Not only as a protest against
David Peterson, but also because of their election platform,
An Agenda for People, were
Bob Rae and the
Ontario NDP elected.
Many in the party, of which I was one, were never entirely sure where Bob's political sentiments actually fell, especially given his backround--a Rhodes Scholar--and family connections--his brother, John Rae, was, and is, a principle organizer for the current Canadian Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, and an employee of Power Corporation, one of the largest corporate entities in Canada.
Spending, in and of itself, is not necessarily the problem, but in support of whose goals, but I won't argue that point here. I will report that Bob's pragmatism, which led him, when facing the teeth of the then recession, to adopt tory policies, and moreover, to disown the party that had elected him--I was at the party convention where he declared himself the Premier of all Ontarians--has never been accepted for what it really was; it was reputed to be ideological, where Mike Harris' ideology has been reputed as pragmatic.
The line popular in the election that brought Mike Harris to power, and which was a difficult one for activists such as myself, was Better Rae Days, than Harris years--which is what we got, unfortunately.