The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Epp shaken by defeat By Tony Jones The night of Feb. 18 was not unlike any other election night - somebody wins so- mebody loses. In the case of election '00 the winner in the Waterloo Riding was Con- servative incumbent, Walter McLean and the loser, by less than 200 votes, was Liberal candidate Frank Epp. From sad speculation to mstary . the Walter McLean Pro- gressive Conservative Waterloo Riding campaigners showed a full range of emotions during Monday night's tight race against Liberal hopeful Frank Epp during the federal election. The atmosphere at the Epp cumin headquarters early in the evening was not one of defeat. Two televi- sions hlared out natimal and local results. Shortly after the polls closed, supporters rughegbotrtside to greet their candidate, who entered amidst cheers and a round of applause. A While PC workers gave a roar of approval when the final polls came in to give McLean a slim leote margin of vic- tory to allow the incumbent to retain his seat in Ottawa, the re'sults had them on the edge of their seats for most of the evening. ' There was mild optimism in the early going as McLean built a 5Wvote lead in the early going. but the mood changed to concern when Epp held a 123-vote edge after 100 of the 289 polls were counted . The audience gave a cheer of approval when the results after 150 polls showed McLean up by 206 votes, but 25 polls later, Just one vote separated the two canolgiates. - _ U - While the Tory supporters cursed the Liberal landslide victory on the national scene under their breaths, they began to accept their losing fate in Waterloo riding. McLean was behind by " votes with just three polls left] 'Tories and _ Liberals fought a close battle Prior to the recording ot any results, Mr. Epp, for- merly president of Conrad Grebe] College, said he felt his party had led a very strong campaign in terms of the numbers of people who worked with him and/“the quality of those people." Ap- proximately 700 volunteers devoted their timem gating But just as" the lead had changed hands many times be- fore. McLean took those final polls for the victory much to the ecstacy of theft-ow: _ - - 4-, _ The inelimbent MP did not show up at his King M. cam- paign office until the final polls were tallied and showed him the winner. McLean said that he had been warned by his campaign manager Glen Wright that he "had a feeling that it would so down poll by poll" as he called Mr. Wright "an idealist with a strong stroke of realism." McLean said that "it was quite obvious that Mr. Etsp will (Continued on pop 3) 128th Year No. 8 SoyouthinkyeuknowWagodoo........ 4 Comment " CommunityCahndlt.................19 oam"fifietd...........-.... IT, " Inside Mr. Epp elected "All the signs are good for us," said Mr. Epp at the be. ginning of what was to be a long evening. Prior to leaving his home that eveniiig. Mr. Epp's bmther contacted him from Calgary and informed him that no Liberals had been Elected in Alberta and jok- ingly added that he coulm’t see how’it cogld happen any- where else. During a hectic five-week campaign, the candidate said he and his supporters reached as many people as possible; - V "There were many more volunteers this time, allow- ing us to do more telephone and door to door canvass- ing," he said. He sensed the electorate in the Waterloo Riding was more receptive to the Li- berarParty than during the previous election campaign. At 8:25 pan. the first re: sults came in, showing Mr. McLean leading by four votes. The nee betwegn the (Continual on,” al Wednudav, Fabruary 20, 1,990 Prim lawman-chat Mammoth photo "tteetdtariettt_t-hteotet.tteeeuet not. Tr--tet-r-oe--e-trh-dhiseameideetet-idetdt. , . RUNNERS-UP - HOP candidate Robert Needham and Liberal hopeful Frank Epp watch the polls dur- ing Monday night's election. Epp finished a close second in Waterloo riding while Needham was well Waterloo. Ontario l 5 Cents