Former Ontario premier runs for federal office

Canadians in four federal ridings go to the polls today in byelections to vote for their members of parliament.

One of the Liberal party candidates is Bob Rae, who was premier of the province of Ontario from 1990 until 1995, when he was in the New Democratic Party. Rae was faced with a tough reality check during the early 90s, when an economic recession resulted in a drop in revenues. Although the NDP tends to view balanced budgets as a nefarious capitalist plot to siphon money from the poor into the pockets of the filthy rich, even Rae had to face the fact that money doesn’t grow on trees.

In early 1993, his government passed the Social Contract Act. One of its provisions was one of the best decisions ever made by a politician in Canada. In an effort to cut spending by $2 billion while protecting jobs, the Ontario government gave some public workers 12 unpaid days of leave. Instead of eliminating positions (and throwing people out of work) or just carrying on spending money in the face of collapsing revenues, Rae reduced salaries. Not surprisingly, the public sector unions went ballistic, and referred derisively to their unpaid leave as “Rae days.” The unions proceeded to cut off their noses to spite their faces, turning on Rae during the 1995 election, which he lost to the Conservatives.

After his rude shock facing reality, Rae is now with the Liberal party. If he wins in Toronto Centre, it will be interesting to see how he wields his power at the federal level.