The Ontario government outlined its vision for the next four years in the recent Throne Speech. There were no surprises: Mike Harris and his Ontario Tories are, if nothing else, consistent.

Four years ago the newly minted government's Throne Speech was a slimmed down version of the 1995 campaign document, the Common Sense Revolution (CSR). The latest offering is from the same mould, it is a slimmed down version of the 1999 campaign document, Blueprint.

What is different this time around is that the revolution has become the institution. For a bunch of folks who fashion themselves as "outsiders" taking on big, bad government, this is a tough pill to swallow. None- theless, it is true.

As much as Tory spin-doctors and vocal MPPs will try to convince you that they are still foisting revolutionary change upon the province, they're not. Some columnists have incorrectly portrayed this as a sign of timidity, weakness and lack of focus on the part of the government. This characterization is a tad too partisan. It is more correctly framed as a natural evolution.

After putting the province through four years of mostly necessary turmoil, Harris and crew can be forgiven for charting a more risk averse path.

Sure the Tories promised another 20% income tax cut for this mandate, but after a welcome 30% tax refund last time around, this is more of the same, not a bold new step. Ditto for their promise to cut the provincial education portion of a residential property tax bill (say that three times fast) by 20%. After botching up the who-does-what transfer of services and responsibilities from the province to the municipalities in their first mandate, this cut is more of a 'mea culpa' than a new assault on the perverse realm of taxation known as property tax.

On other fronts that were once controversial, such as workfare, law and order and educational reform, the government is giving us more of the same. Even teacher testing is not as revolutionary as the teachers unions make it out to be. In living rooms and kitchen tables across Ontario, taxpayers, for the most part are nodding in agreement and quietly mumbling, "yeah that makes sense."

Then there are encouraging commitments like balanced budgets, taxpayer protection laws, and smart cards to stem welfare and OHIP fraud and abuse. But again, this is not revolutionary. Balanced budgets and taxpayer protection were promised in 1995, so the Tories are engaging in housekeeping more or less. And smart card promises have been around since the late 1980s and were floated by former Premiers Peterson and Rae.

Make no mistake about it, this government has grown accustomed to power and now exercises considerable caution in all of its policy pronouncements. Their commitment to launch an investigative review of gas prices is a case in point. Despite overwhelming evidence that the "gas-price collusion conspiracy theory" is nothing but conjecture, the government has sold out for the populist appeal of this measure instead of attacking the real problem, high federal and provincial gas taxes.

Also gone from the aggressive common sense agenda is any talk of privatization of the LCBO, TV Ontario or other provincial agencies. Indeed, even the timid alternate service delivery measures at Parks Ontario or the Ontario Realty Corporation have lacked political leadership and have in turn, been botched by the bureaucracy.

There is still much to cheer for in the Tories "institutional" agenda, just don't confuse it for a radical, revolutionary rethink of government, that was 1995, it's now 1999.