By Trish Audette
Cost of settling the Dudley George case out of court: $100,000.
Average student fee increase in Ontario universities between 1993-94 and 2002-03: 223 per cent.
Average total wait for surgical and therapeutic treatments in Ontario in 2001-02: 14 weeks.
Seeing Mike Harris lose seats for the new federal Conservative party in every province except Ontario and Alberta: priceless.
Since the leaders of Canada’s two national right-wing parties — Peter MacKay of the Progressive Conservatives and Stephen Harper of the Canadian Alliance — giddily shook hands last month over an agreement-in-principle to unite the right, neo-conservatives from sea to sea have had visions of Mike Harris going to the Hill dancing through their heads.
But it seems the former Ontario premier has seen the light.
Last weekend, Harris announced in an interview with a Toronto television station he would not seek the leadership of the new party.
Which is just as well — Harris at the helm of the Conservatives would have been too good a gift to future Liberal leader Paul Martin. A glance at Harris’s record reveals why he can’t lead a national party to glory.
Two years ago, Harris decided to go into political hiatus. He’d ushered in Ontario’s so-called Common Sense Revolution and apparently it was time to concentrate more on his family, practice his golf swing and stay out of the public eye for a while.
(Except for numerous public speeches in which he urged Alliance and Conservative leaders to bury the hatchet and unite the right.)
His exit proved perfect timing to allow his replacement, former premier Ernie Eves, and his gang of Progressive Conservative revolutionaries to lose October’s provincial election by an embarrassing margin.Record aside, he can’t speak French.
He has no political support in the Maritimes.
He’s not likely to find much support in British Columbia or Saskatchewan — the kind of provinces peopled by electors who vote for the Canadian Alliance to give the West a voice on Parliament Hill.
(Not to mention B.C. has its own version of Mike Harris. He’s a Liberal premier named Gordon Campbell. They don’t like him. Go figure.)
But Ralph Klein, the Progressive Conservative premier of Alberta, said Harris could do the job. And some of the financiers on Bay Street seemed ready to put their money on him.
Not to win the next federal election — no, everyone knows Martin has it in the bag. But to win more seats across the country and launch a stronger, united opposition to the Liberal party.
Harris is yesterday’s man.
He enjoys almost no popularity outside Ontario’s conservative ridings. He hasn’t exhibited any understanding of regions outside Canada’s two “have” provinces, a requirement of managing the balancing act that makes a national leader.
Plus the new Conservative party he opted not to lead hasn’t tabled any issues that would make it different from a Martin-led Liberal party.
But remember, Canada’s right wing parties brought you Stockwell Day in a wet suit. They are the people who give up leadership of their own parties because a 60-plus per cent vote of confidence among members isn’t enough. These are people whose children become cheesy hosts on glorified talent shows like Canadian Idol.
There was no logic in promoting Mike Harris as a leader to unite the right. Apparently, there doesn’t have to be logic when you’re aiming to make up the official opposition.
So while MacKay and Harper may not have been able to sleep a wink the night before their announcement, Martin’s probably been sleeping just fine.
As to who the Conservative party will target to lead them next, that’s probably not worrying Martin too much, either.