Michael Deane Harris OOnt ECO (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 from 1990 to 2002. Taking the PC Party to the right, he is noted for the "Common Sense Revolution", his government's program of fiscally conservative policies.

Born in Toronto, Harris grew up in North Bay and worked as a ski instructor and schoolteacher before becoming a school board trustee in 1974. In 1981, he became a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for the riding of Nipissing. He became leader of the Progressive Conservative Party in the 1990 leadership election. That same year, a provincial election was called in which Harris led the PCs to a modest boost in support, though they still remained in third place. However, five years later, he led the PCs to a strong majority government in the 1995 provincial election. He led the party to a second majority in 1999.

As party leader and premier, Harris shifted the historically centrist PC Party to the right by embracing the Common Sense Revolution, which emphasized lower taxes, deficit reduction, cuts to public spending, and privatization. His government reduced personal income taxes by 30 percent, privatized Highway 407, and privatized provincial water testing which was viewed as controversial especially after the Walkerton E. coli outbreak. He oversaw cuts to healthcare, infrastructure, and education spending, the last of which led to the 1997 Ontario teachers' strike, the largest teachers' strike in Ontario history. In 1999, Harris' government balanced the budget. In administrative policy, his government reduced the number of MPPs from 130 to 103 between 1995 and 1999, and oversaw the Amalgamation of Toronto. In his final years in office, his government introduced a tax credit for parents who send their children to private schools.

In 2002, Harris retired as premier and PC leader, and was succeeded by Ernie Eves in both capacities. After leaving office, Harris went into the private sector and became a fellow at the Fraser Institute, a conservative think tank.

Harris was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Hope Gooding (born Robinson) and Sidney Deane Harris. He grew up in North Bay, where his father operated the Wasi Falls Resort fishing camp. Harris attended Waterloo Lutheran University (now Wilfrid Laurier University) but left after a year.

At the age of 21, following his father's purchase of a ski hill, Harris moved for two years to Sainte-Adèle, Quebec, where he became a ski instructor. After the end of his first marriage, he enrolled at Laurentian University and North Bay Teacher's College where he received his teaching certificate. He was employed as an elementary school teacher at W. J. Fricker Public School in North Bay where he taught grade seven and eight mathematics for several years in a new open-concept class of 120 students. He continued in his previous occupation as a ski-instructor at Nipissing Ridge on weekends as well as working at his father's fishing camp during the summer season. He eventually left the teaching profession as the success of the ski resort escalated. After his father sold his ski-hill operation, Harris was hired to manage North Bay's Pinewood Golf Club.

Harris was elected to public office as a school board trustee in 1974. He entered provincial politics in the 1981 election, and defeated Mike Bolan, the incumbent Liberal MPP in Nipissing. Harris later suggested that he was motivated to enter politics by an opposition to the policies of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

Harris sat as a backbencher in Bill Davis's PC government from 1981 to 1985. He supported Frank Miller's successful bid to succeed Davis as party leader in 1985 and took the role of rival candidate Dennis Timbrell to prepare Miller for the party's all-candidate debates. Miller was sworn in as premier of Ontario on February 8, 1985, and appointed Harris as minister of natural resources.