He may have been there for a game of golf, but former Premier Mike Harris was also not afraid to take a swing at the former Liberal government.
Harris, who is the honourary co-chair of the Osprey Links Charity Golf Gala, was in town for the annual event which takes place at Osprey Links Golf Course in Callander.
“I think it is good for the province, I think having Vic Fedeli as the member of finance and MPP is good news not just for North Bay but for Northern Ontario and it was time to stop the bleeding, the deficit, the build-up of debt, hydro rates out of control so far so good,” said Harris.
“I think they are on the right track and I am a big supporter.”
Harris feels there are many parallels from the mid-1990’s when a Conservative government headed by Harris took over from the Bob Rae government.
“For some reason, it takes conservatives to come in and clean up the mess, it is not easy,’ said Harris.
“It is always easier in politics to say yes to everybody to say,’look, we just don’t have the money,’ and you reach a certain level of taxation where the private sector goes somewhere else to create those jobs so it is getting that balance back between private and public sector.
“We had to do it and now this government has to do it. I think Doug Ford has the courage to make those difficult decisions and he is very lucky to have a strong team around him led by our own Vic Fedeli.”
Harris knows having a high profile position in the party in power can have its benefits, he hopes Fedeli and the rest of the north benefit with a person like Vic Fedeli holding the high profile Finance Minister position at Queen’s Park.
“We in the North here felt they kind of tended to favour Sudbury because of the representation that they had and I think that is wrong,” he said.
“On the other hand, it is wrong to say everything now should go to North Bay, we want fairness, we want our fair share and we want the rest of the North to get it’s fair share too and I think this administration understands that.”
Harris also was proud to talk about his son Mike Harris Jr., who has followed in his father’s footsteps and is now the MPP in Kitchener-Conestoga.
“He is right in the back row where I started and he is excited, it is a life changing experience but he is a little smarter and a little nicer than me so I think he will do just fine,” he said about his 33-year-old son.
Fedeli and Harris were both at the event that will end with a fundraising dinner. The charity tournament, sponsored by OneLife Wealth Management is raising money for cancer care at the North Bay Regional Health Centre.
