KITCHENER - Of all the Waterloo Region candidates trying to win in the June 7 election, only one has a former prime minister, Ontario premier and federal cabinet minister stumping for him.

Mike Harris Jr., the Progressive Conservative candidate in Kitchener-Conestoga, has the help of some of the country's biggest conservatives in his bid to get to Queen's Park in the upcoming provincial election.

That includes former prime minister Stephen Harper, the star attraction at a $1,222-a-head Toronto fundraiser for the candidate that was hosted by his father and former premier, Mike Harris.

When the 33-year-old political newcomer announced his surprise entry into politics in March, former cabinet John Baird was there to endorse him, too.

While Mike Harris Jr.'s connections are notable, that hasn't stopped the questions about why he was hand-picked for the job by PC leader Doug Ford.

After struggling through high school, he ran a failed frozen yogurt business in Waterloo, worked at a blue jean store and Bass Pro Shop, and sold security software for Route1, a tech company chaired by his father.

Despite his famous father, Mike Harris has his own reasons for wanting to get into politics. After volunteering on campaigns in his hometown of North Bay, where he lived until moving to Waterloo five years ago, he said he felt it was his time to run for public office.

"I really want people to just give me a fair chance," he said. "I started thinking, 'now is the time. Maybe I could come here and make a real difference.'"

Mike Harris became the PC candidate in Kitchener-Conestoga in controversial fashion back in April - appointed by Ford after MPP Michael Harris was dismissed over a BlackBerry Messenger conversation from 2012.

The MPP was dismissed the day after Mike Harris Jr. lost the nomination to be the PC candidate in Waterloo.

Ford's campaign chair Dean French found a transcript of that six-year-old conversation between the MPP and a former party intern, alleging it was inappropriate. The Ford campaign wanted to find a seat for Mike Harris Jr., whose father's fundraising efforts were critical for a party that was nearly broke after an expensive leadership campaign.

It was later revealed the BlackBerry Messenger conversation took place before MPP Michael Harris was married and appeared to be limited to some flirty texts between two consenting adults.

But the new candidate insists he wasn't connected in any way with the efforts to oust the MPP.

"My father and I had absolutely nothing to do with what happened to Michael Harris. I don't think anybody knows the truth as to what happened," he said. "Whether it affects the outcome of this election, I'd like to say I hope not. I hope voters can see me for who I am."

In person and at the door, Mike Harris is an approachable, personable candidate who appears more than comfortable in the public eye.

But how he'll go over with the riding's social conservatives is unknown. As recently as last November, Mike Harris - a father of five with his longtime partner - had a profile on the dating app Bumble, where he wrote he was "looking for someone witty, and fun that shares the same interests and likes good conversation."

Mike Harris cropped his common-law wife Kim Van Veen out of the photo he used to create his profile. But he says he was only on the dating site as a joke, as part of a drinking game with some friends.

"It basically turned into a party game. If you had a match with someone, you had to have a drink, or something along those lines," he said. "It was never meant to be anything other than that."

The candidate was engaged to Van Veen about four years ago, but the pair have never married, according to interviews with family friends.

"We're in a committed relationship, and for all intents and purposes, she's my wife," he said.

Before a path was cleared for him in Kitchener-Conestoga, efforts were made to hand Mike Harris the nomination in Waterloo.

Dan Weber, the candidate who ultimately beat Mike Harris in the Waterloo nomination, was asked to step aside in exchange for a potential job if the PCs would form the government.

Weber, who declined to comment for this story, turned down the offer. Harris says he has no knowledge of any offer made to his rival.

It wasn't the first time Mike Harris' campaign tried to find a shortcut to the nomination.

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In March, the president of the Waterloo riding association raised concerns that Mike Harris was emailing local members asking for their support in the upcoming nomination - a privacy concern since nominees aren't supposed to have access to membership lists until the nomination period begins.

Since it was determined that membership lists could have come from multiple sources, the party ultimately did nothing about it. Harris says his campaign did nothing wrong.

"It's a non-issue. As soon as concerns were raised, we didn't send any more emails out," he said.

As election day has drawn closer, the campaign to stop Mike Harris has gotten dirty. Someone grabbed since-deleted posts from his social media accounts and has been circulating them around the riding.

Some of the posts including a video of the candidate shotgunning a beer while calling a friend a "pussy" as his children play nearby, drinking in a leopard thong or boasting that he's secretly watching sports while pretending to work.

Harris said the posts are old and being circulated by someone trying to hurt him politically.

"I'm not surprised. People are desperate and are looking for a way to advance their own agenda," he said. "I've been nothing but cordial to other candidates, and I've been nothing but cordial to other people who have said negative things about me... I think people see that I'm a genuinely good guy, and I'm not about mudslinging."

Ford defended the Mike Harris appointment by saying he was just acting on the recommendation of the party's provincial nominations committee. That claim was disputed by Tory MPP Toby Barrett, who said his committee neither recommended the dismissal of MPP Michael Harris, or that he be replaced by Mike Harris.

Those decisions came straight from the top, he said.

Harris, meanwhile, said he hopes voters form their opinions about him based on his own merits, not because of who his father is.

"You either like my dad or you don't like my dad. The people that do think it's fantastic, and are very supportive.. but of course there's people who don't like him," he said.

"A lot of the things he did were 20 years ago. Times were very different then."

gmercer@therecord.com, Twitter: @MercerRecord

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