Promised Land: Inside the Mike Harris Revolution

J.L. Granatstein, distinguished research professor emeritus of history
at York University, is the author of Who Killed Canadian History? and
co-author of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most Influential Canadians of the
20th Century and the Dictionary of Canadi

Ontario has never seen anything like the “Common Sense Revolution”
launched by Mike Harris and his Progressive Conservative government.
Harris and Company have rolled back everything that Bob Rae’s NDP
government did, and they’re restructuring life in the province. They
have tackled education, health care, unions, property taxes, and
municipal organization, and on each issue have provoked major protests,
strikes, marches, and press response that is almost unprecedented in its
hostility. Even so, Harris has hung tough, backing off only slightly.
The revolution is underway, and although people continue to wait for the
policy direction to change as the next election draws near, there is
still no sign of a kinder, gentler Harris.

John Ibbitson, Southam News’ Ontario correspondent, has produced a
good account of the first two years of the Common Sense Revolution. He
focuses on Harris and his close advisers, a group of young Tories, and
he delineates the aims and intentions they brought to office when,
unexpectedly, the Grits fell apart during the campaign of 1995 and the
Tories scooped up all the marbles. Ibbitson has good sources, he writes
well, and he is fair in his assessment of the government’s successes
(there are some) and failures (there are many). Harris represents the
triumph of right-wing ideology in good, gray moderate Ontario, and there
can be little doubt that his way was paved by Bob Rae’s disastrous
time in power. The ideologues of the left were replaced by those of the
right. The question for the future is whether the centre can recoup and
win the next election, and that can be the subject for Ibbitson’s next
book.