Alliston Herald

Today's Weather

Overcast and 0°C

>>more weather info

Harris looms over Tories

July 01, 2009 22:07

Following the weekend election of Tim Hudak as leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, many Tories are no doubt looking to the future with optimism.

Others may be casting jaundiced eyes back to the past, however, and the looming figure that some Tories love and Ontarians love to hate: Mike Harris.

Hudak was Harris' man from the beginning of the process to replace political moderate John Tory, and the former premier was beaming as he congratulated his chosen one on Saturday.

Hudak is a Harris-style guy, promising a return to the right-wing Conservative values. In his acceptance speech he thanked "my good friend and personal supporter, Mike Harris" and promised to "take Ontario down an entirely different path than the one we're on."

It will be interesting to see if Hudak's close afilliation with the former premier becomes more distant as he turns his attention to attracting support from Ontarians rather than from the party faithful.

Memories of Harris simply haven't faded for many. Who could forget the $5-billion deficit he gifted the McGuinty Liberals, the battles with teachers, the hospitals closings, forced amalgamations, and the overwhelming indifference to the impact of social service cutbacks (in defending his restructuring, Harris once compared nurses to displaced workers in hula-hoop factories).

The wounds remain fresh for many.

Hudak may view the Harris years as an inspiration, but Tories with longer memories will realize that the Red Tory approach made the Conservatives a virtual dynasty in this province.

In the months ahead, Hudak is likely looking forward to making easy political gains by blaming the governing Liberals for Ontario's economic situation.

But his main challenge will be to prove that he is not simply a puppet of an old, discredited regime. (A promise to scrap the Human Rights Tribunal and replace it with a court-based system - as if the courts aren't tied up enough - is not a good start).

If he truly is a neo-con Harris-style right-winger, his stay as leader may be a short one. This is not a great political environment for rigid idealogues.

If, on the other hand, he can find a middle ground that better reflects the views of most Ontarians, Hudak may well make an impact.

He just might want to lose Mike Harris' phone number.

More Alliston Herald|Opinion|Editorials Articles

Bare bones
The Ontario Liberal government's throne speech Monday was a little heavy on bones and light on meat.

Right To Know
If it was merely a technicality - a mistake on someone's part - that's fine. Mistakes happen. Why the secrecy surrounding the deal?

Just a bad day
The truth is that while we hold them to a higher standard, politicians are only human like the rest of us, and like the rest of us, make mistakes and...

Deserving
If anyone thinks it is a great secret non-profit groups such as humane societies use some of their cases to draw attention to their need for funding...

Olympics a success
The notion that Own the Podium would somehow guarantee a rash of Olympic gold is silly. All the program can ultimately do is give our athletes the...

Uneven Start
No matter how well these Games go, they will always have a cloud over their head due to the tragic death of a Georgian athlete on the luge sliding...

Too long
In the raucous world of politics, it's almost an eternity. Given that observation, it's puzzling why the municipal election campaign has to be so long...

Right to Fight
A terse squabble that broke out at Monday night's New Tecumseth council meeting brought to light an issue that the Herald has dealt with on its...

Half measure
Experts suspect the reason is that drivers are resorting to using hands-free devices. The accident rate for those is the same as hand-held. Yes, you...

Rising Tide
By 2038, there could be a new case of dementia every two minutes and the amount of unpaid care provided by the family members of patients could total...

SIMCOE.COM is an online publication serving the communities of Barrie, Alliston, Collingwood/Wasaga Beach, Wasaga, Stayner and Orillia in central Ontario, Canada. All rights reserved. Reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission or republication of any material from simcoe.com is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from Metroland Media Group Ltd.