EVES, HARRIS APPOINTED TO ORDER OF ONTARIO AMID COVID CRITICISM

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

TORONTO — A couple of former premiers — including a one-time Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP — are among appointees to the Order of Ontario today.

Lt-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, chancellor of the Order of Canada, announced 47 appointees for 2019 and 2020 on Friday.

Among them are Ernie Eves and his predecessor Mike Harris, who represented the Nipissing riding to the north.

Both are Conservatives like the current Premier Doug Ford.

Eves briefly led the provincial government in 2002-03 after leaving the local riding and returning to politics.

The appointment of Harris, premier from 1995-2002, is being criticized by the NDP — and others online — as it comes amid the deadly COVID crisis that has devastated retirement and long-term care homes many of which have been accused of not adequately responding to the deadly pandemic .

Harris has been chair of Chartwell Retirement Residences since 2003, which has equally been hard hit.

Also appointed was former longtime Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion.

Ernie Eves was the former MPP in Parry Sound and Muskoka from 1981 to 2001.

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