Bill Davis - National Scene

National Scene

Davis had an awkward relationship with federal Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark. Clark and Davis held differing views over fuel prices, and the Davis government actively opposed Clark's 1979 austerity budget which included a gas tax. In the 1980 federal election, Davis's criticism of Clark's budget was used by the Liberal Party in official campaign documents and it played a role in the federal Tories' losses in Ontario; the swing in support enabled the Liberals to regain government.

Unlike most provincial premiers in Canada, Davis strongly supported Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's 1981 plans to patriate the Canadian Constitution from the United Kingdom and add to it a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Davis's role in the constitutional negotiations of 1981 were pivotal in achieving a compromise that resulted in the passage of the 1982 Constitution.

In 2003, while Davis played a role in the successful negotiations to merge the federal Progressive Conservatives with the Canadian Alliance to create the Conservative Party of Canada, Clark refused to endorse the newly merged party.