The Hon. William Davis

This oral history features three extensive interviews with former Ontario Premier William G. Davis, conducted by the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History. Davis provides detailed insights into his personal background, early legal career, and his father’s role as a Crown Attorney in Peel County, which significantly influenced his understanding of the administration of justice. He discusses his education at the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School, his brief practice at Frank Richardson’s firm in Brampton, and his entry into provincial politics in 1959.

The interviews extensively cover Davis’s perspectives on the Attorney General’s role and the ministry’s functions during his tenure as Premier from 1971 to 1985. He discusses the qualities he sought when appointing Attorneys General, emphasizing legal competency, maturity, sensitivity to demographic changes, and the ability to communicate effectively in the Legislature. Davis provides detailed assessments of various Attorneys General who served under him, including Alan Lawrence, Dalton Bales, Robert Welch, John Clement, and Roy McMurtry, with particular focus on McMurtry’s long tenure and contributions.

Davis addresses significant legislative achievements during his premiership, including constitutional reform leading to patriation of the Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Family Law Reform Act, environmental legislation, separate school funding extension, French language services in courts, human rights legislation, and various administrative reforms. He discusses the separation of the Solicitor General from the Attorney General’s ministry in 1972, the establishment of common legal services across government ministries, and the implementation of the Committee on Government Productivity’s recommendations regarding policy secretariats.

This description was written by AI and may contain some inaccuracies.