The Toronto Star from Toronto, Ontario, Canada • 127

SAIUKDAY, DECEMBEK 21, 2002 TUKUAiXU SIAM lid At the opening of the fell session of the Legislature, Premier Ernie first act was a cabinet shuffle that put moderates like Witmer and Eves talks things over with his deputy, Education Minister Elizabeth Witmer, during question period. His Finance Minister Janet Ecker, below. In key positions. tional Citizens Coalition, citing tossing excess baggage off a sinking balloon in order to enable it to soar again. There is some truth to this metaphor.

It is easy to exagger ate the extent of the change un der Eves and to overlook what has stayed the same: income taxes well below the pre-Harris level, social services download- New Premier puts his stamp on government Reversed Harris policies and even some of his own Ian Urquhart It has been a year of tumultuous change in provincial politics. The year began with the race to replace Mike Harris as Tory leader moving into high gear. But while the Conservative party was excited by the contest; the general public stifled a yawn. After all, there was an obvious front-runner Ernie Eves and he was widely, if inaccurately, perceived as a chip off the old Harris block. It was aperceptum that Eves himself fed during the leadership campaign, in which he presented himself as the best choice to continue the Harris legacy.

His campaign slogan isorar "Because we've come i subliminally reinforced this message. Eves chief rival for the leadership, Jim Flaherty, knew otherwise. He warned everyone who would listen that Eves was not a Harrisite revolutionary at all but "a pale, pink imitation of Dalton McGuinty (leader of the provincial Liberals). When the ballots were counted in March, however, Eves, with the backing of die Tory establishment and more than half the caucus, had enough votes to prevail over Flaherty. Eves then set about putting his own stamp on the government, starting with a cabinet shuffle that placed moderates like Janet Ecker and Elizabeth Witmer in key positions respectively, minister of finance and deputy premier.

Flaherty was shuffled out of the joint post of finance and deputy premier to the obscurity of "minister of enterprise, opportunity and innovation. One of Flahertys supporters in die Harris cabinet, John Baird, was demoted to the junior port of whip. Another, Gary Stewart, was dropped from cabinet altogether. These moves sent strong signals that the "common sense by Harris was over and had been replaced by a more managerial Conservative regime, in the style of BUI Davis (premier from 1971 to 1985). Eves didnt just shuffle bodies around, however.

He soon began to reverse Harris policies, to a startling degree. In die spring, there was much speculation, fed by this columnist among others, about whether Eves would do a dina Expressway. The ence was to the killing of the Spadina Expressway by Davis early in hy first term, a move that clearly established him as different from his predecessor, John Roberts. The speculation was way off base. It turned outthat Eves had not one but many Spadinas up hissleeve.

Among the policy reversals: The privatization of Hydro One was cancelled Hydro Ones CEQ, Eleanor Clitheroe, and its government-appointed board were also forced out oi Lout of office. Corporate and personal income tax cuts, due to take effect on Jan. 1, 2003, were postponed The Tories dedded the money was needed to pay for sharply i health increased spending on STEVE RUSSEU. TORONTO STAR FU PHOTO could all come undone if the Liberals ora LiberayNe Democratic Party coalition were in power following die next election. The question is: Will Eves moves keep the Tbries in office? More on that and related questions in my next Saturday column, Jan.

4. KEN FAUGHT TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO In June. Flaherty managed to the U-tum on electricity. JOHN RENNHONCPflll PHOTO as tourism and recreation minis about his expenses. his recommendations.

Government funding was pulled for Harris legal fees in his nbd suit against The Globe and Mail. While a relatively small expenditure for the government, its termination was hugely symbolic. A $10 million tax break for professional sports teams snuck through the system in the dying days of the Harris government was spiked. Ecker blamed the previous government, as if it were occupied by aliens (or, worse. Liberals).

The changes didnt end there. Eves even began reversing his own policies, such as the 16 per cent fee hike in the summer for nursinghome residents and legislation this fall that appeared to side with corporations over retired employees in the continuing dispute over pension surpluses. The former was rolled back and the latter killed in the face of a public uproar. And when questions were raised in the Legislature about then-tourism minister Cam Jacksons expenses, he was promptly fired. In each case, the government's retreat, although sometimes clumsily executed, served to blunt opposition attacks.

The governments spin doctors have, of course, put the best light on all this, portraying Eves who is willing to listen as a man who i and admit mistakes have been made. McGuinty and the Liberals have another take on it, of course: that Eves is a man with no settled views who would say anything and go anywhere to stay in power. Then, there is the reaction to Eves from the old Harris constituency the corporate sector, right-wing media and neo-conservative organizations. They are apoplectic. In the wake of the U-tum on electricity, one business spoked The National Post accused him of "panicking at the first sign of trouble.

The Na- Eves' betrayaT of the Harris legacy, called for a boycott of Conservative appeals for campaign donations. Within the Conservative party, however. Eves seemed to have about everyone back on side the end of the year, thereby just: byti providing further proof that i principle in power trumps tics. The aforementioned Baird was restored to a senior port in cabinet as minister of enpgy, where he had to swallow his neo-conservative views as he re-regulated the electricity market Leslie Noble, Harris campaign manager in two general elections, and Jaime Watt; Flaher- tys campaign chair in the leadership race, came on board as co-chairs of Eves election planning committee. Even the redoubtable Guy Giorno, Harris chief of staff and the neo-conservative architect of many of the previous governments policies, had worked his way back into the Eves tent by years end with an unspecified role in election planning.

One possible exception to this rule was Flaherty, who appeared to be wearing a permanently bemused look as the Eves government ripped apart the Harris legacy, although he was careful not to say anything that could be interpreted as mutinous. However, with a well-timed business trip to Ottawa, Flaherty did manage to drip the votes last week to approve the legislation postponing tax cuts and implementing fire U-tum on elec-tririty. The others, like Giorno and Baird, justified the apparent contradiction between their old and new selves on the grounds that continuing the revolution would have meant certain defeat at fire hands of the electorate. This way, they rationalized, the Tbries could preserve many of the gains made by Harris. One Tory compared Eves jettisoning of Harris' policies to Janet Ecker shares a joke with Jim Flaherty after her budget speech skip last weeks votes on postponing the tax cuts and implementing ed onto the municipalities, taxing authority taken away from the school boards, municipalities amalgamated, labour laws gutted, welfare rates reduced, minimum wage frozen, rents partially decontrolled, and so on.

As the Tbries see it, these are nugor achievements, and they Cam Jackson was promptly fired ter when questions were raised KEVIN PHOTO Ontario Energy Minister John Baird listens as Niagara MPP Bart Maves makes a point on a visit tq Niagara Falls last month. Baird, a neo-conservative, had to re-regulate the electricity market. care. Forgotten was the old Harris rhetoric that "tax cuts pay for themselves. Deregulation of die electricity market was scrapped and prices froaen, barehr six months after the market had opened The sky-high hydro rates that followed the market opening spooked the Tories into this U-tum.

Problems were acknowledged in die governments education funding formula and a task force, under University of Guelph president Mordechai RazanskC established to study it Rozanski called for some $2 billion to be plowed back into the system, and the government promptly began implementing DICK LOCK TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO Eleanor Clitheroe was dismissed as CEO of Hydro One in June, Hydro Ones board was replaced and the utility's privatization was cancelled the first of many dramatic actions by the government i.