Mike Harris

Bold text:For the Canadian writer and radio personality, see Michael Harris. For the Canadian curler, see Mike Harris (curler)

Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945, in Toronto, Ontario) was the twenty-second Premier of Ontario from June 26, 1995 to April 15, 2002. He is most noted for the "Common Sense Revolution" and his large cuts to provincial programs and taxes.

Michael Deane Harris

File:Mharris.jpg
Rank:	22nd
Term of Office:	June 26, 1995 - April 15, 2002
Predecessor:	Bob Rae
Successor:	Ernie Eves
Date of Birth:	January 23, 1945
Place of Birth:	Toronto, Ontario
Spouses:	Mary Alyce Coward Janet Harrison Laura Maguire
Profession:	Teacher, Businessman
Political Party:	PC

Background

Harris was born in Toronto and grew up in the area around Lake Nipissing, where his father operated a ski hill. Harris first attended Waterloo Lutheran University (now Wilfrid Laurier University) but left after a year. He then worked at his father's ski hill before attending Laurentian University and North Bay Teacher's College, and became an elementary school teacher for a short period of time. He then became a golf pro and managed a local course. Mike Harris be the dopest ma'fucka in de government today. 'Cause he be like "I want the fucking Indians outta the park" and by 'Indians' he meant gas hustling natives like Cory, who by the way failed Grade 10 science. He isn't guilty of anything cept kicking some useless native ass. He'll pwn the shit outta anyone with Julian Fantino and Mel Lasmen as his crew, he be getting the headshots all the time and keeping mississauga clean. And the Ipperwash is all bullshit, Mike Harris be liek "Don't you be lookin me in the eyes boy, I ain't got no candy for you. NOOOOO Candy!" to the gay native protesters who evidently tried to anally assault him with a stick. So the cop shot him three times just to be sure that the useless native was dead.

Early political career

He first sought election to public office as a school board trustee in 1975. He entered provincial politics in the 1981 election, and defeated the incumbent Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in Nipissing. Harris later claimed that he was motivated to enter politics by an opposition to the policies of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

Harris sat as a backbencher in Bill Davis's Ontario Progressive Conservative Party government from 1981 to 1985. He supported Frank Miller's successful bid to succeed Davis as party leader in 1985, and took the role of rival candidate Dennis Timbrell to prepare Miller for the party's all-candidate debates. Miller was sworn in as Premier of Ontario on February 8, 1985, and appointed Harris as his Minister of Natural Resources.

The Tories were reduced to a minority government in the 1985 provincial election, although Harris was personally re-elected without difficulty. He kept the Natural Resources portfolio after the election, and was also named Minister of Energy on May 17, 1985. He was unable to accomplish much in these portfolios, as the Miller government was soon defeated on a Motion of No Confidence by David Peterson's Liberals and Bob Rae's New Democratic Party.

An agreement between the Liberals and the NDP allowed a Liberal minority government to govern for two years in exchange for the implementation of certain NDP policies. This decision consigned the Tories to opposition for the first time in 42 years. Miller resigned and was replaced by Larry Grossman, who led the party to a disastrous showing in the 1987 election and announced his resignation shortly thereafter. Harris was again re-elected in Nipissing without difficulty.

Leadership

The party was not ready to hold a leadership convention in 1987. Grossman, who had lost his legislative seat, remained the official leader of the party until 1990 while Sarnia MPP Andy Brandt served as "interim leader" in the legislature. Harris was chosen as PC house leader, and had become the party's dominant voice in the legislature by 1989. He entered the 1990 leadership race, and defeated Dianne Cunningham in a province-wide vote to replace Grossman as the party's official leader.

Harris's victory was something of an upset, and was sometimes credited to comparisons between Cunningham and the unpopular federal government of Brian Mulroney. Whereas Cunningham was seen as more of a Red Tory, and a choice of the establishment and the Big Blue Machine, Harris represented the party's right-wing and was not associated with the Mulroney government in the minds of most voters.

The philosophical differences between the Harris supporters and the traditional leadership of the party were significant. The older Ontario PC leadership (typified by figures such as Bill Davis) believed in consensus, was politically centrist, and was largely responsible for the elaborate welfare state that had been created in Ontario during the party's many decades in power. In contrast, Harris embodied a more confrontational style, promoting tax cuts and a shift toward the American model of free markets.

Towards power

The 1990 provincial election was called soon after Harris became party leader. He was ill-prepared for the campaign, but nonetheless managed to rally his party's core supporters with pledges of tax cuts and spending reductions. Ironically, in the light of later events, Harris was personally endorsed by several local members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF). The party increased its seat total from 17 to 20, out of 130. Despite some early concerns, Harris was again able to retain his own seat.

