36th Parliament
The next election was held in June 1997 and Harris won re-election with 54% of the vote in the Prince George—Bulkley Valley riding. The Liberal Party again formed a majority government but Harris' Reform Party formed the Official Opposition. Harris became the Vice-Chair of the 'Standing Committee on Finance' in both sessions of the 36th Parliament, as well as being the Reform Party's assistant critic on Finance.
Meanwhile, a division formed within the Reform Party as the leader, Preston Manning, explored merging the party with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. In April 1999, Harris became the 13th Reform Party MP to publicly oppose a merger, saying "There's nothing wrong with our product. There's nothing wrong with our brand-label. Maybe the salesmen communicating the message are not the right people out there." Harris was concerned that they would have to compromise on their opposition to official bilingualism and positions on Senate reform, family values, and justice issues. A referendum within the Reform Party on whether to explore a merger plan was called and Harris debated Manning on the issue at Reform Party events. Harris paid for national advertising opposing the merger idea and co-signed a letter distributed to all 59 Reform Party MPs which said "A Yes vote in May would be a tactical disaster... Reform will be perceived as having already decided to commit suicide". The referendum passed with 60% voting in favour of a merger, dubbed the 'United Alternative'. Committees were formed to investigate a plan for merger and Harris joined the policy committee.
A second referendum was set for the Reform Party's convention in March 2000 to decide on whether to pursue the merger. Harris, in January 2000, still opposed to the United Alternative, and announced his candidacy for leader of the party — a challenge to party leader Manning who was campaigning for the merger. Harris immediately assigned a campaign chairman and launched a nationwide membership and fund-raising drives. The 55-year old Harris viewed his campaign as staying true to the Reform Party's roots in populism and rejecting the Progressive Conservative Party's "elitist politics". Manning and those who favoured the United Alternative, like Reform Party MP Jay Hill (Prince George—Peace River) with whom Harris shared a constituency office in Prince George, saw the merger as the best way to form a government. Harris viewed the push for the United Alternative as a top-down initiative by Manning and a small group of advisers and called the United Alternative an "unholy alliance". At a late-January meeting, party members voted against launching a leadership review, ending Harris' leadership bid. At a later meeting, in March, party members voted in favour of dissolving the Reform Party of Canada and re-forming as the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance with a new constitution and policy planks better suited for a merger with the Progressive Conservatives. When it came time to select a leader, Harris endorsed Stockwell Day, an Albertan provincial politician who went on to defeat Manning.
Read more about this topic: Dick Harris
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