Common Sense Revolution - Origin

Origin

From 1943 to 1985, the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party held uninterrupted power in Ontario, under Red Tory premiers such as Leslie Frost, John Robarts, and Bill Davis. However, in 1985, this veritable political dynasty (termed the Big Blue Machine by observers) came to an end when the minority government of Davis' successor, Frank Miller, was defeated in the legislature by an alliance between the Liberal Party of David Peterson and the left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) of Bob Rae after the PCs won a plurality but not a majority of seats in the provincial election. The Liberals formed a minority government with NDP support, and Peterson was sworn in as premier.

After the fall of Miller's government, the PC Party found itself in the political wilderness. Known for decades as competent managers with a left-leaning tendency towards building up Ontario social programs (such as health care and education), they found themselves losing this ground to the Liberals and their youthful leader, Peterson. Sticking to their policy status quo, the party was trounced in the 1987 election that gave Peterson a majority government. Faced with massive debt and public disinterest in their leader and policies, the party needed a new angle. In 1990, an upstart junior cabinet minister from Miller's former government named Mike Harris won the leadership of the party. This was widely interpreted as a move to the political right, as Harris defeated the more centrist Dianne Cunningham.

Harris immediately set about crafting a new image for himself and the party. In his first election in 1990, he branded himself "the tax fighter." He strongly opposed an unpopular photo-radar program introduced by the Liberal government and attacked it as a revenue grab. Despite his party's third place showing in the election (which was won by NDP leader Bob Rae), Harris had managed to improve the party standing in the legislature and bring some attention to his cause. After the 1990 election, Harris and his advisors (including prominent Ontario Tories Tony Clement, then President of the party, Leslie Noble, Alister Campbell and Tom Long) set to work creating a more comprehensive reform package to present to the province. The result was the CSR.