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FEDERAL EL EC T/ON Even without an election in sight, he gathered together a group to support him in his quest and began knocking on doors, every weekend, in an attempt to reach all voters inYorle-North to find out their opinions on a variety of national issues. ‘ Liberal Sta ff Writer One candidate out to meet his constituents and find out their hopes and fears for the country is John Gamble â€" Progressive Conservative Party candidate for the riding of York North. Since Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau called the election for May 22, Mr. Gamble has been knocking on doors each day, distributing literature, shaking hands and getting people’s reactions to issues as well as letting consituents know he is concerned enough to go out to the people. John Gamble is 3 Markham resident who decided in 1976 he would like to be the candidate to represent the conservative party in the next federal election. York North riding spans a huge area that includes Richmond Hill, Markham, Maple, Kleinburg and Unionville and Mr. Gamble hopes to visit each home, but just in case he misses some he spends weekends at local plazas talking to shoppers. Because he would like to reach as many people as he can, last weekend he spent time at the Maple Sugar Festival where many families were gathered to watch the old fashioned “sugaring off". Two major concerns have become evident through personal contact with area residents, said Mr. Gamble. A great number of people are opposed to Pierre Trudeau â€". “the name conjures up a lot of animosity,” he said â€" and “wild government spending” is another issue con- stituents of this riding are upset about. Quite understandably, Mr. Gamble feels strongly against Trudeau and suggests voters in the country should “examine his record”. “A vote for me is an opportunity to vote against Pierre Trudeau,” said Mr. Gamble when asked why voters in York North should vote Progressive Con- servative on May 22. Mr. Gamble said he believes the “waste and ex- travagance” in government spending could be curbed by reduction in areas such as the civil servant language training program (which he believes is a “dismal failure"), reducing funds to corporations, such as CBC, and massive reductions to foreign aid. “These wastes are all linkéd inexorably with in- competent management by the government," said Mr. Gamble. The York North candidate said he lamented the constant clamor for fundg by CBC. In his opinion CBC is a perfect example of how a public corporation operates at a loss while private operations produce a comparable product, at a profit. “Taxpayers should not have to pour money in as they have in the past," he said. About foieign aid, Mr. Gamble said he felt the $1,100 million “doled out" 'by the Trudeau government, should be stopped. The local candidate said he believed in helping countries who were genuinely endeavoring to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” but he questioned “gifts” to 40 Communist or dictatorial repressive regimes, like Uganda. “I have a mania for cutting economic waste,” said Mr. Gamble, referring to how he felt about the fact the Canadian deficit jumped $1 billion because of interest payments in 1978. Our gross national debt was $80 billion at the end of 1978‘ said Mr. Gamble, with interest on that amount at $14 million ~ each day. Mr. Gamble is a Director of Union Villa in Markham, and he has served as Chairman of the Box Grove Com- munity Centre Association. He lives in Box Grove with his wife Katie and sons Mark, 19, attending the University of Toronto and Blake 17 at Markham District High School. John Gamble was born in Perth, Ontario, in 1933 and has been a Progressive Conservative since he was 18 years old when he first worked in committee rooms and canvassed for the local candidate. He has worked for the conservative party every election since that time, except the four years he worked for the Department of National Revenue. Gamble started door knocking ' two years ago By SHAARON HAY A look at York-North’s candidates Libéral ommunity By LARRY JOHNSTON Liberal News Editor When Barney Danson learned that John Diefenbaker was taking a taxiâ€"cab to and from work, he called him up to offer him the use of a car. Among the responsibilities of the minister of national defence is the provision of cars and drivers to dignitaries. The cab was costing the former prime minister $8 a trip, but he was hesitant to accept Mr. Danson's offer. How would it look? Mr. Danson had an aide call back the next day to assure Mr. Diefenbaker that the offer was sincere and no political trap was being laid. Mr. Diefenbaker accepted and so a driver was assigned. Mr. Danson does not end the story there, but goes on to explain why he thinks this particular driver would get along well with his right honorable passenger. This is just a sample not only of the human touch, but also the thoroughness, of Barney Danson, 58, member of parliament in York North since 1968. As a cabinet minister, he can staff an office of three political assistants in Toronto and two more in Ottawa, and keep them hopping. “I had a reputation in business as an exacting and demanding boss. I guess I am a perfectionist," says Mr. Danson. “But even in business, I have had loyal people working for me and a warm relationship.” “I aon’t fire people; they usually realize themselves that they don‘t want to work to our standard of perâ€" formance." Mr. Danson and his staff have performed some surprising feats. They persuaded the ministry of tran- sport, for example, to try a different take-off pattern for planes in Buttonville from anywhere else in Canada, just to lessen the noise nuisance to area householders. They helped curtail the Canadian National Railways switching activities on the Doncaster siding. » Most recent}y,v-M.r. sDanson isuaded the post office that Woodbridge should have etfer carriers although, under postal regulations, it is too §mall. Political analysts have contributed the increased staying power of individual MPs and MLAs over the last few years to the increased emphasis of constituency work alloWed by increased budgets. Whether this will help maintain the status quo this time out'remains to be seen. One Ottawa assistant is kept busy primarily with immigration and unemployment insurance inquiries. Mr. Danson opened a constituency office full-time when he was first elected. A rarity then, it would be a brave MP who would try to get along without one now. Mr. Danson believes the leader and the party are responsible for 80 per cent of the vote and the candidate the other 20 and he is not worried about his 20 per cent. He says mare volunteers have come forward than at any time since 