Ernie Eves

Ernest Larry Eves (born June 17, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 23rd premier of Ontario from 2002 to 2003.

Eves was born into a working-class family in Windsor, Ontario, in 1946, the son of Julie (née Hawrelechko) and Harry Lewis Eves, a factory worker.

His maternal grandparents were Ukrainian.

As a teenager, Eves moved with his family to the central Ontario town of Parry Sound.

Eves went to Osgoode Hall Law School, was called to the bar in 1972, and practiced with the firm of Green and Eves.

He was elected in the northern Ontario riding of Parry Sound in 1981 by a margin of six votes but retained the seat for 20 years.

In 1981, he ran for provincial parliament in the riding of Parry Sound.

He defeated Liberal candidate Richard Thomas by only six votes, leading to the nickname "Landslide Ernie", and went on to keep the seat for twenty years.

He served briefly as a cabinet minister in the short-lived government of Frank Miller in 1985, but he was consigned to the opposition benches when the Tories were defeated in a motion of no confidence by an alliance of the opposition Liberal and New Democrats.

Eves was a cabinet minister in the short-lived government of Frank Miller, serving as Provincial Secretary for Resources Development from February 8 to March 22, 1985, Minister of Skills Development from March 22 to May 17, 1985, and Minister of Community and Social Services from May 17 to June 26, 1985.

As Minister of Skills Development, Eves was also the minister responsible for Native Affairs.

In this capacity, he made history in 1985 by proclaiming Ontario as favouring native self-government.

In 1990, Eves backed Harris' bid for the party leadership.

He remained in opposition until 1995, when the Tories returned to power under Mike Harris, who appointed Eves as his Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance.

He left cabinet on the defeat of the Miller ministry in the legislature, and served as an opposition Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) until the Progressive Conservatives returned to power in 1995.

Eves is a long time close friend of fellow northern Ontario MPP Mike Harris.

In 1995, after being elected on the "Common Sense Revolution", a program of tax cuts and government cutbacks, Eves was appointed Harris' Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier.

In Finance, Eves supervised significant cuts to taxes and public spending, particularly in the field of social assistance.

Provincial income taxes were cut by 30% and welfare rates were reduced by 22%, resulting in 500,000 people being cut from the Ontario welfare rolls.

There were also cuts to education and health services.

The Harris government justified these measures as necessary to eliminate the provincial deficit.

After initially adopting a policy of restraint toward health care costs, Eves' later budgets increased health spending.

He eventually succeeded in balancing the budget early in the government's second term.

As Minister of Finance, Eves also oversaw two privatization initiatives: the long-term lease of the Bruce nuclear generating station to British Energy and the 99-year lease of Highway 407 to a consortium of mainly foreign investors.

Upon his retirement, Eves claimed that the impact of his 22% reduction in welfare rates "kept him up at night".

There have also been reports that Eves was conflicted about the risks of adding $22 billion to the provincial debt by cutting taxes before balancing the budget.

Some believe that Eves was responsible for restraining some of Harris' more radical initiatives during their time in office.

Despite the close friendship and similar backgrounds and beliefs of Harris and Eves, the two have very different public personae.

While Harris tried to be the embodiment of a grass-roots politician, Eves was just the opposite.

He was always meticulously well-turned-out in expensive suits, with court-filings revealing he spent $25,000 a year on clothing, $5,000 a year on jewelry and cufflinks and $700 a month on dry cleaning.

Family tragedy and marital problems led to his resignation from the legislature in 2001.

After a brief return to the private sector, Eves returned to politics when Harris resigned in 2002.

He won the party leadership and regained a seat in the legislature after winning a by-election in the central Ontario riding of Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey.

A Progressive Conservative, he took over the premiership upon Mike Harris's resignation as party leader, but the party was defeated in the 2003 election by the Liberals, under Dalton McGuinty.

Eves was born in Windsor, Ontario, to a working-class family.

He studied law at Osgoode Hall Law School and practised law in his own firm, Green & Eves.

His tenure as premier was short, as his party was defeated 16 months later in the 2003 election, which saw the PC party lose 35 of its 59 seats.

He resigned as leader in 2004 and retired from the legislature on January 31, 2005.

In 2007, Eves was appointed as Chairman of Jacob Securities Inc., a Toronto-based financial services company.

He served in that position until July 2012.