INDEPTH: PROVINCIAL POLITICS
Ontario's Conservatives: In transition.
CBC News Online | September 17, 2004
John Tory favours moderate, centrist policies favoured by former Tory premier Bill Davis (CP PHOTO/Aaron Harris)
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Ever since being ousted by voters in last fall's election, the
Ontario Conservative party has floundered. One punch followed another,
as the party lost its leader with Ernie Eves' resignation, unveiled a
$9-million debt and faced public and media indifference to policies that
often seemed unclear.
Yet a year later, party fortunes seem to be on the upswing. Months after the Liberals' election win, polls
suggested the Conservatives creeping ahead, as voters
accused Premier Dalton McGuinty of breaking his campaign promises.
A leadership campaign has also pumped new life into the party. Members had a choice between two different directions for the years ahead: furthering the conservative approach of former premier Mike Harris by selecting Jim Flaherty or Frank Klees. Or they could return to the moderate, centrist policies favoured by former premier Bill Davis in the 1970s and early 1980s by voting in John Tory. They chose Tory, a former cable executive, former Toronto mayoral candidate and influential party insider.
Ontario's Conservative party:
From Macdonald to Eves
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Ontario's Conservative premiers
John Sandfield Macdonald
1867-1871
Sir James Whitney
1905-1914
Sir William Hearst
1914-1919
Howard Ferguson
1923-1930
George Henry
1930-1934
Col. George Drew
1943-1948
Thomas Kennedy
1948-1949
Leslie Frost
1949-1961
John Robarts
1961-1971
William Davis
1971-1985
Frank Miller
1985
Michael Harris
1995-2002
Ernie Eves
2002-2003
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A look at a party that dramatically shaped Ontario, from the
province's birth in 1867 through the 42-year dynasty by the "Big
Blue Machine" in mid-century to Harris's sharp right turn with the
Common Sense Revolution in the 1990s:
The early years
A Progressive Conservative became the first premier of Ontario, after the province was created under Confederation in 1867. John Sandfield Macdonald, a moderate reformer who reigned from 1867-1871, set up the first registries for births, marriages and deaths, as well as establishing a modern high-school system.
Four more Tory premiers helped shape the province before the start of the Second World War. Among their contributions, they greatly expanded Ontario's highway system, created the Hydro-electric Commission of Ontario, the Department of Public Welfare and the Liquor Control Board, and introduced ground-breaking social legislation such as the Workmen's Compensation Act and the first old-age pension.
A dynasty is born
At the height of the Second World War, Ontario elected a colonel who promised social and economic reform. George Drew (1943-1948) became the first of six Tory premiers who oversaw a 42-year empire for the Progressive Conservatives and what became known as "The Big Blue Machine."
Under Drew, Ontario passed progressive labour and social laws, including a new labour code and the first anti-discrimination legislation in Canada.
When Drew went on to steer the federal PCs in 1948, Thomas Kennedy stepped in until a leadership convention the following year.
His successor, Leslie Frost, was one of the longest-serving and most popular premiers in Ontario. During his 12-year term, Frost developed the Ontario Hospital Insurance Program (OHIP), greatly expanded hospitals, schools and highways, and brought in equal pay for women.
Queen Elizabeth II (left) and Ontario Premier John Robarts tour the Ontario Pavilion at Expo 67, July 3, 1967. (CP PHOTO/Stf)
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John Robarts (1961-1971) shepherded the province through a period of incredible growth and change. While he led the province, Ontario's unemployment rates ranked lowest in Canada and its economy expanded faster than almost any in the world.
Robarts championed individual rights and Canadian unity, while defending provincial rights against federalism. His administration also transformed education, by establishing community colleges and several new universities.
In 1971, Ontario elected as premier a lawyer from Brampton and former minister of education, William (Bill) Davis.
Conservative leader Joe Clark, right, and former Ontario premier Bill Davis laugh Tuesday Oct. 24, 2000, at the end of a speech at an official dinner in Toronto. Davis thanked Clark who was guest sepaker at the Tory dinner. (CP PHOTO/Jacques Boissinot)
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Davis steered a moderate course, espousing fiscal conservatism while promoting progressive social policies. He introduced new legislation to strengthen medicare, public transit, mental-health programs and environmental protection.
He often made political decisions outside traditional Conservative doctrine, notably siding with Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau on constitutional amendments.
A composed and careful speaker, Davis was said to have never once made a political slip-up in public.
The same could not be said of his successor.
End of an empire
Frank Miller brashly took voters to the polls just months after replacing Davis in February 1985, a move that toppled the Tory empire and sparked 20 turbulent years of provincial politics.
