honourable the Michael Deane Harris (born the January 23rd, 1945, with Toronto) was the twenty-second Prime Minister of the Ontario, station which it occupied of the June 26th 1995 with the April 15th 2002. It is especially known to have launched the Révolution of the good sense ( Common Sense Revolution ) which consisted of budgetary reductions for the social programs and the tax cuts.

Education

Harris is born with Toronto and saw its childhood with North Bay, where his/her father holds actions on a hill of Ski. Harris makes initially studies in Waterloo Lutheran University (today the university Wilfrid Laurier) but free after one year. He works then with the hill of ski of his father before undertaking studies with the Université Laurentienne and the college of the teachers of North Bay, now Nippising University. He becomes then teaching at the elementary school, then becomes Golf professional or and manages a local ground.

Beginning of political career

It aspires to its first station elected as a member of the school council in 1975. It launches out in provincial policy at the time of the election of 1981 and demolishes the liberal Député outgoing in Nipissing. Harris declares later that it was justified by a desire to be opposed to the policies Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau.

Harris sits like deputy of back-bench in the government Ontarian progressist-conservative of Bill Davis of 1981 with 1985. It supports the candidate Frank Miller with the succession of Davis in 1985 and plays the part of the unfavourable candidate Dennis Timbrell in order to prepare Miller for the debates of the candidates. Miller is sworn in Prime Minister for Ontario the February 8th 1985 and names Harris Minister for the Natural resources.

The tories are reduced to a Minority government after the election of 1985, although Harris is re-elected without difficulty. It keeps the portefueille Natural resources after the election, and is also named Minister for Energy the May 17th 1985. It however is unable to achieve large-thing in these ministries: the Miller government is quickly demolishes by a motion of distrust by the liberals of David Peterson and the néo-democrats of Bob Rae.

An agreement between the liberals and the NPD allows a liberal minority government to control during two years in exchange of the introduction of certain policies néo-democrats. This decision confines the tories with the opposition for the first time in 42 years. Miller resigns and is replaced by Larry Grossman, which leads the party to a disastrous result with the elections of 1987 and announces its resignation shortly after. Harris is still re-elected in Nipissing without difficulty.

Head of party

The party is not ready to hold a congress of nomination in 1987. Grossman, which lost its seat with the legislature, remains the official chief of the party until in 1990 while the deputy of Sarnia Andy Brandt is useful as " leader intérimaire" with the legislature. Harris is elected leader of the party in room, and becomes the dominant voice of the party to the legislature in 1989. It launches out in the race to the direction in 1990, and demolishes Diane Cunningham at the time of a vote to the size of the province to replace Grossman.

The victory of Harris was an upheaval; sometimes one allots it at comparisons between Cunningham and the unpopular federal government of Brian Mulroney. Whereas Cunningham was seen like a Red Tory and the choice of the Establishment of the party and Big Blue Machine, Harris represented the right wing of the party and was not associated with the Mulroney government in the spirit of the majority of the voters.

The philosophical differences between the partisans of Harris and the traditional leaders of the party was significant. The former leaders progressist-conservatives in Ontario (such as Bill Davis) believed in the consensus, were politically center, and largely persons in charge of the elaborate welfare state which had been created in Ontario during the decades of being able of the party. On the other hand, Harris had a style of confrontation rather, promoting falls of tax and a displacement towards a model more Libertarien of the open markets.

Towards the capacity

The Ontarian election of 1990 is started shortly after the election of Harris to the head of its party. It is badly prepared in the countryside, but succeeds in nevertheless rejoining the electoral base of the party with promises of tax cuts and expenditure. Ironically, in the light of subsequent events, Harris is personally supported by several local members of Ontario Secondary School Teacher' S Federation (OSSTF). The party manages to increase its total of seats, from 17 to 20, out of 130. In spite of early fears, Harris is again re-elected in its district.

The May 3rd 1994, Harris reveals its platforme aggressive, the " Revolution of the good sense ". He promised radical cuts in and great the tax cut national expenditure.

Victory

In 1995, the New Democratic party with the capacity and the first outgoing minister Bob Rae had become extremely unpopular near the electorate, mainly because of the state of the economy of Ontario and North America in general. The liberals carry out in the pre-election surveys, but after an annoying campaign and without inspiration, they starts to lose ground. Harris is elected with a majority Gouvernement solid in 1995. Approximately half of the seats of its party come from the tributary areas from the great area from Toronto, especially the belt of suburbs surrounding Toronto subway, often called the 905 because of its regional code.

