William Grenville Davis was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th Premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985 know all about him in this article s like his Family, Net Worth, Parents, Wife, Children and Cause of Death
| Bio | |
| Name | Bill Davis |
| Birthdate ( Age) | 30 July 1929 |
| Place of Birth | Toronto, Canada |
| Nationality | canadian |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Wife/Partner | Kathleen MacKay |
| Children | Neil, Nancy, Cathy, Ian, Meg |
| Parents | A. Grenville Davis |
| Profession | Former Premier of Ontario |
| Net Worth | $4 Million |
| Last Update | August 2021 |
William Grenville Davis was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th Premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the MPP for Peel in the 1959 provincial election where he was a backbencher in Leslie Frost’s government. Under John Robarts, he was minister of education. He succeeded Robarts as Premier of Ontario and held the position until resigning in 1985.
Bill Davis and Wife Kathleen MacKay
In a 2012 edition, the Institute for Research on Public Policy’s magazine, Policy Options, named Davis the second-best Canadian premier of the last forty years, beaten only by Peter Lougheed.
Early Life and Family
Davis was born in Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, the son of Vera (Hewetson) and Albert Grenville Davis.His father was a successful local lawyer.He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1951 and attended Osgoode Hall Law School. Davis was a football player during his university years, and his teammates included Roy McMurtry and Thomas Leonard Wells, both of whom would later serve in his cabinet.
Bill Davis Wife
He married twice, first to Helen MacPhee with whom he had four children (Neil, Nancy, Cathy, Ian), before marrying Kathleen MacKay (m. 1964).They had a single daughter, Meg, in 1965.
Bill Davis Net Worth
William Grenville Davis was a Canadian politician who has an estimated Net Worth of $4 million in 2021. The earnings listed mainly come from her salary and brand earnings .
Professional Career
Davis was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1959 provincial election, for the southern Ontario constituency of Peel. He was only 29 years old.Although Peel was an extremely safe Conservative seat for most of its history, Davis won by a narrow 1,203 votes.
The election took place soon after the federal Progressive Conservative government of John Diefenbaker had cancelled the Avro Arrow program. Davis was appointed to Robarts’ cabinet as Minister of Education on October 25, 1962, and was re-elected by a greatly increased margin in the 1963 provincial election.
Davis was given additional responsibilities as Ontario’s Minister of University Affairs on May 14, 1964, and held both portfolios until 1971. He soon developed a reputation as a strongly interventionist minister, and oversaw a dramatic increase in education expenditures throughout the 1960s
He established many new public schools, often in centralized locations to accommodate larger numbers of students. Davis also undertook dramatic and, at the time, controversial revisions of Ontario’s outdated and inefficient school board system.
He reduced the number of boards from 3,676 in 1962 (many boards had presided over a single school prior to Davis’s reforms) to only 192 by 1967.
Davis’s handling of the education portfolio made him a high-profile minister, and there was little surprise when he entered the leadership contest to succeed Robarts in 1971. He was quickly dubbed as the frontrunner, though his awkward speaking style and image as an “establishment” candidate hindered his campaign.
He defeated rival candidate Allan Lawrence by only 44 votes on the final ballot, after receiving support from third-place candidate Darcy McKeough. Shortly after the convention, Davis invited Lawrence’s campaign team to join his inner circle of advisors. This group became known as the Big Blue Machine, and remained the dominant organizational force in the Progressive Conservative Party until the 1980s.
In recent years Davis has returned to an honoured position within the party. He was a keynote speaker at the 2004 Progressive Conservative leadership convention, and was singled out for praise in speeches by outgoing party leader Ernie Eves and new leader John Tory. Davis was also present for Tory’s first session in the Ontario legislature, following the latter’s victory in a 2005 by-election.
In 2014, Davis endorsed Christine Elliott in her second campaign to become leader of the Ontario PC Party, but she finished as runner-up to Patrick Brown.In the 2014 municipal elections across Ontario and particularly the Greater Toronto Area, Davis endorsed the ultimately successful mayoral bids of John Tory (Toronto) and Linda Jeffrey (Brampton).
In 2018, Davis endorsed Patrick Brown in his ultimately successful campaign against incumbent Linda Jeffrey to become mayor of Brampton.Throughout his political career, Davis often remarked upon the lasting influence of his hometown of Brampton, Ontario. He was known, primarily by Bramptonians, as “Brampton Billy”.Davis died August 8, 2021, in Brampton.
