The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - How Antisemitism Ended a 42-year Tory Dynasty

Episode Date: February 22, 2025

From George Drew in 1943 to Leslie Frost in the 50s then onto John Robarts and finally Bill Davis, the Progressive Conservatives had quite the run in Ontario spending more than four decades in power. But, it would all come unraveled in 1985 after Premier Bill Davis announced his resignation. In episode four of Ontario Chronicle Steve Paikin tells the story of the raucous 1985 PC leadership convention. It involved plenty of strategic backstabbing, chicanery, and "just a little bit of antisemitism" and would ultimately lead to the end of the Tory dynasty. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Renew your 2.0 TVO with more thought-provoking documentaries, insightful current affairs coverage, and fun programs and learning experiences for kids. Regular contributions from people like you help us make a difference in the lives of Ontarians of all ages. Visit tvo.me slash 2025 donate to renew your support or make a first-time donation and continue to discover your 2-point TBO. This time on Ontario Chronicle, I want to tell you a story that involves some chicanery, some strategic backstabbing, and maybe just a little bit of anti-Semitism, which resulted in the end of the 42 year long Tory dynasty in Ontario. I want to start by taking you back to Thanksgiving 1984.

I want to start by taking you back to Thanksgiving 1984. Bill Davis has been Premier of Ontario for more than 13 years. And one of the things that he always did every Thanksgiving was to gather his family at his cottage on Georgian Bay near Honey Harbor. But this year, Thanksgiving was going to be different. He had everybody assembled at the dining room table and he said, I kind of have an important announcement I want to

share with everybody here. And he shocked everybody by saying, I'm announcing that I'm going to be stepping down as Premier of Ontario. And so the Tories were off to a leadership convention called for January of 1985. Four contenders decided to line up in order to assume Bill Davis' mantle and become the successor Premier in the province of Ontario. Frank Miller, former Treasurer, former Health Minister, former Industry Minister, on the right-hand side of the PC party, small-c conservative. Larry Grossman, also former treasurer,

former health minister, former industry minister. Downtown Toronto MPP, yes, there was a time when Tories won seats in downtown Toronto. Dennis Timbrell, longest serving health minister in 50 years, agriculture minister as well, represented Don Mills in North Toronto. And finally, Roy McMurtry, Midtown Toronto MPP, long serving attorney general for the province of Ontario.

Four strong, solid contenders. And Bill Davis said to all of them, remember guys, we're in government now. You can't be out there bad mouthing each other in order to win this campaign. And it's gonna be a nice civilized convention. Now remember, these are the good old days. What do I mean by that?

This was a good old fashioned delegated convention. Arm twisting, in between ballots, you never knew where people were going to go. Candidates who dropped off the ballot had to make important decisions about who to support and who to ignore. Anyway, you had all of that strategic fun happening on the day. Okay, it's convention day, January, 1985. The delegates vote, the vote is counted,

and the first ballot results look like this. Frank Miller in first, Dennis Timbrel in second, Larry Grossman in third, Roy McMurtry in fourth and last. By rule, he drops off. Here's where the strategic backstabbing comes in. The Miller people understood the delegate counts very, very well. And so, for that second ballot,

they decided to loan some of their delegate support to Larry Grossman in the hopes that Grossman would pass Timbrel on the second ballot, setting up a Frank Miller Larry Grossman third ballot. Why did the Miller people want that? Miller well understood that a Miller-Timbrel final ballot might be hard to win, but he thought he would have a better chance of defeating Larry Grossman because Grossman was Jewish. This is 1985. There are still parts of the province of Ontario,

particularly in Tory pockets, where having the last name Grossman would not be an asset. We go to the second ballot and here come the results. Frank Miller in first, Larry Grossman in second. He vaults ahead of Dennis Timbrel, who's now in third, and he has to drop out. What's the difference between second and third? Six votes.

It sets up a third ballot between Frank Miller and Larry Grossman, and Miller wins it by 77 votes. Close, very close. It always confounded Dennis Timbrel how he somehow went from second to third on the second ballot, despite the fact that he had strong support, but he couldn't put his finger on how it happened until a couple of years after the fact. One day, Dennis Timbrel got a phone call. The person on the phone said, Dennis, I'm calling to offer you an apology. Remember all those rumors at the

convention in January of 1985 surrounding how Larry Grossman went past you on the second ballot? It wasn't a rumor. It actually happened. Timbrel says, how do you know? The man on the phone says, because I was in charge of organizing it for Frank Miller's campaign." Timbrel was livid. Because of course, Frank Miller won the convention, went on to call an election, lost the election,

and the Tory dynasty came to an end. So Timbrel said to the fella on the phone, "'Well, I hope you're happy with what you've done to our party and this province.'" And hung up on him. Who was the guy? I know who the guy was who party and this province. Hung up on him. Who was the guy? I know who the guy was who made the phone call. You gonna tell us? Well, his name was

. I know his daughter, she's a friend of mine. It's always an open question as to ask whether or not had Dennis Timbrel won that convention, would the Tory dynasty have continued? I'll tell you who definitely believes that the dynasty would have continued had Timbrel won that convention. Dennis R. Timbrel.