Bill Davis: Nation Builder, and not so Bland After All

by Steve Paikin

2016 Ontario Historical Society Donald Grant Creighton Award — Winner
A National Post Bestseller, The Hill Times: Best Books of 2016, 2016 Speaker's Book Award — Shortlisted


The first authorized biography of Bill Davis, the enigmatic Ontario premier who carried on a Tory dynasty, but was also a crucial Trudeau supporter.


A biography of one of Ontario’s most important premiers, who, despite having been out of public life for more than thirty years, is remembered fondly by many as the father of the community college system, TVO, OISE, and was indispensable in repatriating the Canadian Constitution with an accompanying Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Before he became premier, Davis was perhaps the most important education minister in Ontario history, responsible for the creation of the community college system and TVOntario. As premier, he went on to lead Ontario through buoyant and recessionary economic times, leaving a legacy Ontarians continue to enjoy. Now 87, Davis still lives on Main Street in his beloved Brampton.

Genres: Biography, Politics, Canada, History, Nonfiction

584 pages, ebook

Published October 8, 2016

Reviews

[Aaron Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great profile of a politician built from the elk of days gone, from a political era that no longer seems to exist. Maybe one day we'll see another politician like Bill Davis who often put people before partisanship. I was a baby when Davis left politics and so I've yet to see a public figure who's garnered so much respect and admiration from everyone (across all political spectrums). I learned a lot from this book and recommend it to all political junkies. I wish that I lived in the era of Bill Davis and Ontario Inc.

[Julian Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bill Davis is a legend in Ontario provincial politics. Even though I was only 7 years old when he resigned as Premier of Ontario, his imprimatur is all over Toronto, down to the decals (signed by "William G. Davis, Premier") inside the old TTC subway cars that stated that the transit service was funded by a joint funding arrangement between the province and the City of Toronto. (Hah! Remember the days?) Davis represented an older, kinder style of politics in which holding elected office was commensurate with public service. Although the knives might have come out between partisans during Question Period in the provincial legislature, it was an era in which leaders of vastly different political stripes could, behind closed doors, set aside the grandstanding and actually compromise on public policy. Davis counted Stephen Lewis (leader of the New Democratic Party in the 1970's) and Bob Rae (NDP Premier of Ontario in the late 1980's, and subsequent Federal Liberal Party leader) among his closest colleagues, even though Davis himself was a Progressive Conservative. Speaking of conservatism -- Davis had his principles, but he was not a dogmatist: at one point in Paikin's book, he acknowledges that political parties are merely marketing labels. Conservatives sometimes act like socialists just as socialists sometimes act as conservatives. Or at least they used to.

Sadly, the flavor of politics practiced by Davis no longer exists. It is apparently no longer a virtue for politicians to be respected across party lines. Extreme partisanship and zero-sum-gameism is in what's in vogue today, fueled by 24x7 cable news and social media. As there is no going back in the technological innovation that has brought us to this point, there is also no changing the system, which unfortunately drives citizens who should be active participants in the system out of it. My wife points out that, had I been born in Davis's era, I would have likely become a journalist and then ended up in politics, because both journalism and politics were much different professions back then. But today, journalists are starving and politicians are reviled, and who would want to willingly enter into these fields knowing that they are inexorably dying? Instead, second place is taken by warm-hearted biographies like Paikin's, as many of us know that this is the world we would love to return to, but it's no longer possible.

Paikin's book is not without its flaws. Chief among them is that Paikin himself clearly worships Davis, which does not impact his clear-eyed analysis of both Davis's record so much as letting the book go on too long. Paikin does address Frank Miller's rapid ruination of the Tory dynasty in some detail, but not as much as expected, one suspects because he (Paikin) wants to move onto a heartwarming but largely fluffy chapter on Davis's family life that is as much about Paikin's own wide-eyed astonishment at being let into the inner Davis family circle for a day as anything journalistically enlightening. The day that Paikin was permitted to spend with the Davis clan might have been useful on background but should have ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor as it adds little to the overall picture of Davis as a leader that wasn't already covered earlier.

Despite this and a few other flaws along the same lines (too much detail), this is a solid biography of a "bland" but ultimately highly impactful leader.