1968. Many of them are people whom he has helped. He has always made it a practice to be in his office on Saturdays to have personal interviews with constituents with problems. Even as a cabinet minister whose job takes him from the west coast to the middle east, he still manages to be in the riding two or three times a week, most weeks, and to make those Saturday appointments. Mr. Danso'n got interested in politics in the Second World War, when, as an officer in the Queen’s Own Rifles, he decided that “you should do more for your country than just fight for it”. His parents were Conservative, but he says he found himself more impressed with the leaders of the Liberal party (with the exception of Mackenzie King) and was also more inclined to agree with its social philosophy. He went back to Toronto to work in the family in- surance business and then, partly because he did not really believe in sons being in their father’s business, he went to work for a family client in the plastics industry. He always had the longterm goal of a political career, but he had to be able to afford it and set out to build an independent financial base. He founded Danson Corporation and hired people who could run it when he was not there. When he sold out to the management which had helped him build it in 1974, it was the largest company in its field in Canada. Mr. Danson picked the right year to finally run for parliament. “1968 was not an election”, is his description of Trudeaumania, as The Liberals swept York North by 8,000 votes. In 1972, Mr. Trudeau won a squeaker, and so did Mr. Danson, by York North standards, beating Stephen Roman by 2,000 votes. Two years later, Mr. Danson received 34,179 votes to Mr. Roman’s 26,386. Mr. Da‘nson thinks this will be the toughest fight since 1972. He became minister of state for urban affairs in 1974 and got the post be far prefers, defence ministerz ip 1976: ‘V‘Urban- affairs is basically a provincial and municipal responsibility. I didn’t think we had any particular wisdom to add,” he said. In defence, he is presiding over the rearming of the Canadian Armed Forces after years of relative neglect. The reason is the strength of forces in eastern Europe and most NATO countries are committed to a three-per cent real increase (above inflation) in defence spending over the next few years. Issues? The post office receives most of constituents’ wrath. The RCMP. “I wish it was a bigger issue.” The economy. Most North York residents appear to be better off than ever before. “I asked someone from Montreal what his impression of Toronto is. He answered in one word: money.” Human touch, thoroughness, part of Barney Wednesday, April 11, 1979 Section D By STEVE PEARLSTEIN Liberal Sta ff Writer York North NDP candidate Bruce Searle is no stranger to politics and despite his claim of being “a very apolitical person”, he has had experience with all three levels of government. His career in municipal affairs got started rather rudely on March 2, 1972, when the federal government announced its plans to build an airport in Pickering. Bruee said he wasn’t very much in love with the Provincial Conservatives, either, for their stand on the airport. “We fought the Pickering airport for three years until the time we moved to Markham. At the beginning, one of the first things we didn’t like was the arrogance of the Liberals â€" they were treating people like they were a bunch of nuisances while at the same time throwing them out of their homes," he said. While their home was not up for expropriation, Bruce and his wife, Margaret, became active in the West Shore Association, a group representing the West Shore Community of South Pickering. He founded a small group which became the Bay Ridges branch of “People or Planes” â€" an activist group largely responsible for stopping the advent of the airport. It still exists today. “I found I couldn‘t fight the airport or anything else, by protesting from the outside ~I had to get inside,” he said. “The impact I could make was from any power I could wield once I was on council. There wasn’t much more power, but it helped." As soon as he got involved in the airport issue he embarked on a process that eventually led him to a seat on Pickering Council, working for the campaigns of federal and provincial NDP candidates, heading the Markham RatepayerslAssociation and now shooting for a federal seat in the NDP cause. Margaret was a coâ€"chairman and has always worked closely with her husband of any of his endeavors. Bruce’was elected to Pickering Council in 1973, delving into a number of issues during his tenure. In 1972, Bruce worked for the campaign of A1 Ward, who ran federally. He was also part of the campaign committee that helped elect NDP MLA Charles Godfrey in Durham-West in 1975. Godfrey lost his seat in 1977. “The Conservatives are vulnerable on some issues â€" Petrocan is one of them. When they get into economic difficulties, the big multi-nationals can take care of themselves. What about the rest of country?” he asked. During the airport issue, Bruce found Stephen Lewis “very supportive". It was with Mr. Lewis’ help the federal government balked on the airport because the province was convinced not to build the roads and other necessary services. “I’d have to say the NDP is the most consistent in its policies, and that includes the federal and provincial level. Once you’re a member of the federal NDP, you’re also a provincial one. That’s not how it works in the other parties.” Having said Barney Danson can be beaten, Mr. Searle claims the question remains which of the other candidates can do it. Bruce was president of the Markham Ward 5 Ratepayers Association in 1978 and the previous year he chaired the Save the Rouge Valley Associati9n. He has decided his strongest campaign can be run on the issues. “We did a lot of pre-cancassing last summer when we thought there might have been an election, and got a lot of strong antiâ€"Trudeau feeling which hasn’t abated,” he said. He feels the economy and natural resources are two of the important election issues. Asked about national unity he said: “We’re a federalist party but I believe people in Quebec want the same things Anglophones in the rest of the country want. We have to come to terms with regional disparaties and the increasingly high unemployment rate in Quebec.” Bruce has two children â€" Tony, 7 and Erin, 4. He and his wife like to spend much of their spare time with both of them. Tony has recently learned to swim and Erin is now skating, so they find that exciting. When they first came to Markham, they were shocked because they didn’t know what to do with their spare time â€"â€" they rarely had any in Pickering. NDP’s Sear/e says Danson can be beaten