Mike Harris

Michael Deane Harris was a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002. He was born on January 23, 1945, in Toronto and grew up in North Bay. Before entering politics, Harris worked as a ski instructor and schoolteacher.

Harris became a member of Provincial Parliament in 1981, representing the riding of Nipissing. He led the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario from 1990 to 2002. In 1995, his party won a strong majority government, and he became premier.

Harris is best known for leading what was called the "Common Sense Revolution." This was a plan for lower taxes, cutting government spending, and selling some public services to private companies. His government reduced personal income taxes by 30 percent and sold the Highway 407 to a private company. However, some of his decisions, like cutting spending on education and healthcare, caused big debates and even a large teachers' strike in 1997.

Harris left office in 2002 and later worked in the private sector and at the Fraser Institute, a think tank that supports free-market ideas.

Background

Mike Harris was born in Toronto, Ontario. He grew up in North Bay, where his father ran a fishing camp. Harris went to Waterloo Lutheran University (now Wilfrid Laurier University) but left after one year.

When he was 21, Harris moved to Sainte-Adèle, Quebec for two years to work as a ski instructor. After his first marriage ended, he went back to school at Laurentian University and North Bay Teacher's College to become a teacher. He taught math to grade seven and eight students at W. J. Fricker Public School in North Bay. He also kept working as a ski instructor on weekends and helped at his father's fishing camp in the summer. Later, he stopped teaching and managed North Bay's Pinewood Golf Club after his father sold the ski hill.

Early political career

Mike Harris was first elected as a school board trustee in 1974. He entered provincial politics in the 1981 election and won against the current Liberal representative in Nipissing. Harris served as a regular member in Bill Davis's government from 1981 to 1985. He helped Frank Miller become party leader in 1985 and was appointed as the minister of natural resources.

The Tory party lost its majority in the 1985 provincial election, but Harris was re-elected easily. He continued as minister of natural resources and also became the minister of energy. However, the government was later defeated, and the Tories moved to opposition for the first time in many years. Harris was re-elected again in Nipissing in the 1987 election.

Leadership (1990)

After losing his seat, Grossman stayed as party leader until 1990, while Andy Brandt, a member from Sarnia, acted as "interim leader" in the legislature. Harris became the main voice for the party in the legislature by 1989. He joined the 1990 leadership race and won against Dianne Cunningham in a vote across the province, taking over as the party's official leader.

Soon after becoming leader, a 1990 provincial election was called. With support from past leader Larry Grossman, Harris encouraged his party's main supporters by promising tax cuts and spending cuts. Because of his background as a teacher, Harris received support from some members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation. In that election, Bob Rae's NDP won, but the Conservatives increased their seats from 17 to 20 out of 130. Harris kept his own seat despite some early worries.

1995 election

On May 3, 1994, Harris shared his "Common Sense Revolution" plan. This plan asked for big cuts in spending and taxes, and wanted to end the province’s huge $11 billion debt.

By the time of the 1995 election, the party in charge, led by Bob Rae, was not very popular. This was partly because of problems with the economy in Ontario and a big debt across Canada. Lyn McLeod’s Liberal party seemed to be doing well in early polls, but they lost support because of some unpopular changes they made and because their campaign did not excite people. Many think the most important moment in the election was when Harris spoke directly to the camera during a debate, sharing his Common Sense Revolution ideas.

Harris’s team won many new areas, like Cambridge and Oshawa, which usually supported another party. About half of their seats were in the suburbs around Metro Toronto. The party grew from 20 seats to 82, going from third place to having most of the government.

Premier of Ontario (1995–2002)

First term (1995–1999)

Common Sense Revolution

Main article: Common Sense Revolution

When Mike Harris became premier, his government started making big changes to save money. One of the first changes was to lower the money people got for living on welfare. The government said too many people were using it instead of looking for jobs. They also started a program called "Ontario Work," which made people on welfare take part in job training or find work.

They also lowered taxes for many people in Ontario and created a new tax for people who earned a lot of money to help pay for healthcare.

Harris's government also made plans to close some hospitals and change how some big projects, like a subway line in Toronto, would be built. They wanted to save money by selling some government-owned companies, but many people did not agree with this.

The government also changed how cities in Ontario were organized, merging some smaller cities into bigger ones to save money. This caused a lot of debate.

Education

See also: 1997 Ontario teachers' strike

Harris's government made changes to schools too. They stopped having a fifth year of high school, which meant two classes finished high school at the same time. They also started tests for students in certain grades to check how well they were learning.

