the problem with old mikey was that although he did what he promised, he didnt do it in a way that the people of ontario wanted him to. and he did it way to quickly...
along with that, people were all to happy to have Mr. Harris come in, Just to get Rid of Bob Rae. (I remember hearing something about Rae Days... those who are a bit older will know exactly what im talking about. but the gist of it is that Bob Rae Basically Bankrupted ontario, and is one of the biggest reasons that the NDP will never from a federal government anytime soon.)
the other argument is that ontario wanted a strong leader. Harris provided that. Dalton seemed weak and befuddled during the debates, and howard hampton looked like he was going to cry...
after harris, eves came in and in my opinion seemed to be doing a decent job without being too crazy when it came to Mike the Knifes "Common Sense" revolution, but the damage was done, and in the next election Dalton won out in a majority. if you want more information on harris, Rae, or McGuinty i found some good info on google after typing in "ontario Premiers" Answers.com has a large amount of information which is pretty much unbiased.
People do think about alot of things when they vote. whether its the right thought or not....
the fact is that a party should also listen to its constiutents...
Harris did not..
from Answers.com:
Upon election, the Harris government immediately began to attract controversy. Its policies involved steep cuts to education, welfare, and Medicare, and the forced amalgamation of municipalities. Welfare rates were slashed by 22%, and provincial income taxes were also cut by 30%. Municipal leaders complained because many of the cuts were "downloading" the costs of services that the province had formerly paid for onto local city and municipal governments. It was this government that announced the secondary school reform to eliminate grade 13 that created the "double cohort."
A separate controversy occurred shortly after the Harris government took office, involving events at Ipperwash Provincial Park. Ontario Provincial Police Acting Sgt. Kenneth Deane fired on First Nations demonstrators who had occupied the park, killing an unarmed protester named Dudley George. The government and the OPP maintained that there was no political involvement in the shooting, but many were suspicious. In a court case that went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, Deane maintained that he was not under orders to shoot and was convicted of criminal negligence causing death. Inside the Legislature, several opposition politicians suggested that the attack may have been ordered by the Premier's office, and called for an independent judicial inquiry. This inquiry was finally called after the government of Dalton McGuinty was elected in 2003. it has not yet delivered a finding.
On November 28, 2005, former Attorney General Charles Harnick testified before the inquiry that Harris had shouted "I want the f---ing Indians out of the park" at a meeting with Ontario Provincial Police officer Ron Fox, hours before the shooting occurred (Canadian Press, 28 November 2005, 12:45 report).
In 1997, Ontario's teachers held their largest walkout in history, but were unsuccessful in getting significant changes to government policies. At Queen's Park, the site of the Ontario Legislature, there were several large protests and near-riots. In 1998, much negative sentiment for Harris was expressed by elementary school students during the "Mandela and the Children" event at SkyDome when he was greeted with enthusiastic booing. Amid the general rise in the North American economy, economic indicators in Ontario improved dramatically, and while the Ontario provincial budget was still in deficit by the end of Harris' first term, he was able to portray himself as responsible on fiscal issues.
In 2001, the Harris government introduced a plan to give a tax credit for parents who send their children to private and denominational schools (despite having campaigned against this in 1999). Many believe that this issue damaged the party's reputation for supporting "ordinary Ontarians".
Im not going to go into the Walkerton Scandal or the Ontario Hydro issues either....
but needless to say, his legacy is by no means something to be proud of....
read his Bio on Answers.com.... its pretty objective and just tells it like it is...
regards
Josh
