Thursday, October 18, 2001
On Mike Harris - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- Popping up like a tumbleweed in a subway, the story of Ontario Premier Mike Harris’ resignation may be utterly meaningless to Canadians outside of this country’s biggest province. Also in the wake of September 11th and this ‘war’ that we’re all in, it’s been given the slight brush off by the press and perhaps rightfully so.
Politics is a tough game. It’s not only tough on one’s mental faculties, but equally fierce on families and marriages. Mike Harris is proof of the latter. (Except those on the left will probably claim Harris’ mental abilities are slightly hampered.) Premier Harris’ marriage crumbled publicly in 1999, and it didn’t help when he got involved with another woman in the midst of a hard-fought re-election bid. His political foes knew that they had to tip-toe around the Premier’s personal life, but the there were slight murmurings that his public service could have suffered as well. Well, it didn’t. At least everyone got the impression that Mike Harris and his Tories were getting the job done. Albeit of course that he had to deal with the mess that is Walkerton and that the province was (is) deeply polarised, as protests are none but peaceful in the ‘Centre of the Universe,’ Ontario.
Needing some perspective on the man, I looked him up under ‘H’ in Allan Fotheringham’s new book -- Fotheringham’s Fictionary of Facts and Follies. Foth’s assessment, from what I got, is that Harris is boob who’s prone to making a mistake (and a subsequent apology) a week. About a week and a half ago, I notice a story on the NewsWire saying that Harris had to apologise as on an interview show on radio, he had let slip that because of September 11th that the world economy was in a recession. (And for me, I’ve forgotten that before becoming Tory leader, Harris was an accomplished golf pro.) When the rumours began to fly on Monday evening that he was in fact going to step down, his usually spinning media relations people were unaccustomedly unnerved.
In six years at Queen’s Park, Harris and his ‘Common Sense’ team have had a lot to spin, refute, and or deny. Ontarians threw the NDP out with a real sense of anger and resentment in 1995. The Tories were not to have won that election, as they placed last in the 1990 election, and that the Liberals’ Lyn McLeod was actually polling higher. But with a good PR team with folks like Tony Clement and Tom Long aboard spreading a neo-conservative message to choke the 1990s, Harris became Premier and he hasn’t looked back. Until now.
Ontario is polarised. There’s no question that Mr. Harris has put the screws on those of the left and they’re unforgiving. From university students to public servants to the rent-a-crowd mocks that run around, Harris did what was right and mayhem reigns in Ontario’s streets. While cutting taxes and stimulating the economy, Harris’ Tories have been lackluster in curbing the debt. In six years of the Tory reign, the debt has swelled to nearly $114 billion bucks. And of course there’s Walkerton. Premier Harris himself had to face the tribunal last year, into that dismaying case of a town’s water supply being contaminated with e-coli. The line was drawn that because of the neo-con agenda of the Harris Tories, environmental regulations were cut in Ontario leading to the mess of Walkerton.
Had an election been held following his 1999 re-election bid, I’m sure the Tories would have been humbled. But because this resignation of Premier Harris is for “personal reasons”, one does not believe that politics had any part to play in this latest development. (Andrew Coyne, in yesterday’s National Post begs to differ.) Then again in the pundit business, if the situation permits, anything is worth assuming.
As a British Columbian focusing so much on Central Canadian’s Ontario Premier may be sacrilegious, but Mike Harris was a force in Canadian politics whether his opponents will admit. Mike Harris gave credence to the fact that conservatism was really looked at in the 1990s in Canada. Whilst redneck Alberta has always gone conservative (small-c and big-C), when Ontario did it 1995, Canadians all over sort of rejoiced in the challenge of developing a similar phenomenon on the federal scene. Preston Manning’s United Alternative, which morphed into the mess that is the Canadian Alliance, was inspired by the success of Harris in Ontario. Had Manning emulated federally the success Harris had in provincial politics in Ontario, I have no doubt that the Reform Alliance would be a greater force than it is now.
Harris was a vociferous fighter for provincial rights and BCers can rejoice in that. British Columbians can take comfort that while their own Liberal MPs, though in government, were essentially powerless and spineless, Harris and yes Lucien Bouchard, tried to get Jean Chrétien to move on certain healthcare points. I believe that the work Premier Harris and his counterparts did at First Minister’s meetings in forming a united front against the feds, will be excellent groundwork for Premiers current and upcoming to redefine Canada from the bottom up.
Looking back at the six year premiership of Mike Harris and the successes (or failures, depending on your political persuasion) of the ‘Common Sense’ revolution, we can’t help but note the outcomes here in BC. Gordon Campbell and his Liberal ‘New Era’ for British Columbia is modelled right after the Harris example of the 1990s. While there was some success on the economic front, the gap between rich and poor did widen in Ontario because of ‘Common Sense’. I have no doubt that here in British Columbia -- on face value -- that the ‘New Era’ will signal the same outcome. I’m sure in some years time when Gordon Campbell and BC’s neo-con experiment will be reviewed there will be blood in the streets, a polarised electorate and significant consternation from the electorate.
On reflection however, the example of Mike Harris could be a great lesson for Premier Campbell. Gordon Campbell ought to look at where Harris had success and emulate that, and certainly avoid the unpleasantness that came with the ‘Common Sense’ revolution. Mike Harris did what he said he would with mixed success, but that’s for history to. I’m sure when all is said and done it will look more forgiving on him than it currently does.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .