Former premier being roasted to benefit CTC  

Cornwall Standard Freeholder  

02 September 2009  

Posted By MICHAEL PEELING  

CORNWALL -- Former Ontario Premier Bill Davis will be the guest of honour and roastee at a benefit dinner for The Children's Treatment Centre (CTC).  

The CTC promises a night of "humour and good-natured political jousting" on Oct. 30 with Davis, a progressive conservative premier from 1971 to 1985, at the centre of the laughter.  

The professional counselling provided by CTC to abused children and their families is the reason Davis agreed to be roasted.  

"I know the kind of work (the CTC) does and that's why I'm going to be there," Davis told the Standard-Freeholder.  

Davis said he isn't worried about being the butt of other people's jokes.  "I'm looking forward it," he said. "I've been roasted many times, especially in the Legislature, and I survived it."  

Davis said he isn't bracing himself for any particular speaker, which include: Senator Mike Duffy; Senator Sharon Carstairs, former Liberal Opposition Leader in the Manitoba Legislature; Robert Fisher, a Cornwall native with CBC Radio and a former Queen's Park Bureau Chief for Global TV; former Cornwall Mayor and Federal Cabinet Minister Ed Lumley; and Senator Hugh Segal, who was once Davis' senior aide. 

 "I know all of them well and I'm more than prepared to reply in kind," Davis said. "If you followed me in the press, you'll know that I tend to set the prepared text aside. They won't know what I'm going to say and I won't know what I'm going to say. I'm looking forward to it."  

Davis was first elected a Member of Provincial Parliament for the riding of Peel in 1959, then appointed Minister of Education in 1962 by Premier John Robarts.  

As the Premier of Ontario, Davis is known for expanding the province's health-care system, strengthening the Ontario Human Rights Code, increasing bilingual services and played a role in the passage of Canada's Constitution in 1982.  

The year he retired, Davis was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. "We're very pleased the Honourable William Davis has offered his support to the Centre in such as significant way," said event chairman Sean Adams.

"We're a community-based, community-supported agency and money from events such as the dinner and roast are crucial in maintaining the services we provide to abused children and their families."

To purchase tickets for the Children's Treatment Centre Dinner and Roast, call the CTC at 613-933-4400.

Tickets cost $150.

The event will take place at the Best Western in Cornwall.

Cocktails are at 5 p. m., followed by dinner (6 p. m.) and the roast (8:30 p. m.).

Article ID# 1725480