Making the transition to governing
The seven-week period between the May 2, 1985 provincial election and the swearing-in on June 26 of the first Liberal government in over 42 years was packed with political hurdles.
From a timing point of view, most of the transition decisions came after the May 2nd election.
The focus was initially the negotiation of an Accord between the Liberals and the NDP, which would seal the Miller government’s defeat in a non-confidence vote June 18.
Simultaneously a Liberal transition team had to be created to advise Peterson and his key colleagues how the new government might be structured, recommend who could fill key political and public service advisory positions, and review legislative priorities.
The challenge was daunting for a group of politicians who had never served in government before – all crammed into seven hectic weeks with lots of overlaps between the two sectors. How could the new government demonstrate its readiness to the voters of Ontario to assume power seamlessly and effectively while delivering almost immediately on key campaign promises. How could a previously adversarial relationship between an Opposition party and the Ontario public service be transformed into a trusting, collaborative and productive relationship?
David Peterson turned to a trusted friend Martin Connell, a business leader and visionary philanthropist to guide the transition process, aided by among others, Rob Prichard (Dean of the University of Toronto law school) and Jean Augustine(community activist who was elected as a Liberal MP in 1993) . Chief Joe Miskokomon (of the Chippewas of the Thames), Diane Marleau, a regional Councillor in Sudbury who went on to become a federal Liberal MP and Minister and Ron Ianni who was President of the University of Windsor were also involved.
The team was supported by Vince Borg, (overseeing ministerial vetting) who had helped to recruit a number of the candidates and Gordon Ashworth(dealing with machinery of government and political staffing) applying his broad experience at the federal level.
Given the two-year framework of the Accord, we had to be ready to hit the ground of governing as fast as possible – that is why the swearing in followed shortly after the confidence vote.
There was of course a myriad of related political and policy decisions about publicly signalling our readiness to take office especially when the accord was in negotiation or just signed but before the confidence vote on June 18, 1985 . That also drove the legislative agenda
The best anecdote I can recall from this hectic period was our reaction to the Barrie Tornado on May 31, 1985 two days after the signing of the Liberal-NDP accord.
There were duelling visits later two days later by Premier Frank Miller and about to be Premier David Peterson. We of course had to charter a helicopter. Frank used the OPP. We took a helicopter to tour the site, landing at the same place at the Barrie racetrack and running into Frank and his OPP contingent. We started at Barrie race track and flew the route of the twister down into the Grand Valley. It looked like a bowling ball had rolled through the area – devastation down the centre with trees felled like matchsticks from our vantage point in the air and nothing affected on either side.
But by the reaction of the local folks – the leaders who met us and thanked us for coming while seeking government support – the signing of the Accord a couple of days earlier had already sunk in – for Peterson was treated as if he were already the Premier.
