Michael Donald Harris (born May 10, 1979) is a Canadian politician who has been a regional councillor for the

Regional Municipality of Waterloo The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Ontario, Cambridge, Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario, Waterl ...

since 2018. Harris was formerly a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP), and represented Kitchener—Conestoga from 2011 to 2018 as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party until April 9, 2018, when he sat as an independent. Harris is not related to Mike Harris Jr., who succeeded him as the PC MPP for the Kitchener—Conestoga, or former Ontario premier

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. Taking the PC ...

(who is the father of Mike Jr.).

Background

Harris was raised on a farm near

Mount Forest, Ontario Mount Forest is a community in Wellington County, Ontario, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the junction of Ontario Highway 6, Highway 6 and Ontario Highway 89, Highway 89 and is a part of the township (Canada), township of We ...

. He worked in the sales department at

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...

in Waterloo before being elected as MPP for Kitchener—Conestoga in 2011. He now lives in Kitchener with his family. On October 22, 2017, Harris graduated from the University of Guelph with a Master of Arts.

Political career

Provincial politics

In the 2007 provincial election, Harris ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of Kitchener—Conestoga. He was defeated by

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

Leeanna Pendergast Leeanna Pendergast (born ) is a former Canadian politician. She was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2007 to 2011, representing the riding of Kitchener—Conestoga. Background Pendergast was born in Kitchener, Ont ...

by about 1,500 votes. In the 2011 provincial election he ran against Pendergast again, this time defeating her by 3,700 votes. He was re-elected in the 2014 provincial election defeating Liberal candidate Wayne Wright by 1,794 votes. Harris was removed from the PC caucus in 2018, after a complaint from a former intern and the alleged discovery of text messages "of a sexual nature, which included a request for her to send him photos, an invitation for her to meet with him late at night and a reference to something that may have taken place in his office at Queen's Park." In response, Harris issued what he called an "unequivocal apology for the inappropriate texting conversation," which he said was brought to the party's attention "a number of years ago."

Municipal politics

On July 24, 2018, it was reported that Harris announced his candidacy for

Waterloo Regional Council The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumfrie ...

. He was elected on October 22, 2018.

References

External links

Michael Harris past MPP bio at Legislative Assembly of Ontario
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Michael 1979 births 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Living people Politicians from Kitchener, Ontario People from Wellington County, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs