41 Facts About Ernie Eves

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

Ernie Eves 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.

Ernie Eves 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.

Ernie Eves 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.

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

In 2007, Ernie Eves was appointed as Chairman of Jacob Securities Inc.

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

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

Ernie Eves 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.

Ernie 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ernie Eves 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.

Ernie Eves sported a slicked-back hair style that reinforced his image as a "slick" politician.

Ernie Eves began a relationship with a fellow cabinet colleague, Isabel Bassett, and he and his wife separated.

On February 8,2001 Ernie Eves decided to resign from his post of Finance Minister to seek opportunities in the private sector.

Ernie Eves became vice-chair of the investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston and senior partner at a prominent Toronto law firm.

Ernie Eves immediately became the front-runner and most PC MPPs and members of the party came to support him.

Ernie Eves staved off a determined run by his successor at Finance, Jim Flaherty, who pushed a hard-right agenda to appeal to the party's grassroots.

Flaherty's campaign featured scathing attacks on Ernie Eves, calling him a "serial waffler" and a "pale, pink imitation of Dalton McGuinty".

Ernie Eves became leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario on March 23,2002 despite not holding a seat at the time, following a second-ballot victory.

Ernie Eves was caught unaware when the Liberals broke that Mike Harris had arranged a secret tax break for professional sports teams on his last day in office.

Concerned about returning to the legislature, Ernie Eves' advisors hatched a plan that turned out to be a public relations disaster.

In September 2003, Ernie Eves called an election for October 2,2003.

Ernie Eves was visibly uncomfortable defending policy proposals that he had opposed a year earlier.

Ernie Eves was unable to make any headway in the leadership debate, appearing uncharacteristically restrained in the face of criticism from McGuinty, and was unable to revive support for his party in the final days of the campaign.

On October 2,2003, the Liberals won 72 of the 103 seats in the Legislature, and Ernie Eves' Tories won just 24.

Ernie Eves won his own seat by the largest margin of any PC candidate.

In early 2004, Ernie Eves announced his intention to resign prior to the fall 2004 legislative session.

Tory and Ernie Eves shared a number of attributes, both coming from the so-called Red Tory wing of the party.

Ernie Eves had been widely expected to resign his seat in the provincial legislature during the 2004 Christmas holidays in order to allow Tory an opportunity to enter the Ontario legislature through a by-election.

On January 31,2005, Ernie Eves resigned his seat in the provincial legislature.

For many years, Ernie Eves was known as the most prominent supporter of the federal Progressive Conservative Party in Mike Harris's government.

Ernie Eves had supported Joe Clark from the first ballot at the party's 1976 leadership convention, and continued to support the federal Tories in the 1990s despite the rise of the Reform Party as a rival right-wing force.

Ernie Eves endorsed Hugh Segal's bid for the leadership of the federal party in 1998.

Ernie Eves took out a membership in the Canadian Alliance in 2000 to support Tom Long's leadership bid, but rejoined the Tories after Stockwell Day was chosen as the Canadian Alliance leader.