My letter to Mike Harris

I just finished writing this letter to Mike Harris and I would like to post it in a public forum. I want Mike Harris to unseat Anthony Rota in North Bay where I grew up, where I knew the Harris family, where I was in high school when Iron Mike won term one, and in University when he won term two. I want Mike Harris to leave Magna and get back into public life.

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Dear Mr. Harris

Where have you gone Iron Mike, the “Harris refugees” turn their lonely eyes to you. What happened? So many of us believed in you and your fight against the unions, that you were re-elected to a second term in office. The province was heading in the right direction, we were undoing the carnage of Bob Rae, and we were on a path to global competitiveness. Then suddenly some planes crashed into buildings and my attention was diverted away from Provincial politics, and not long thereafter you were gone. In what seemed like an instant, I went from Patton leading my province to victory, and then in a flash Dalton McGuinty was in command. As though Patton was replaced by Custer, and I was so distracted by world news that I missed it happening.

Dalton chased me out of Ontario with his first budget. I saw Bob Rae part deux, and said thanks but no thanks. Vancouver got the Olympics; I had to be here for it. I did not expect you to exit public life completely. There is so much that you can do for this country that I fear your value is wasted at Magna. I understand that things were very unpleasant prior to your resignation, but that is not a reason to quit public life forever. I can’t get Jean Chretien to shut up and I can’t get my messiah to speak up. Bob Rae keeps showing up on televisions saying that he should be Prime Minister. Mike, you of all people, you who inherited the only major office Bob ever held; surely you have to be out there telling Canadians how awful Bob Rae was as Premier. Mike Harris is the antidote to Bob Rae.

Maybe you don’t want to bear the burden of challenging leadership after your experiences fighting the unions. I don’t blame you; I just want to say that you should have a prominent voice in the direction of the country, specifically in regards to trimming the fat from government bureaucracy. You were the chief enemy against those who gorged themselves on tax payer’s money.

To those who loathe Mike Harris, let me address your talking points one at a time…

1) Ipperwash: This seems to have become the one word rebuttal for any Harris opposition. Say something nice about Iron Mike, and lefties will just say “Ipperwash”. What the hell? Did I miss something? How has this incident become the folly of Harris? Mike Harris was not running point on RCMP command and control of a hostile occupation of government park land. The worst offense that anyone can muster is that he might have dropped an “F-Bomb” in a meeting with an officer. Mike Harris committed no crime, and was in no way responsible for the death at Ipperwash. Christ, if I faced condemnation each time I dropped an “F-Bomb” at a politically incorrect time in my lifetime, I’d be fucked.

2) Walkerton: This one drives me nuts. One goofball bureaucrat at public works in a small town doesn’t do his job when there is a bacterial outbreak, and suddenly this is entirely the fault of the whole Harris movement of government cutbacks? One public employee doesn’t do his job when he needs to know how to do his job, and suddenly the whole “cut public spending” movement is busted?

3) Divorce: I understand that the break-up of your marriage might have been the biggest influencing factor in your departure from public life. All I will say is that I met Janet many dozens of times in my youth, and I never liked her at all. Something wasn’t right with that woman. I will give you a mulligan for that one.

And let’s not forget that Iron Mike went to war with the teachers after being a teacher. He was a teacher! He experienced first hand how they are robbing the public treasury, and he sought to defeat that when in office. Ontario is being dragged down from global competitiveness by the public unions that gorge themselves on the province’s prosperity. The folly of Mcguinty is that he made obscene promises to placate these unions, and could not pay for it without massive tax increases. That’s why I left Ontario upon graduation.

I don’t know how much desire that you have left for public office Mike, but the country needs you. If not in leadership, then at least in a cabinet post. Please, just go back to North Bay and run against Antony Rota. See what happens. Please Mike, from an old friend, take down Rota.