He’s the elder statesman of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives — but he could probably still win an election if he were to come out of retirement.
That’s not Bill Davis’ style any more — but the former Ontario premier is happy to criss-cross the province and appear on behalf of PC candidates.
Davis was in the Markdale area on Sunday to endorse Bill Walker as the party’s candidate in Bruce Grey Owen Sound for the October 6th provincial election.
Davis tells Bayshore Broadcasting News he’s confident Walker is the person who will keep the riding Tory Blue following the retirement of MPP Bill Murdoch.
The 82 year old Davis — who was premier from 1971 to 1985 — got in a friendly dig at Murdoch and another local firebrand, Eddie Sargent — joking that he hopes Walker will continue the local tradition being “quiet, unassuming, non-controversial.”
Davis then joked that, at his age — having largely been out of the public eye for 26 years — he “should have more sense” than to be out campaigning.
But Davis says it’s fun to go to appearances and meet new people while getting acquainted with old friends, and so he intends to appear in four other ridings.
He spent some time on Sunday saying hello to the son and daughter of the late Eric Winkler — a Hanover politician who served municipally, federally and provincially and was a member of Davis’ cabinet from 1971 to 1975.
And the man who piloted the Big Blue Machine through 14 years as the premier following nine years as Ontario’s Minister of Education takes issue with the notion that Ontario has in recent years become a “have-not province.”
Davis says Ontario is still the economic engine that drives Canada, and its possibilities for opportunity, along with its health and education systems, will keep it in that position.
Clayton Conlan — Walker’s campaign manager — says it was easy to decide to bring Davis to Bruce Grey Owen Sound given that he still commands so much admiration and respect from all Conservatives.
Conlan says he was thrilled to make contact with the former premier and realize that Davis was not only willing to visit the riding, he was eager to do so.
Davis got two standing ovations from the 100 or so people in the partisan crowd — charming them with humour and the fact that he unassumingly drove himself to the Markdale area with absolutely no entourage.
