Harris, Mike

▪ 1996

      On June 26, 1995, Mike Harris was sworn in as the 22nd premier of Ontario. His Progressive Conservative Party (PCP) had won a legislative majority in the provincial election of June 8. Harris' administration represented a sharp change from the socialism of the previous New Democratic Party government to conservatism. Perceived as a small-town man with the common touch, he had gained a reputation as a crusader for tax relief and for a smaller, less interventionist government. Thus, he began immediately to implement what he called his "Common Sense Revolution," and his policy changes in the first months of his administration were significant. The government reduced welfare benefits payments by more than 20% and repealed the anti-scab labour legislation passed by the previous government. Harris centralized the administration of the government, and his 20-member Cabinet was the smallest in modern Ontario history.

      Harris was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the general election of 1981 to represent the riding of Nipissing. He served as parliamentary assistant to the minister of the environment and was chairman of public accounts. He sat on the General Government and the Resources Development committees. In 1985 Harris was appointed minister of natural resources and minister of energy. From 1985 to 1990 he was the leader of the PCP in the legislature. After the defeat of the Progressive Conservative government in 1987, Harris served as critic for the Revenue, Labour, Housing, Finance, and Northern Development ministries. It was as finance critic that he developed his party's fiscal policy. In May 1994 he released his Common Sense Revolution, a plan to cut taxes and reduce the size and the cost of government. On May 12, 1990, Harris was elected leader of the Ontario PCP.

      Born on Jan. 23, 1945, in Toronto, Michael Deane Harris grew up in North Bay, Ont. He attended classes at Waterloo (Ont.) Lutheran University (now Wilfrid Laurier University), Laurentian University at Sudbury, Ont., and Nipissing University College, North Bay, and received a teaching certificate from North Bay Teachers' College. For several years he taught seventh- and eighth-grade mathematics in North Bay before joining his father in business. He owned and operated tourism and recreation businesses in the Nipissing and Parry Sound areas of Ontario.

      In 1975 Harris was elected to the Nipissing Board of Education; he served as chairman of the board from 1977 to 1981. For one term he was president of the Northern Ontario Trustees Association (1980-81), after which he entered provincial politics. (DIANE LOIS WAY)

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