Although never a Prime Minister....
It was in 1995 that Harris led his Progressive Conservative party to a decisive, if unexpected, election win on the basis of the populist "Common Sense Revolution" platform.
What followed were some of the most divisive, in-your-face politics the province had ever seen, as Harris — dubbed Chainsaw Mike — took an axe to taxes as well as to spending on welfare and a host of other government programs and services.
Detractors loathed him with a passion that at times sparked violent protests.
Supporters loved the approach: re-electing him in 1999 with a slightly increased share of the popular vote.
Upon election, the Harris government immediately began to implement a far-reaching reform agenda in order to cut the large provincial deficit accumulated under the previous Rae government.
One of its first major policy decisions was to cut social assistance rates by 22%. The government stated that too many people were taking advantage of the program, and that it acted as a disincentive for seeking employment. Critics argued that the cuts were too dramatic, and increased the hardship of Ontario's poorest residents.
The government also introduced "Ontario Works," frequently referred to as "
workfare," a program that required able-bodied welfare recipients to participate in either training or job placements. Opponents criticized both the rationale and effectiveness of the program, which was significantly scaled back after Harris left office.
Provincial income taxes were cut by 30% to pre-1990 levels. In addition, a new Fair Share Health Levy was established and charged to high-income earners to help pay for mounting health care costs.
Shortly after assuming office, the Harris government announced that several hundred nurses would be laid off to cut costs in the health sector. The government also implemented a series of hospital closures on the recommendations of a Health Services Restructuring Commission. Harris compared the laid off hospital workers to the people who lost their jobs after the
hula hoop fad died down in the early 1960s, commenting "Just as Hula-Hoops went out and those workers had to have a factory and a company that would manufacture something else that's in, it's the same in government, and you know, governments have put off these decisions for so many years that restructuring sometimes is painful" (
The Globe and Mail, 6 March 1997).
The Harris government cut funding of major urban infrastructure projects upon assuming office. Though construction had already begun on the
Eglinton West subway in Toronto, a proposed rapid transit line to ultimately link the main north/south subway line of the city with the suburbs and airport, funding was cancelled shortly after Harris' election.[SUP]
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Harris's government also cut health spending to counter the $30 Billion cut in transfer payments from the Liberal federal government.[SUP]
[8][/SUP] It also introduced Telehealth Ontario, a new 24-hour toll-free telephone help line with live connection to registered nurses. Harris also announced funding vehicles such as the Ontario R&D Challenge Fund, the Ontario Innovation Trust and the Premier's Research Excellence Awards.
One part of the Common Sense Revolution was to sell off various government-owned enterprises, the largest of which were to be
Ontario Hydro and the
Liquor Control Board of Ontario. Neither were actually sold off, but Ontario Hydro was split into five successor companies (the two largest being
Ontario Power Generation and
Hydro One, representing generation and distribution of power respectively) with the plan of eventually selling them off. Public opposition to the sale of these money-making government enterprises postponed the government's plans. In 1999,
Highway 407 was leased to a private consortium in the largest such scheme to privatize the management of a public asset in Canadian history
