It’s one of the most exclusive clubs in the province, and, yet, until not too long ago, once its members had vacated the stage, they were often out of sight and out of mind.
I’m referring to the 26 people who have been able to call themselves “premier of Ontario.”
In 2007, Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government created the Premiers’ Gravesites Program. It thus became the responsibility of the Ontario Heritage Trust to put a bronze plaque and an Ontario flag beside the final resting places of every deceased first minister.
This week, it was Bill Davis’s turn.
Bill Davis’s oldest daughter, Nancy Bennett, spoke at the ceremony. (Steve Paikin)
Davis, who was the second-longest-serving premier ever (1971-85) died on August 8, 2021, at the age of 92, having lived longer than any other Ontario premier in history. The OHT held a ceremony this past Tuesday to unveil Davis’s gravesite plaque at the Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives in Brampton.
The location had special significance for the Davis family. The former premier’s father, A. Grenville Davis, was a Crown attorney in the former county of Peel for more than three decades. PAMA is located in the former Brampton courthouse where the senior Davis prosecuted so many cases. The plaque to his son has been permanently installed at the Brampton Cemetery, where some of Premier Davis’s cremated remains lie. (The remainder of his ashes are at his favorite place on Earth — his family’s cottage near Honey Harbour in Georgian Bay.)
Left: Brampton mayor Patrick Brown, former premier Mike Harris, and Bill Davis’s oldest child, Neil. Right: Patrick Brown and Mike Harris. (Steve Paikin)
Left: Kathleen Davis, Brampton mayor Patrick Brown, and Ontario Heritage Trust chair John Ecker look at the plaque. Right: Kate Davis and Matt Jeffries with their son, William, Bill Davis’s fourth great-grandchild. (Steve Paikin)
Davis is the 19th premier whose final resting place has received a plaque. Two of Davis’s caucus members, both of whom went on to become premiers, attended the ceremony. Mike Harris (Ontario’s 22nd premier) and Ernie Eves (the 23rd) both ran and won as “Davis Conservatives” in 1981. (And, yes, both had to hear the obligatory jokes about their getting their own plaques and flags — “But hopefully not for many, many years.”) Harris is 79 years old; Eves will turn 78 in less than two weeks.
Also in attendance was Brampton mayor Patrick Brown, who it’s not an exaggeration to say practically worshipped Davis. At a time when Brown’s political life was in turmoil, Davis supported him and publicly backed him for mayor.
Left: Kathleen Davis , former premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves, Brampton mayor Patrick Brown, and OHT chair John Ecker. Right: Neil Davis with Ernie Eves and Mike Harris. (Steve Paikin)
“I adored former Premier Davis as a friend, a mentor and a great public servant,” Brown wrote on his Facebook page. “I firmly believe he was the greatest Premier in Canadian history. His legacy with equal rights, environmental protection, progressive labour laws, education investments and the Charter is extraordinary.”
Having written a nearly 600-page book on Davis, I was asked by the OHT to say a few words at the ceremony. Rather than recite the usual biographical bullet points, I instead read from a letter I’d just received from Elisabeth Rees-Johnstone, executive director of continuing & professional learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, which Davis created as minister of education in the 1960s.
(From left to right ) Bill Davis’s youngest son, Ian, with his wife, Kathleen; his youngest daughter, Meg; his oldest daughter, Nancy; his second-oldest daughter, Catherine; his and oldest son, Neil. (Steve Paikin)
The letter referred to a delegation from Saudi Arabia that visited Ontario a few years ago to see how our education system worked. Rees-Johnstone gave my biography of Davis to the delegation, since it was Davis who’d overseen so many educational advancements in Ontario, such as the creation of the college system, five new universities, OISE, TVO, and significant new funding for the Catholic and French school boards.
Bill Davis's plaque has been installed at the Brampton Cemetery,. (Dahlia Katz/Ontario Heritage Trust)
Rees-Johnstone then did a follow-up visit to Saudi Arabia last month. “They showed me their copy of the book and spoke about their aspiration to build a great education system like Bill Davis did,” she wrote me. “I must admit, I teared up a bit.”
More than half a century later, Ontario’s 18th premier is still making an impact. And now he has a flag and a plaque, too.
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