Bill Davis, former premier, has Ontario Place trail named in his honour

Former Ontario premier Bill Davis was on hand to open Ontario Place in 1971. Thirty-four years later, he was there again to celebrate a waterfront trail that will be named in his honour. 

Premier Kathleen Wynne, Toronto Mayor John Tory and Davis attended a ceremony at the site Wednesday morning to name the William G. Davis Trail. 

It will link to an existing trail system that includes the Martin Goodman Trail and the Pan Am/Parapan Am Trails, a continuous route of more than 2,000 kilometres along the Trans Canada Trail in Ontario.

"The shovels are in the ground, we're moving forward and this once again will be a space accessible to all," Wynne said.

The government also boasted Wednesday that a parking lot on the east island of Ontario Place will be converted into a 7.5-acre naturalized green space, slated to open in the fall of 2016. The green space will provide Toronto waterfront access that has not been available for more than 40 years.

Tory, who was chair of the Minister's Advisory Panel on Revitalization of Ontario Place in 2012, called Davis a mentor and "the closest thing to a second father I have."