Just weeks after Miller's Conservatives won a minority government, the New Democrats' Bob Rae and the Liberals' David Peterson teamed up in a coalition to oust the Tories.
During the 37-day election campaign, Miller was criticized for refusing to engage in a televised debate with Peterson and Rae. A spill of toxic PCBs on a highway in northern Ontario and the government's perceived lack of concern over environmental issues also turned voters against him.
And he was dogged by a controversy left by Davis, who extended provincial funding to Catholic schools just before he left office. Many voters loudly opposed the decision, fearing money would be siphoned from public education.
In the May 2 election, Miller scraped by with 52 seats to the Liberals' 48.
But his days were numbered. Within weeks, the NDP – with 25 seats – agreed to a coalition with the Liberals under Peterson, who became premier.
Miller, disillusioned, soon resigned as Tory leader.
Two years later in 1990, the Progressive Conservatives saw their worst showing in a provincial election since 1867, after Peterson dissolved the coalition and went to the polls.
The Liberals won their first majority in the province, capturing 95 of 130 seats. The NDP won 19, leaving only 16 seats to the Tories, who also received less than 25 per cent of the popular vote.
Tory Leader Larry Grossman even lost his own seat – one that his father had held before him. In 1990, the party voted in Mike Harris, a long-time MPP and businessman from North Bay, as its leader.
Mike Harris presided over the “Common Sense Revolution,” which restructured government and the public sector. |
The party didn't fare much better when an overconfident Peterson called a snap election just three years into his mandate. In the election that year, Rae's NDP won an upset victory, landing 74 of 130 seats. The Tories placed third, with 20 seats.
Rae's government succeeded in passing new rent control laws and employment equity legislation and in banning replacement workers during labour disputes – but all the changes were later to be repealed by Harris's Conservative government.
But he faced plunging popularity as the recession deepened in the early 1990s, as well as constant hostility from the business community, who worried about the NDP's impact on commerce.
Triumph of the Common Sense Revolution
The recession, high unemployment and general discontent with the policies of the NDP government peaked by the time of the 1995 election.
Voters turned to Harris and his plan to run Ontario like a business, the "Common Sense Revolution."
The Tories won 82 seats and the Liberals became the official Opposition with 30 seats. The NDP kept just 17 of the 69 seats it held before election day.
Harris quickly moved to put his Common Sense Revolution in place. His government cut income taxes, closed hospitals, repealed labour laws, slashed education spending and cut welfare payments by 20 per cent.
The cutbacks provoked major public unrest. In October 1996, labour leaders organized "Days of Action," a five-day protest against the Harris government. Teachers and public-sector workers in Toronto walked off the job and thousands of people attended a rally at Queen's Park, the Ontario legislature. Toronto's transit system was shut down for a day.
Yet when the premier called another election in 1999, his Tories captured 59 seats to the Liberals' 35 and the NDP's nine. Harris became the first Ontario premier to win back-to-back majorities since 1967.
His privatization policies increasingly drew attack, however, especially after a public inquiry found that his government failed to put proper safeguards into place after privatizing the town of Walkerton's water supply. Seven people died and more than 2,300 became ill in May 2000 after a deadly strain of E. coli bacteria polluted the town's drinking water.
Harris resigned in 2002.
Shaking the Harris shadow
Ernie Eves came under attack over the failed privatization of Ontario’s power system, the Walkerton tainted-water inquiriy and other scandals. |
Ernie Eves, a former finance minister and bank president who took over from Harris in March 2002, initially tried to differentiate himself from his predecessor by promising a kinder, gentler Tory government.
But the Harris legacy dogged him, as attacks continued over the failed privatization of the province's power system and controversial tax credit for parents who send their children to private schools.
As Eves moved toward an election in October 2003, he seemed to flip-flop on his platform, becoming much more hardline. Voters accused him of breaking campaign promises by raising taxes and running a provincial deficit.
Perhaps the most condemnation stemmed from the government's decision to present the 2003 budget in a suburban auto-parts plant rather than at Queen's Park. Even the Tory house Speaker deemed it "an affront to democracy."
Dalton McGuinty's Liberals trounced the Tories in the provincial election of Oct. 2, capturing 72 of 103 legislative seats.
The Tories emerged with just 24 seats, not even half the 56 they held when the election was called a month earlier. Many members of the cabinet were booted out, including high-profile players such as Health Minister Tony Clement and Finance Minister Janet Ecker.
Eves later said he regretted not calling a snap election after he succeeded Harris in 2002. It was a bitter lesson.
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