[Martin Rollins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Few people are more knowledgeable in Ontario provincial politics than TVO The Agenda host and journalist Steve Paikin. Before this important work, literature on Premier William G. Davis has been pretty scant. The greatest Ontario Premier in the last forty-five years, in my opinion, has innumerable accomplishments: TVO, OISE, the entire Community College system, the founding of five or six universities, rights for tenants, full funding for Catholic high schools, and an absolutely crucial role in repatriating the Canadian Constitution, to name just a few. In addition to all the information on Davis, Paikin's work also nicely highlights the 'cast of characters' around 'The Premier': NDP leaders Stephen Lewis, Michael Cassidy and Bob Rae, Liberal leaders Bob Nixon, Stuart Smith and David Peterson, and important PC cabinet ministers and operatives like Allan Lawrence, Darcy McKeough, Dennis Timbrell, John Tory, Hugh Segal and Eddie Goodman. In our day and age when politicians routinely rip each others' faces off, Davis makes us nostalgic for a better time. He was a tremendous listener, consensus builder, and worked very respectfully and collaboratively with other party leaders. Orator par excellence Stephen Lewis apparently noted that Bill Davis proved to him that not all Conservatives are evil!
Paikin also does a very good job emphasizing the human side of Bill Davis. The man from Brampton could have very understandably 'pulled the plug' on political life following the untimely death of his young wife in the 1960's. But he carried on, and shaped the province and the country in a way that perhaps very few or no one ever has. Now in his late eighties, Premier Davis still is very active and influential in politics. Today's political 'movers and shakers' listen to him and covet his advice. I highly recommend Bill Davis: Nation Builder, And Not So Bland After All. An excellent read for both political junkies and novices. Hopefully this won't be Steve Paikin's last biography on a Premier of Ontario.

[Mark Creedon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography illuminates why Bill Davis was the longest serving Premier of Ontario in the 20th Century. It does more; Steve Paikin reveals why Mr. Davis could disagree with his Liberal and NDP opponents while still showing them respect and receiving their respect in return. Mr. Davis is revealed as a nation builder and an ally of Pierre Elliot Trudeau despite having many opposing political positions.

The reader will also learn of the family and friends of this shy and modest leader.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read on one of Ontario's Premier Bill Davis, who in many ways shaped the Ontario we live in, from the creation of TV Ontario, the Ontario community college system, to killing the Spadina Expressway. Bill Davis was a political giant respected from leaders of all parties. That Bill Davis died while I was in the middle of reading this book added a certain poignancy.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bill Davis, premier of Ontario from 1971-85, is a major Canadian political figure. Paikin likes the subject of the book very much it seems, but in this biography he does take Davis to task over certain issues (much of which seems like ancient history now). Lots of "inside baseball" but for those of us who lived through those times there are many familiar names. Davis is portrayed as an amiable pipe-smoking chairman of the board type, but the man nicknamed Brampton Billy was formidable in office as well. So formidable that his name was floated as a potential federal leadership candidate in 1983. (the year Brian Mulroney won the crown over Joe Clark).

Even those of us who remember those times will skip over a lot of pages, Paikin is quite the policy wonk. Many snarky asides about Stephen Harper and journalist Claire Hoy don't add anything either. Paikin openly longs for the days of "progressive conservativism", which faded from the scene because "Liberal lite" won't win elections. Still, the history and various tidbits are worth the effort, this biography is well done.

[Alex Ripley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultimately an enjoyable read about a great Ontarian. However, would benefit from some judicious editing. There is probably 150-200 pgs of extraneous detail that isn’t really material to the story of Davis’s life.

[Wesley Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great biography on one of the titans of Ontario Political History. It so happens that Mr Davis died while I was reading this book which added some impact to the book. It made me nostalgic for a time I never experienced. I wish there were more fundamentally decent people in politics now.

[Cliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read. Still probably the best Premier Ontario has ever had!!

[Charles Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ontario's architect

I've read many biographies on Canadian politicians, including Hoy's on Davis. This one stands out as giving a true window into the Ontario of the 60s, 70s and 80s. An era that seems complete different from todays. Glad Paikin took time to document one of the best (or the best Premier of Ontario). Far from being bland, he added colour to Ontario and Canada's destiny.