What accounts for Ontario Premier Ernie Eves bizarrely blurting out, as his defeat in the provincial election loomed last week, that Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty will say “whatever pops into his little, sharp, pointy head?” I don’t know about you, but I felt I was starting to learn more about Ernie Eves than I wanted to.

Dalton McGuinty said this was not the Ernie Eves he had seen in the past — and maybe not an Eves he wanted to know either. To me, it had the sound (I’m free-associating here) of a man experiencing some sort of sexual, gender or identity panic. That may show more than you want to know about me as well, so let me try to back it up.

The Mike Harris Tories, with Ernie Eves as the second in command, took power in Ontario in late June, 1995. Soon after, they faced an apparently undramatic occupation of Ipperwash Provincial Park by natives. It ended swiftly when provincial police shot to death an unarmed protester, Dudley George. Notes taken at high-level government meetings show there was direct involvement by the premier, and talk about wanting “to be seen as actioning,” a word you don’t hear a lot.

One gets the sense they were anxious not to appear as NDP-like wusses, whose liberal guilt could be manipulated by ineffective — nay, impotent — groups such as natives, feminists, gays, the disabled, etc.

They were tough, they were men. Their first legislative action, ahem, was slashing welfare from its previous, pittance levels. They picked fights with mild-mannered teachers from the start of their tenure to the bitter end, a week ago.

Let me add to this speculation testimony from The Globe‘s former Queen’s Park columnist, John Ibbitson, who clearly liked and supported the Harris team and its cause. In June of 2001, he described the key group as men who are “all tanned” and “in pretty good shape considering their age.” They “exude a self-confident, gregarious energy,” and seem “more alive than the harassed, Mittyish creatures most men have been reduced to by 50.”

(We may need some cultural infill here: Walter Mitty was a timid white-collar type created by writer James Thurber. He fantasized being an action hero. He was played by Danny Kaye in the movie. Danny Kaye was . . . )

Many Harris ministers left their first marriages, which “must have gradually come to seem part of a previous life,” a “half-life that came before, where report cards and blocked drains were the major priorities of the day.”

For me, that Ibbitson column had the ring of truth, though you will have to judge for yourself. And, to be sure, my interpretation differs. The Harrisites never reminded me of studly swashbucklers — more like a group of men who feared they might be Mittys themselves, and were desperate to prove they were not. They could go out together and ride mechanical bulls in a bar, but hey, they had just acquired power and prestige in “the big, bad city.” (Toronto!) The rest was history, till last Friday.

Now think about their reaction to Dalton McGuinty: a Mittyish fellow approaching 50, who looks like he has never contemplated leaving his first marriage (no guts, not even in his head) and glories in blocked drains and report cards. Their slogan in the ’99 election was Dalton McGuinty: not up to the job! (nudge, nudge) and this time round (wink, wink) still not up to job. How might they panic as this runt with the little, sharp, pointy head (symbol of eggheads and brainers back in school) plods nearer and nearer to their prize. Oh God, not him! Anyone but him!

Come to think of it, what other appendage of Dalton’s might be described in these guys’ internal chatter, as little, sharp and pointy? That’s why I see Ernie Eves’s outburst as the final act of Ontoryo macho, a scenario which began by setting police loose on unarmed protesters.

Who can resist thinking of Arnold in this context? In California, they got rid of the Gray guy this week and voted in the action star. Here, we got rid of action man (part of a set) in favour of gray Dalton. At least it shows we have a different political culture. What else does it show? Well, Americans have given up on politics as a way to do anything — after being browbeaten by fiscal conservatism, individualist ethics, free-market needs etc. — so politically, they’re left with trying to get a good show for their ballot. Why not choose an actor?

Here, there remain residual hopes of making a difference in hospitals, schools, air, water, so people vote for a guy who promises to do something and not just act tough. The best McGuinty ad by far was one in which he said, “I love this election because it’s about something.” In other words, it’s not about me, leadership or some other inane fiction. Beware, Dalton: Fiscal machismo (balance every budget plus pledge never to raise taxes) tends to lead to policy paralysis, and thence, inexorably, to the return of the next action hero.

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Rick Salutin

Rick Salutin is a Canadian novelist, playwright and critic. He is a strong advocate of left wing causes and writes a regular column in the Toronto Star.