Ontario’s 22nd Premier, Mike Harris, celebrates his birthday today. Born in North Bay, Ontario, he is turning 78 years-old. He was first elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1981, running under William Davis’s banner. After serving in the cabinet of Frank Miller (successor to Davis) during his brief Premiership, Harris and his party moved to the Opposition benches in 1985.
In 1990 he was elected party leader and led the Ontario PCs through the 1990 campaign. The PC’s placed third that year, but Harris stayed on at the helm.
In Opposition, Harris and his team developed a policy platform they called the Common Sense revolution. This platform took Harris to power in 1995, and he earned a commanding majority mandate from Ontario voters. Premier Harris was then re-elected, again with a majority, in 1999. Harris stepped down in 2002 and was succeeded by Ernie Eves.
I had the honour of interviewing the former Premier in 2020 to help mark the 25th anniversary of his coming to power. “I hope,” he said, “future historians will reflect on the many accomplishments of our government. … I hope they say about me that, ‘He did what he said he would do and that made him unique in politics.’”
You can read my entire 2020 column as published in the Kingston Whig-Standard at this link: https://www.thewhig.com/opinion/columnists/former-premier-harris-did-what-he-said-he-was-going-to-do
Happy birthday from Kingston and Art’s History Mike Harris!Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.