On May 3, 1994, Harris unveiled his aggressive "Common Sense Revolution" platform. It called for sweeping spending cuts and large tax cuts.

Victory

By 1995, the governing New Democratic Party and incumbent Premier Bob Rae had become extremely unpopular with the electorate, largely because of the state of the Ontario and North American economies. The Liberals were leading in the pre-election polls, but after running a dull and uninspiring campaign began to lose support. Harris was elected with a sizeable majority government in the 1995 election. Roughly half of his party's seats came from the more affluent regions of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), especially the suburban belt surrounding Metro Toronto, often called the '905' for its telephone area code.

Harris's victory may be credited in part to the way in which he presented himself as a populist, claiming to represent "ordinary Ontarians" over "special interests". It was primarily in this manner that he was able to build Tory support among working-class voters. The Rae government had previously lost much of its base in organized labour, due in part to the unpopularity of its "Social Contract" legislation in 1993 (which Harris, after some early vacillations, eventually voted against). Although there were regional variations, many working-class voters shifted directly from the NDP to the Tories in 1995.

In addition to their '905' seats, the Tories managed to win a number of working-class ridings, such as Cambridge and Oshawa, which had previously supported the NDP. Some have speculated that Tory opposition to the Rae government's employment equity initiatives was a leading factor in this regard.

Common Sense Revolution

Upon election, the Harris government immediately began to attract controversy. Its policies involved steep cuts to education, welfare, and Medicare, and the forced amalgamation of municipalities. Welfare rates were slashed by 22%, and provincial income taxes were also cut by 30%. Municipal leaders complained because many of the cuts were "downloading" the costs of services that the province had formerly paid for onto local city and municipal governments. It was this government that announced the secondary school reform to eliminate grade 13 that created the "double cohort."

A separate controversy occurred shortly after the Harris government took office, involving events at Ipperwash Provincial Park, in which a native protester was killed by police. (See entry below for 'Ipperwash Affair')

In 1997, Ontario's teachers held their largest walkout in history, but were unsuccessful in getting significant changes to government policies. At Queen's Park, the site of the Ontario Legislature, there were several large protests and near-riots. In 1998, much negative sentiment for Harris was expressed by elementary school students during the "Mandela and the Children" event at SkyDome when he was greeted with enthusiastic booing. Amid the general rise in the North American economy, economic indicators in Ontario improved dramatically, and while the Ontario provincial budget was still in deficit by the end of Harris' first term, he was able to portray himself as responsible on fiscal issues.

Troubled second term

In 1999, the Harris government was re-elected, largely by its political base in the 905 area. More controversies arose in 2000, when the town water supply of Walkerton became infected by E. coli. Seven people died and hundreds became ill. It was later discovered the local official responsible for water quality, Stan Koebel, had lied, falsified records, failed to test water quality regularly, and when the outbreak occurred had failed to promptly notify the local Medical Officer of Health. In late 2004, Koebel pled guilty to a minor charge in relation to the offence and was sentenced to one year in jail.

The Walkerton tragedy had serious ramifications for Harris's government. David Peterson later acknowledged that it could have happened under any Premier's watch, and it was often noted that Koebel's lying and falsification of records had gone unnoticed by governments of different political stripes. Harris's critics, however, argued that his cuts to inspection services had created a situation in which future water safety could not be guaranteed. Harris's handling of the tragedy was also criticized, as he initially attempted to place some of the blame on previous Liberal and NDP governments.

The report of a public inquiry later noted that in addition to Stan Koebel's failure to properly monitor and treat the water supply, deregulation of water quality testing and cuts to the Ministry of the Environment were contributing factors.

Harris's government temporarily balanced the provincial budget, although its critics contend that cuts in taxes caused a drop in revenues, which in turn led to renewed budget deficits after Harris resigned. Harris' government reduced Ontario welfare rolls by 500,000 people; critics contend these cuts led to a rise in homelessness and poverty. Although employment rates increased during the late 1990s, many of the new jobs were part-time rather than full-time, and offered fewer benefits to employees.

The government also rewrote labour laws to make it more difficult for workplaces to unionize and make it easier for management to hire "replacement workers" during strikes. They also made it easier for employers to require their workers put in more hours without being paid overtime wages.

Other changes brought in by the Harris government include standardized student tests. These were criticized by educators as forcing schools to teach in a manner simply oriented to test-passing, and not teach in a way to encourage genuine learning. A new provincial funding formula for school boards stripped the local boards of their taxation powers, which has been criticized as leading to school closures and crippled school services.