The victory of Harris holds partly in the way in which it was presented in the form of a populist, affirming to represent the " Ontarians ordinaires" rather than the " groups of intérêts". It is especially in this manner that it was able to build the support tory among the voters of the working classes. The Rae government had previously lost the greatest part of its base among the working trade unions, in party because of the unpopularity of sound " Contract social" in 1993 (against which Harris had voted, after some tergiversations). Although there were certain regional variations, much of working votes moved NPD directly towards the conservatives in 1995.

In addition to their seats of the 905, the tories manage to gain a great number of working districts, such as Cambridge and Oshawa, which had previously elected néo-democrats. Some speculated that the opposition of the tories to the initiatives of equity of the use of the Rae government had been a big factor in this displacement

The Revolution of the good sense

As of its election, the Harris government attracts the controversy. Its policies include/understand important cuts for education, the social assistance and the health care, as well as the forced fusion of the municipalities. The rates of social assistance are cut from 22%, and the provincial taxes are also reduced by 30%. The municipal leaders complain that the majority of the cuts pour the cost of the services which the province paid before towards the government municipal. It is also this government which with announced the reform of the secondary school which eliminated the thirteenth year, which creates a double troop of finishing.

A separate controversy arrived shortly after the takeover of the Harris government at the time of the events of the provincial Park of IP, where an indigenous demonstrator was killed by the police force (see low for the section " Business IP;).

In 1997, the Ontarian teachers organize the greatest strike of their history, but are unable to obtain important modifications with the government policies. In Queen' S Park, the site of the Ontarian legislature, there are several mass demonstrations and of the quasi-riots. In 1998, the negative feeling towards Harris is expressed by the teachers of the primary education and their students during the event " Mandela and the Children" in SkyDome, where he is copiously hooted. In the context of the general growth of the North-American economy, the economy of Ontario improved in a dramatic way, and although the provincial budget was still overdrawn at the end of the first mandate of Harris, it succeeds in projecting the image of tax responsibility.

Second turbulent mandate

In 1999, the Harris government is re-elected especially on its political basis in the area of the 905. Additional controversies burst in 2000 when the water of the town of Walkerton is infected by the E. coli. Seven people die and from the hundreds fall sick. It is established later that the man responsible for water quality, Stan Koebel, had lied, falsified the reports/ratios, omitted to test water quality systematically, and when the epidemic was declared had omitted to inform the medical officer of health. In 2004, Koebel pleads guilty and is condemned to one year of prison.

The tragedy of Walkerton comprises serious consequences for the government of Harris. David Peterson acknowledges later that could have arrived during the mandate of any Prime Minister, and it was often noted that the lies and falsifications of Koebel had not been detected by politicians of all the colors. The critics of Harris, however, affirmed that the cuts with the services of inspection had created a situation in which the future safety of water could not be guaranteed. The response of Harris to the tragedy was also criticized: it had in an original manner tried to put the blame on the preceding liberal governments and néo-democrat.

The report/ratio of a public survey foot-note later that in addition to the negligence of Stan Koebels, the deregulation of the tests of quality of water and cuts with the Department of the Environment had been factors contributing.

The government of Harris is able temporarily to balance the budget of the province, though its criticisms support that the cuts of taxes caused a fall of incomes, which in their turn led to the rebirth of the budget deficits after the resignation of Harris. Govuernement of Harris the lists of recipients of the social security of 500.000 people thinned; the critics show these measurements to have increased the rate of itinérance and poverty. Although the rates of employment increased at the end of the years 1990, several new employment was part-time rather than full-time, and offers few benefit to the employees.

The government also rewrites the laws of work to make more difficult the unionization and to facilitate the recruiting of the " workers remplaçants" during the strikes. They made easier for the employers to require than their employees work of overtime without receiving remuneration from it.

Other reforms brought by the Harris government include/understand the standardization of the tests for the students. Several teachers criticized this measurement, affirming that it obliges the schools to teach so as to " to pass the tests" instead of encouraging the true training. A new formula of provincial financing for the school commissions remove with the council buildings the capacity of taxation; some critical affirm that this with led to the closing of schools and the paralysis of school services.

