for peacemaking. Even those who agreed with her assessment about the Premier, compromised to keep their top jobs. She embarrassed them.

There will be an awesome “Anybody But Grace’? movement. And she will likely still win. If Mrs. McCarthy holds the same views she had at Whistler in 1986, the dark ages will soon descend on the professional political manipulators. Upon occasion, the word ‘‘criminal’’ has lingered in her mind.

Ballard Power Systems awarded contract for fuel cells research

NORTH VANCOUVER-based Ballard Power Systems Inc. has received a contract worth over half a million dollars to im- prove the capability of fuel cells as alternative low-cost, high-performance energy sources for the federal Department of Energy, Mines and Resources.

Work under the $529,143 contract will maintain eight jobs until Nov. 30, 1992.

Ballard's solid polymer fuel cells are similar to ordinary

1375 KINGSWAY [at K

batteries in that both convert chemical energy to. electrical energy and have no moving parts,

But the fuel cells do not have to be recharged. They convert chemical energy from hydrogen extracted from a continuous flow of fuel. The cells produce more electricity for their size than convential batteries,

The fuel cell, which produces very little heat (185 F), is also quiet and non-polluting. Its only byproducts are electricity and water.