Why did it take so long to restore order once protestors had taken over Ralph Lean's class at Ryerson?

In part, because former premier David Peterson urged Lean to let the students figure it out.

"Peterson advised me as we were waiting for security to let the students deal with it. And they did, by letting the protesters know this was their class and they wanted to hear the answers to the detailed questions they had researched."

While the insults hurled at Harris were profane and bellicose, at no time did any of the protestors approach Harris. His safety never appeared to be in jeopardy.

Once the protestors were, in fact, thrown out, the two former premiers got down to business and answered some good and difficult questions from the students.

Two things became abundantly clear: David Peterson still mourns the loss of his cherished Meech Lake Constitutional Accord. And Mike Harris still believes in his Common Sense Revolution. Here are some excerpts:

Mike Harris, on the Common Sense Revolution:

"The Common Sense Revolution was a campaign slogan. It was also a blueprint for governing. It was based on small c conservataive principles. I always felt the cruelest thing you can do is create dependency. Look at our northern reserve natives. No one can say the reserve system is working well. So we created workfare to create independence and break the cycle of welfare. It was based on the work ethic. Give people the right to break through."

David Peterson, on the U.S. System of Government vs. Ours:

"The president of the United States doesn't have to face the public of his opposition ever. Our system is messy. We sit across from each other in the legislature, two sword lengths apart. You can't stab each other, but you can argue with each other. Our first ministers have a lot of power but we have to stand up and be accountable for every pothole in the province. You've got to be up on everything. The opposition is there to make you look stupid and dishonest. There's high accountability in our system. It's messy, a little juvenile sometimes. But as we've seen, Ryerson isn't always civilized either."

Mike Harris, on selling Highway 407 to a private consortium:

"Four consortia bid on the highway. Afterwards, one of the losers came up to me and said it was the best, fairest process he'd ever been involved in. The sale put $3 billion into Ontario's coffers and led to our being able to avoid very heavy expenditures on the highway. My brother lives at the intersection of 407 and 401 in Georgetown. I was planning to meet him and suggested he take it. He said, no, I refuse to. I'm opposed to it. I said, fine, take the 401, allot another hour of time, it's your choice.

"I was approached by a French consortium to buy all the 400 series highways. I asked them, how can we be sure you'll put the necessary maintenance and expansion dollars into it? They said, 'When we own the highway and traffic is moving at 120 km/hr, we make money. When it moves at 60 km/hr, we make lilttle money. And when traffic is dead stopped, we don't make any money. So who's going to build the new lanes faster? Furthermore, when you've got health and education competing for tax dollars, highways will always lose. We'll build them, because we make money when cars move, and we don't when they don't." (Still, Harris turned thumbs down on the deal).

David Peterson, on whether the federal Liberals are dead:

"In 1984, Brian Mulroney won huge. Not only did the federal Liberals look dead (just 40 seats), but there were no provincial Liberal governments anywhere in Canada. There are four provincial Liberal governments today. So the Liberals aren't dead."

Mike Harris, on his cutting welfare rates by almost 22%:

"Our welfare rates were 50% higher than anywhere else in Canada. So if you were on welfare, you wanted to come to Ontario. There was such an imbalance, you were better off being on welfare than on minimum wage. You got free benefits too being on welfare (free drugs and dental coverage). There was very little incentive to get off welfare. We didn't cut the rates for the disabled. But we cut rates 22% for the rest. They were still 10-15% higher than the rest of Canada.

"I argued with priests and ministers. I said you're condemning too many people to a life of dependency. You have parishioners on welfare. Couldn't you give them something to do so they can feel good about themselves? Record numbers of people came off the welfare rolls. And there was no accountability in the system. Your cheque kept coming even if you were skiing in Whistler or playing golf in Florida."

David Peterson, on the Meech Lake Constitutional Accord:

"It was the most important constitutional debate in history. All Ontario politicians supported it. Mike Harris and Bob Rae supported it. It was an opportunity to make the country whole. There was lots of support in 1987, but it deteriorated. There were some elections in some provinces. And (Newfoundland's) Clyde Wells changed his vote. I made some concessions that appeared to save the day. That was my single most important day in politics. Before Meech failed, there was no Reform Party or Canadian Alliance in the West. There was no Bloc Quebecois. Then the country became totally polarized. And I blame one man: Clyde Wells. Through the sheer force of his own ego, he thought he'd put a knife through the heart of Brian Mulroney, but it went through the heart of Canada. 90% of the people who analyzed Meech agreed with it. It would have totally changed politics in Quebec."

Mike Harris, on the Walkerton water tragedy:

"Did cutbacks contribute to Walkerton? Not one whit. Walkerton was made worse by one thing: lab testing. (The NDP government) allowed municipalities to use private sector labs. You think they'd alert everyone when they got questionable readings. But they did not. They alerted the Koebel brothers (who ran the water treatment plant) and they told no one. Walkerton happened because two unqualified people working in the public sector lied and cheated. I doubt those two unqualified guys would have survived in the private sector. A private sector company would have fired them long before Walkerton took place. But they were protected by public sector unions."