In 2001, the Harris government introduces a plan to give a tax credit for the parents sending their children in private schools and denominational, in spite of to have made countryside against this idea in 1999. Several estimate that this question damaged the reputation of the party as for its representation of the " Ontarians ordinaires".

Harris also has put an end to the parliamentary tradition by naming deputies of back-bench on the committees of cabinet. Moreover, it named more women at the stations of minister-assistants than any other Prime Minister in the history of Ontario, including the two only women to direct the Ontarian services public.

After the policy

For personal reasons as well as the decline of the rates of satisfaction of the voters vis-a-vis his government, Harris resigns in 2002 and is succeeded as tory chief and Prime Minister by his old friend and Minister for Finance, Ernie Eves.

Later in 2002, Harris joint with the Institute Fraser, a Think preserving tank. In January 2003, Harris is named with the board of directors of Magna International. He is member of Bilderberg.

During its mandate of Prime Minister, Harris was frequently quoted like able somebody " to link the droite" in Canada, and to carry out a party born of the fusion of the progressist-conservatives and reformists/alliancists. It took important steps towards the federal policy after having resigned of its post of Prime Minister, intervening in files as the invasion of Iraq in 2003 (which it supported) and the value of the Canadian dollar (that it wanted to see growing against the American dollar). Towards the end of 2003, it delivers a speech to Halifax that several believed being the not-official launching of one countryside in the direction of new the Conservative party of Canada. However, a few weeks later, he announces that he would not make countryside for the station.

Several believe that a media attention increased on the private life of Harris was the reason of its decision. It had recently separated from his wife for the second time and was in a relation with Laura Maguire, the ex-wife of the hockey player and referee Kevin Maguire. It was pled, through documents of the courts relative to a battle for the guard of children, that Laura had spent in an extravagant way and had neglected his/her three children when she attended Harris. Vis-a-vis this negative publicity, Harris decided not to be presented; it supported publicly the chairman of Magna International Belinda Stronach at the time of the congress of nomination of the Conservative party of Canada in 2004.

It is implied in another minor controversy, after having engueulé and having used of vulgar language towards an officer of the party which had asked him for its identity whereas it voted with the congress of nomination of the Parti progressist-conservative Ontario in 2004.

At the time of this congress, the party chooses John Tory to direct it. Although Tory is seen like Red Tory and its selection like a catch of distance vis-a-vis the heritage of Harris, 46% of the delegates pressed the very preserving Jim Flaherty on the final bulletin, suggesting a considerable division within the party.

Business IP

To have gained shortly after the first election in 1995, Mike Harris faces her first crisis as a Prime Minister. Demonstrators combatant asserting of the grounds occupied a provincial park with 150km in the North-West of Toronto. Some believed that could be transformed into prolonged occupation similar to preceding demonstrations in Quebec.

The September 6th 1995, the sergeant of Ontario Provincial Organizes Kenneth Deane shoots at the demonstrators autochtones who occupy the park, killing a demonstrator not armed named Dudley George. The government and the OPP affirm that there was no political implication in the event, but several were suspicious. In a file which goes until to Supreme court of Canada, Deane affirms that it did not hold orders to draw and was condemned for criminal negligence successor in title death. With the legislature, several politicians of the opposition suggested that the attack could have been ordered by the cabinet of the Prime Minister, and claimed an independent judicial enquiry. This investigation was finally started after the election of the liberal government of Dalton McGuinty in 2003. It did not deliver a conclusion yet.

The November 28th 2005, the former public prosecutor Charles Harnick testifies before the board of inquiry that Harris had shouted " I want these foutus Indiens out of the parc" ( I want the F--king Indians out off the park ) at a meeting with the officer of the OPP Ron Fox, the hours only before the death of Dudley George ( Canadian Press , November 28th, 2005, 12:45). Other witnesses contradict this assertion, and Harris itself denied it under oath.

The February 14th 2006, Mike Harris testifies before the board of inquiry to IP. With the investigation, have present at Harris its own political literature and the information of countryside surrounding the Revolution of the good sense. Lawyers tried to establish a connection between the so-called attitude " aggressive" of its party towards the autochtones and the subsequent influence which it could have on the officers of the government in their attempts at resolution of conflicts.

See too

• Political of Ontario

External bond

• Biography of Radio-Canada