{"id":263219,"date":"2012-06-01T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/issues\/the-man-from-brampton-decency-and-clarity\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T20:37:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T00:37:06","slug":"the-man-from-brampton-decency-and-clarity","status":"publish","type":"issues","link":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2012\/06\/the-man-from-brampton-decency-and-clarity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Man from Brampton: Decency and clarity"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was and is a particular sensibility to the Brampton and Peel County roots that spawned the political persona of William Grenville Davis.\u00a0It was a DNA that mixed modesty with decency, noblesse oblige with humanity, and courage with tolerance. Incrementalism did not mean fear of change. Open-mindedness did not mean lack of principle. It was all in the nuances and judgments that shaped the core balance of his government and party.<\/p>\n

A clear sense of direction did not obviate or dismiss the importance of embracing dissent or contrary views. Embracing dissent and contrary views was how Bill Davis’ Progressive Conservatism could grow and prosper as a legitimate servant of Ontario’s interests at home and abroad. Self-effacing humour conveyed a healthy discomfort with the usual self-reverence that frequently afflicts those in the political class. Unlike others who served in his era and since at various levels of government, he was not the kind of person who, if he had a mirror on his desk, would never go lunch. And it was in that spirit that Davis and his government set about \u201ckeeping the promise of Ontario,\u201d as his slogan in the 1981 majority election campaign sought a mandate to do. For Bill Davis, it was always about the Progressive Conservative Party and the government he led being competent and faithful instruments and serving the public interest. The civil service was not the enemy; it was the professional part of the balance, vital for competent program design, fiscal coherence and effective service delivery. The civil service was nonpartisan; the Davis Tory partisans were not anti-public sector. Bill Davis’ Toryism was a conservatism that engaged the private and public sectors as partners in building tomorrow’s Ontario, as well as the unions, chambers of commerce and trade associations, which had every right to try to improve public policy.<\/p>\n

His four terms in government, from 1971 to 1985, took in ebbs and flows, small and large victories. But even his most ardent and articulate critics, like Stephen Lewis, could not dislike him.<\/p>\n

His agenda was one of taking steady and unrelenting steps forward to sustain the balance at the core of Ontario’s economic machine. Growth, social justice, expanded education, fair taxes, strong defence of Canada \u2014 as in the national interest \u2014 whoever might have been in power in Ottawa, were key.<\/p>\n

What were the tactical components of that balance?<\/p>\n