Kitchener-Conestoga MPP says cabinet appointment 'still sinking in'

A Waterloo region MPP is calling his appointment to provincial cabinet a "momentous occasion" for himself and his family.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford named Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Mike Harris Jr. as Minister of Red Tape Reduction as part of a cabinet shuffle on Thursday.

"We are often very over-regulated, very overly-burdened, especially when it comes to regulations around business and industry here in the province," Harris said Friday in an interview with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo about what his new role means..

"My role will be to make sure that we're putting our best foot forward to help make sure that businesses, and really any entity in the province, is able to put its best foot forward and do the things it needs to do, without the government being in the way."

Harris was first elected as MPP in 2018. He's the son of former Ontario premier Mike Harris.

"It's a momentous occasion for myself and, of course, my family," Harris said of his appointment.

"My father was first elected in 1981, and actually became the minister of natural resources in 1985, which oddly enough was the year I was born," he said. "So for me, it's, it's pretty exciting. I'm over the moon. It's still sort of sinking in."

The provincial legislature is now on break until mid-October.

Harris said he'll be using that time to tour the province "and getting to see first-hand what folks, business owners, small business owners, all the way up to some of the biggest companies in the province are doing, and getting to meet them and hearing some of their their challenges, but also some of the good things that are happening."

He added, "That'll all sort of start to roll out over the next next few weeks and into the next couple of months."

LISTEN | MPP Mike Harris on being named a new cabinet minister: