Freedom Flyer January - June 1986 Cover

Freedom Flyer 6

the official newsletter of the
Freedom Party of Ontario

January - June 1986




Article electronically reproduced from:

The London Free Press

Article date unknown


Candidates' debate draws small crowd

Photo caption: A disappointing crowd of about 60 people turned out Monday to hear the four provincial election candidates for London North in debate at the City Centre Holiday Inn. From Left, seated, are Liberal Ron Van Horne, Freedom Party candidate Rob Smeenk, Tory George Avola and New Democrat Marion Boyd. At the microphone is moderator Gordon Hume.
London North candidates

Jobs, taxation, government longevity and separate school financing were the election issues the four candidates for London North had on their mind Monday as the London Chamber of Commerce sponsored the first of a series of all-candidate nights at the City Centre Holiday Inn.

A disappointing crowd of only 60 people, nearly all of them party workers or media representatives, turned up for the debate and question period which was moderated by Gordon Hume, general manager of CKSL Radio.

Liberal Ron Van Horne, MPP for the riding in the last house, zeroed in on the "dry-rot infested" and "barnacle encrusted" Tories, reminding his audience that anyone under the age of 42 in Ontario had never known any other government. It was time for a change to the Liberals, he said.

The dry rot of Conservative arrogance, he said, showed in patronage appointments like that of Clare Westcott, former executive director of retired premier William Davis's office, to the chairmanship of the Metro Toronto Police Commission. That job, he said, would pay him a salary of more than $80,000 a year on top of a government pension of $60,000.

"That is what you call a barnacle on the bottom of the good ship Ontario," Van Horne said.

Progressive Conservative candidate George Avola spoke out on the need to build on years of prosperity and on the Tory government record of job creation which he called the best in Canada. "The record of the Conservatives," he said, "was one of excellence."

The continuance of growth, he said, would allow Ontario and Ontarians to create the new jobs it still desperately needs and to maintain a social service network that is one of the best in the world.

New Democratic Party candidate Marion Boyd insisted her party is not the anti-business party it is so often painted as and blasted the Tories for tax giveaways to major corporations when it was allowing small business to wither.

An NDP government, she said, would ensure that small business is given the affordable credit needed to grow and prosper and to create the jobs that are so desperately needed in the economy.

Rob Smeenk, candidate for the Freedom party, said his aim on the election trail and that of his party is to argue for less government and less regulation on both people and business. The businessman, he said, has been turned into a permanent scapegoat for all of society's troubles when it is business skills that are required to turn the economy around and create jobs.

He added that "freedom of choice" is perhaps the issue of the election and one that he intends to spend a great deal of time addressing.

On the issue of separate school financing, all three traditional party candidates spoke out firmly in favor of extension of full public financing to Catholic schools up to Grade 13, but all three, including Conservative Avola, added there is a need for more thorough public and legislative debate on the issue. Smeenk preferred a "voucher system" where Ontarians would be able to divert their taxes to a school system of choice.




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