KITCHENER — Regional councillor Michael Harris is hoping the "resignation" of Doug Ford's chief of staff, Dean French, will be a reset for the Ontario PC Party.

A year ago, Harris sat on the sidelines as his party marched to victory in the June election. The former Kitchener-Conestoga MPP had been tossed out of caucus in a controversial move, a decision he blames squarely on French.

When French parted ways with Ford last week after a patronage scandal — embarrassing the premier by trying to install his wife's cousin and his son's friend in six-figure overseas government postings — Harris was among conservatives celebrating.

"No surprise many people have become a victim of Dean French's reckless and vindictive behaviour. I'll never forget the threatening phone call I received from him over a year ago," he tweeted.

"Hopefully now PC MPPs will no longer work within the 'culture of fear KGB environment.'"

Harris says it was French who took a nearly six-year-old transcript of a BlackBerry Messenger conversation between Harris and a former party intern and blew it out of proportion.

Harris says French called him last April and berated him into stepping down. French could not be reached for comment.

The former MPP believes French, who was running Ford's election campaign at the time, was trying to clear a path in the riding for Mike Harris Jr., the son of one of Ford's biggest fundraisers.

Harris Jr. was ultimately appointed the candidate by Ford and won the election, replacing the MPP with the same name.

"Dean wanted me gone. It's as simple as that," he said, in an interview. "I was just in the way. I was just a pawn in his game ... There was nothing he wouldn't do to serve his agenda."

Harris, now a Region of Waterloo councillor, described French as "control freak" who stifled debate within the PC caucus. Harris believes he was punished because he was a vocal critic of the Ford campaign's wish to appoint candidates in certain ridings instead of letting the local riding association elect someone.

"He's beyond anything I've ever seen before in terms of his need to control everything," Harris said. "We used to have good debates when we went into caucus. We did that for years, and no one would be vindictive enough to try to remove someone because of a difference of opinion."

The former MPP, who opposed Ford's leadership campaign as the co-chair of Christine Elliott's bid, said he hopes with French gone the PC party can get back to the business of running the province.

"This is the best thing for our party, for our province, for democracy," he said. "We have to do better. We expected better. They way we were going, with the vindictiveness and unethical decisions being made behind the scenes, I hope we can reset and govern with integrity."

French, an Etobicoke businessperson with little previous political experience, was named chief of staff after helping Ford win last June. That move gave the close friend of the premier enormous power within Queen's Park — which critics say French tried to flex too often and too overtly.

His behaviour while chief of staff drew attention from the ethics commissioner and concern from inside and outside the party. Last week, two cabinet ministers personally appealed to Ford to fire him.

MPPs complained privately that French was hurting the party — while MPP Randy Hillier warned of a "culture of fear and intimidation" he'd created within caucus.

The NDP, meanwhile, said the premier is still ultimately calling the shots at Queen's Park, and French can't be used a scapegoat as the PC Party tries to regroup.

"The buck stops with Doug Ford. As long as he's plowing ahead with his callous cuts for families, backroom deals for friends and relentless bullying of anyone who disagrees with him, changing back room staff won't help the people of Ontario who are hurting under the Ford regime," MPP Marit Stiles said.

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Twitter: @MercerRecord

- Dean French parts ways with the PC re-election campaign

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