In 2001, the Harris government introduced a plan to give a tax credit for parents who send their children to private and denominational schools (despite having campaigned against this in 1999). Many believe that this issue damaged the party's reputation for supporting "ordinary Ontarians".

Harris also broke with tradition to place backbench MPPs on Cabinet committees. Interestingly, he appointed more women as deputy ministers than any other premier in Ontario history, including the only two women to head the Ontario public service.

Out of politics

For personal reasons and in the face of declining public approval ratings, Harris resigned in 2002 and was succeeded as Tory leader and premier by his long-time friend and Minister of Finance, Ernie Eves.

Later in 2002, Harris joined the Fraser Institute, a right-wing think tank, as a 'Senior Fellow'. In January of 2003 Harris was named to the Board of Directors of Magna International.

During his time as Premier, Harris was frequently cited as someone who could "unite the right" in Canada, and lead a merged party of federal Progressive Conservatives and Reform/Canadian Alliance supporters. He made serious steps toward a career in federal politics after stepping down as Premier, weighing in on issues such as the 2003 invasion of Iraq (which he supported) and the value of the Canadian dollar (which he wanted to see increase in relation to the American dollar). In late 2003, he made a speech in Halifax which many believed was the unofficial launch of a campaign to lead the new Conservative Party of Canada. Within weeks, however, he unexpectedly announced that he would not campaign for the position.

Many believe that heightened media attention on Harris's private life was the reason for his decision. He had recently separated from his wife a second time and was in a relationship with Laura Maguire, the ex-wife of hockey player and referee Kevin Maguire. It was alleged, through court documents relating to a custody battle, that Laura had spent lavishly and neglected her three children while dating Harris. Faced with this negative publicity, Harris decided to stand aside; he later endorsed former Magna International President and CEO Belinda Stronach, in the 2004 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election.

He later became involved in another minor controversy, after yelling and repeatedly swearing at a party official who asked him for his identification as he voted in the 2004 Ontario Progressive Conservative Party leadership election.

In this leadership race, the party chose John Tory as its leader. While Tory is seen by many as a "Red Tory" and his selection a move away from the Harris legacy, 46% of leadership voters supported the staunchly conservative Jim Flaherty on the final ballot, suggesting a considerable divide in the party.

Ipperwash Affair

Shortly after winning their first election in the 1995, Mike Harris faced his first crisis as Premier. Protesters fighting land claim issues took over a Provincial Park 150 km North West of Toronto. Some thought that it might become a prolonged occupation similar to earlier protests in Quebec.

On --- 1995 Ontario Provincial Police acting Sgt. Kenneth Deane fired on First Nations demonstrators who had occupied the park, killing an unarmed protester named Dudley George. The government and the OPP maintained that there was no political involvement in the shooting, but many were suspicious. In a court case that went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, Deane maintained that he was not under orders to shoot and was convicted of criminal negligence causing death. Inside the Legislature, several opposition politicians suggested that the attack may have been ordered by the Premier's office, and called for an independent judicial inquiry. This inquiry was finally called after the government of Dalton McGuinty was elected in 2003. It has not yet delivered a finding.

On November 28, 2005, former Attorney General Charles Harnick testified before the inquiry that Harris had shouted "I want the fucking Indians out of the park" at a meeting with Ontario Provincial Police officer Ron Fox, hours before the shooting occurred (Canadian Press, 28 November 2005, 12:45 report). Other witnesses have disputed this account, and Harris himself has denied it under oath.

In Febuary of 2006 Mike Harris took the stand to testify before the Ipperwash Inquiry. He was questioned on his involvement of the 199x death of a native protester at the hands of a police officer during a prolonged protest.

At the inquiry Harris was presented with his own polical party literature and campaign information surrounding the 'Common Sense Revolution'. Lawyers were trying to make a connection between his parties implied 'aggressive' attitude towards natives and its subsequent influence over high ranking government officials in finding ways to resolve protests.

Inquiry link: Official Ipperwash Inquiry Website Main Wikipedia article: Ipperwash Crisis

Facts and Figures

• In 1997, Harris was rumored to be polydactyl after a newspaper obtained a photo of him as a youth. Harris was barefoot in the picture and appeared, through the same optical illusion as in a famous Marilyn Monroe photograph[1], to have six toes on one foot. After the rumour surfaced, Harris showed his foot to reporters to prove he had the usual five toes.

• Harris has been married three times, and has two children.

See Also

• Common Sense Revolution
• Conservative Party of Canada
• Ipperwash Crisis

Template:Succession box two to one