Early Political Career
He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1959 provincial election, for the southern Ontario constituency of Peel. He was only 29 years old. Although Peel was an extremely safe Conservative seat for most of its history, Davis won by a surprisingly narrow 1,203 votes. The election took place soon after the federal Progressive Conservative government of John Diefenbaker cancelled the Avro Arrow program. Most of the 14,000 Canadians put out of work by this decision were residents of Peel, and many cast protest ballots against Diefenbaker by supporting Bill Brydon, the provincial Liberal candidate. Davis served for two years as a backbench supporter of Leslie Frost's government. When Frost announced his retirement in 1961, Davis became the chief organizer of Robert Macaulay's campaign to succeed him as premier and party leader. Macaulay was eliminated on the next-to-last ballot, and, with Davis, delivered crucial support for John Robarts to defeat Kelso Roberts on the final vote.
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