It’s not something you would expect from the man Mike Harris has named his heir — a Common Sense revolutionary whose devotion to the party’s neoconservative beliefs has earned him the keys to the former premier’s kingdom.

He’s backed by prominent Tories from that era, including John Baird and Tony Clement, who now sit at Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet table. He’s even married to Harris’s former chief of staff, Deb Hutton, with whom he has a 20-month-old daughter, Miller.

But the Niagara West-Glanbrook MPP’s true Blue Tory roots don’t run quite as deep as you’d think.

“My grandfather, by the way, was a strong CCF and NDP activist,” he says.

“My mom says when she was growing up, there was always an NDP sign on her lawn.”

Click here to read the full story.