TRONTO: Colleen Beaumier, the Liberal Candidate from Brampton was elected with 23,900 votes defeating her nearest rival Ernie McDonald of the Reform Party, by over 13,000 votes:
Hers was the first victory for Liberals in the Brampton riding in 15 years.
After her victory was announced Colleen said her party will not abuse its mammoth majority and will fulfill its promises.
“There are a lot of people going to Ottawa who feel the same way as me: That if we don’t do what was promised, and if we do not keep in touch with the people, we may never be in power again,” she said in an interview,
“If we lose touch with the people, we don’t deserve to be elected again,” said the 46yearold bust ness woman, social activist and longtime party organizer at her victory party OcL25.
The outcome was never in doubt as the Liberals led almost every poll, with the Reform party’s Ere McDonald finishing second with about half of Beaumier’s vote count,
The riding, with almost 100,000 eligible voters, has elected Tories for 15 years, but this time the rightwing vote, with the collapse of the NDP, the way was paved for an easy Liberal win.
In the last two elections, Tory cabinet minister John Mc Dermid clobbered his Liberal opponents by wide margins. But with Mc Dermid gone the Tories lost the advantage of having an incumbent in the running.
They were pinning their hopes on the high profile Fernell, 40, who is in her second term as a municipal councilor, serving both the city and Peel Region. But she was well back in third place after the results were announced.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 29, 1993
