Though not as popular as the CSR, the Blueprint was part of a successful re-election campaign, allowing Harris to win another majority government. Harris resigned as premier in 2002, and was succeeded by Ernie Eves. Through a variety of factors, including dissatisfaction with the effects of the government's platform policies, deterioration of municipal services after downloading, the Walkerton Tragedy during the CSR, and Eves' handling of the Northeast Blackout, the Progressive Conservatives were defeated in the 2003 provincial election by Dalton McGuinty and the Ontario Liberal Party. Legacy Municipal amalgamation led to a reduction in the number of municipalities in Ontario from 850 to 443 and the number of elected municipal officials by 23%, but resulted in an increase in the number of municipal employees by 39% from 1996 to 2011. Per thousand residents, there were 15.8 municipal employees in 1990 and 20.9 in 2010. Part of this resulted from an increase in services by the larger municipalities, or replacement of volunteer staff with full-time staff such as for firefighting services. Other contributing factors were the downloading of services from provincial jurisdiction to municipalities, such as social assistance, public housing and public health. The remaining increase resulted from wage increases associated with amalgamation and an increase in administrative employment, such as hiring more clerks and treasurers. Amalgamated municipalities increased employees at twice the rate of those that were not restructured. References External links Canadian Journal of Regional Science - "Amalgamations, Service Realignment, and Property Taxes: Did the Harris Government Have a Plan for Ontario's Municipalities?" http://www.madriverpublishing.ca - The Common (Non)Sense Revolution: The Decline of Progress and Democracy in Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario Canadian political phrases Conservatism in Canada Political history of Ontario Party platforms