It is truly a privilege to say a few words of tribute to Premier William Grenville Davis’s—better known as Brampton Bill’s—remarkable life and contributions.

The 18th Premier of Ontario began his political career when he was elected to the Legislative Assembly as the MPP for Peel in 1959, a seat he held through seven elections until his retirement.

In 1962, he became the Minister of Education, and the budget for education increased fivefold. In 1971, he won the leadership of his party and remained the Premier of Ontario for 14 years. The amazing thing is six of those were in a minority government. Think about that. How often have we seen that happen? That’s skill; that’s real skill.

Under his leadership, the effects of the baby boom, immigration and a desire for more accessible education, he championed the construction of hundreds of schools, the creation of the community college system and the establishment of post-secondary institutions. He understood that the way to grow our economy was to have the smartest workforce, everybody operating at their best. He also built things like our GO Transit system.

He was a nation builder, so he strongly supported Prime Minister Trudeau’s 1981 plans to patriate the Constitution of Canada, and his role in the constitutional negotiations of 1981 was pivotal, resulting in the passage of the Constitution Act, 1982.

My personal memories of Bill Davis are in two parts.

He was first elected in the month I was born, in 1959. Now, I don’t really remember those first few months well, but what I do know is that he was Premier when I was growing up, when I was going to school, when I became a young father. So the things that he worked to put in place were some of the things that helped me succeed. And the impression, even as a young father, I had of Bill Davis—although you may or may not believe it, I wasn’t super political at the time; I don’t know what happened. But my impression was: He was a father; he was a husband; he was about family. He was kind of like Premier Dad.

It wasn’t until years later that I got to know his legacy and the things he did and accomplished to build up this province: the rapid expansion of our economy and the things that families depended on, like schools and health care; recognizing diversity in Ontario; taking care of the environment. He was ahead of his time.

Politically, he was a centrist—pragmatic, thoughtful, skillful—and those qualities helped him negotiate through six years of minority government. That is incredible, I repeat.

I can remember my father Jack, who was a Liberal like I am, saying to me, “I think Bill Davis would make a great Prime Minister.” Now, I’m not sure. Maybe at the time saying my dad was a Bill Davis Liberal would have been acceptable to Premier Davis—maybe not after. But what I want to say is the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree. I think the same thing. We need to recognize the qualities of leadership in everyone, apart from our party differences. And his service, his approach is something that I think I would like to try to emulate in politics. It’s a good example to follow.

I asked a few people who I know who were former Premiers, as I am lucky to know a couple of them, to give me something to say about Premier Bill Davis. Here’s what Kathleen said—Kathleen Wynne, Premier Kathleen Wynne, I should say: “He was the 18th person to sit in the Premier’s Chair. I was the 25th. He, a truly Progressive Conservative; I, a Liberal. Premier Davis was kind to me. He understood the job I was doing. He never let me forget that he thought my partisan choice was misguided, but party stripe never coloured our conversations.”

Here’s what Premier Dalton McGuinty shared with me just last week: “It’s no exaggeration to say that Bill Davis set a very high standard for Canadian Premiers.

“I was just one of the many who was inspired by him. I was impressed by Premier Davis’s longevity as Ontario’s leader, but I was even more impressed by the quality of his leadership, his integrity, his courage, his commitment, his goodwill and, of course, his good humour. While serving as Premier, I learned that while Bill Davis may have then been retired, he was never retiring. Like many others, I was the occasional subject of his partisan ribbing. But try as he might, Premier Davis could never hide the truth: Deep down, he was inspired by love—love of family, love of community, love of country.”

Regardless of our political leaning, we would all do well to allow ourselves to be inspired by Bill Davis, a man honourable by name, a man honourable by inclination. And to Kathleen and all the family here today and all of Premier Davis’s friends and colleagues, I just want to say thank you to all of you for sharing him with us and for supporting him in doing the work that he did to make Ontario a place to grow and a place to learn.