Open for Business/Closed to People

Mike Harris’s Ontario

Edited by Diana Ralph, Andre Regimbald, Neree St-Amand

For anyone concerned about Mike Harris’s neo-conservative “Common Sense Revolution,” this book is a must. It chronicles Harris’s first year as premier and the emerging resistance movement. Part 1 puts the Harris “revolution” in context, exposing its underlying transnational corporate agenda and the previous right-wing U.S. and British governments on which it draws. It demonstrates how the smoke screen of populism and fiscal responsibility hides a fundamental attack on concepts of democracy and social citizenship. Part 2 spells out the profound toll which Harris’s policies are taking on the people of Ontario, especially on its most vulnerable members: low-income people, women, children, workers, and ethno-cultural and francophone communities. Part 3 describes a broad range of strategies to survive and win against this neo-conservative assault.

Contents

• Preface (Duncan Cameron)
• Introduction (Diana Ralph) 
• Harris’s First Year: Attacks and Resistance (Bill Dare) 
• Part 1: The Harris Government in Context - The Transnational Corporate Agenda Behind the Harris Regime (Tony Clarke) 
• Deja Vu: Thatcherism in Ontario (Paul Browne) 
• The Ontario Branch of American Conservatism (Andre Regimbald) 
• Deficitism and Neo-Conservatism in Ontario (Michelle Weinroth) 
• Rights and the Right: Ending Social Citizenship in Tory Ontario (Ian Morrison) 
• Part 2: Unmasking the Impacts - Social Assistance in the New Ontario (Linda Lalonde) 
• ”Common Sense” Assaults on Families (Brigitte Kitchen) 
• The Racist Face of “Common Sense” (Jean Trickey) 
• The Franco-Ontarian Community Under the Harris Counter-Revolution (David Welch) 
• Ontario Workers Take on the “Common Sense Revolution” (Steve Watson) 
• Part 3: Strategies of Resistance–Community Strategies for Surviving and Resisting the Cuts (Michele Kerisit and Neree St-Amand)
• Fighting to Win (John Clarke) 
• Days of Action: Challenging the Harris Corporate Agenda (Jim Turk)
• Strategies for the Post-Harris Era (Diana Ralph)