They required high school students to spend time helping their communities before they could graduate. Teachers also had to take tests to keep their jobs.

1995 referendum on the separation of Quebec

Harris, along with Stephen Harper, was appointed negotiator by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to face Quebec negotiators nominated by the separatist leaders of Quebec: Lucien Bouchard and Mario Dumont. At the time of the referendum campaign, Harris affirmed that "a separate Quebec would be a foreign country. Final point."

Ipperwash crisis

Shortly after being sworn in, Harris faced his first crisis as premier. Protesters fighting land claim issues took over a provincial park 200 kilometres west of Toronto. During a confrontation with the demonstrators, Ontario Provincial Police acting Sergeant Kenneth Deane fired on First Nations demonstrators who had occupied the park, killing a protester named Dudley George. Members of the Stoney Point Ojibway band occupied Ipperwash Provincial Park outside of Grand Bend, protesting a protracted land claims process. The Ipperwash Inquiry would later be called by the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty, due to recalcitrance on Harris's part.

Second term (1999–2002)

In 1999 Ontario general election, the Harris government was re-elected for a second term with a majority government, helped largely by its political base in the suburban areas around Toronto.

The Harris government balanced the provincial budget in 1999. Harris supporters pointed to the fact that government revenues rose from $48 billion in 1995 to $64 billion by 2001, when the budget was balanced.

In 1999 Harris also announced a program called Ontario's Living Legacy. The initiative added 378 new parks and protected areas, bringing the total in Ontario to 650 and increasing Ontario's protected areas to more than 95,000 square kilometres (37,000 sq mi).

Controversy arose in 2000 when the town water supply of Walkerton became infected by E. coli. Seven people died and hundreds became ill. Provincial water testing had been privatized in October 1996 by Harris's first government. 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 pleaded guilty to a minor charge in relation to the offence and was sentenced to one year in jail.^{[citation needed]}

The Walkerton tragedy had serious ramifications for Harris's government. Harris blamed the previous NDP government for loosening water standards. Harris called a public inquiry, headed by Justice Dennis O'Connor, which 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. The inquest into the tragedy found that the government cuts to inspection services and their privatization had created a situation in which future water safety could not be guaranteed. The Ontario government was also blamed for not regulating water quality and not enforcing the guidelines that had been in place.

An uprising developed at Queen's Park, the site of the Ontario Legislature, on June 15, 2000. The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and other activists, including MPP of Toronto Centre, George Smitherman, protested the Harris ministry policies that were resulting in the transfer of wealth to the wealthy from everyone else. Some of the protesters lobbed molotov cocktails, bricks, and bottles.

Harris's government reduced Ontario welfare rolls by 500,000 people; critics contend these cuts led to a rise in homelessness and poverty. Supporters argued that high welfare rates had created disincentives to find entry-level jobs, and that poverty levels remained relatively unchanged between 1995 and 2005. Employment rates increased significantly during the late 1990s. The government rewrote labour laws to require secret ballot votes before workplaces could unionize. The previous NDP government's law outlawing the hiring of replacement workers during strikes was repealed.

Other changes brought in by the Harris government include standardized math and literacy student tests, known as EQAO. EQAO testing is conducted in Grade 3 and 6 (for math and literacy) and 9 (for math only). Teachers are not allowed to preview the tests ahead of time, eliminating the risk of 'teaching to the test'. School principals are required to discuss EQAO results during staff meetings, and plan their focus accordingly. In Grade 10, high school students are required to pass a literacy test in order to graduate. A new provincial funding formula for school boards stripped the local boards of their taxation powers.

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 such an initiative in 1999). Supporters claimed it was fair given the public funding of Catholic schools, while opponents were concerned about a potential diversion of resources and students from the public system. Harris also broke with tradition to place backbench MPPs on Cabinet committees.

Harris resigned as premier and MPP on April 14, 2002 and was succeeded as PC leader and premier by his long-time friend and minister of finance, Ernie Eves.

After politics (2002–present)

After leaving office, Harris joined a law firm in Toronto and later became a senior fellow at a think tank. He also served on the board of a large automobile company and was involved in some discussions about federal politics.

Harris received an honorary doctorate from a university, and he started a home care business with his wife. His son was elected to public office in Ontario. Harris also chaired a company that provided retirement homes.

Distinctions

Mike Harris received an honorary doctorate from Nipissing University in 2010 and was made a member of the Order of Ontario in 2020.