Donald Kevin Davis is a Canadian politician and former lawyer who has served as the 50th and current mayor of

Brantford Brantford (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River (Ontario), Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by County of Brant, Brant County, but is politically separate with ...

since 2018. Davis was educated at the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics and political science and at Queen's University where he earned a law degree. After graduating, he became a lawyer at Waterous Holden Amey Hitchon LLP in Brantford, and he became a partner there in 1983. He worked at the firm until his election as mayor in 2018. Davis served as Ward 2 alderman from 1985 to 1991. He was first elected to

Brantford City Council The Brantford City Council is the governing body of Brantford, Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politica ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

and was returned without opposition in 1988; he did not seek re-election in 1991. He served on the board of Brantford's

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (french: Parti progressiste-conservateur de l'Ontario), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada ...

association. Many expected that he would run for the party in the 2007 provincial election, but he declined. Prior to being elected as mayor, he served as Governor of

Mohawk College Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology is a public college of applied arts and technology located in Hamilton, Ontario. Established in 1966, the college currently has five main campuses: the Fennell Campus on the Hamilton Mountain, the M ...

, the president of the Brantford-Brant Chamber of Commerce, the Brantford Aquatic Club, the Brantford Boys and Girls Club, and was chairman of the Brantford Economic Development Board, John Noble Home and the Brant United Way campaign. Davis was elected as mayor of Brantford in the 2018 Brantford municipal election, defeating long-time incumbent mayor Chris Friel by over 5,600 votes. Friel blamed the loss on being out-spent by Davis. Upon becoming mayor, Davis indicated the development of the "boundary lands", territory annexed from the surrounding

County of Brant The County of Brant (2021 population 39,474) is a single-tier municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario. Although it retains the word "county" in its name, the municipality is a single-tier municipal government and has no upper tier. The C ...

, was his foremost priority. His other priorities included tackling the city's budget, the operation of the Brant County SPCA, improving safety downtown and re-organizing the homeless shelter system. One of the major issues Davis has had to deal with as mayor is the ongoing

opioid epidemic The opioid epidemic, also referred to as the opioid crisis, is the rapid increase in the overuse, misuse/abuse, and overdose deaths attributed either in part or in whole to the class of drugs opiates/opioids since the 1990s. It includes the sign ...

in the city. In 2019, Davis came out in support of creating a

supervised injection site Supervised injection sites (SIS) are medically supervised facilities designed to provide a hygienic environment in which people are able to consume illicit recreational drugs intravenously and prevent deaths due to drug overdoses. The legality ...

in the city to deal with the epidemic. In addition to the opioid epidemic, her has also had to deal with homelessness and gun violence in the community. In 2019, Davis announced he had stage 1

renal cell carcinoma Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a kidney cancer that originates in the lining of the proximal convoluted tubule, a part of the very small tubes in the kidney that transport primary urine. RCC is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults, resp ...

, and underwent surgery to get a kidney removed. Also in 2019, he was appointed to the board of directors of the

Association of Municipalities of Ontario The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) is a non-profit organization representing municipal and regional governments in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created on June 22, 1972 through a merger of the Ontario Municipal Associa ...

, Large Urban Caucus. During his term as mayor, Davis faced controversy for allegedly trying to 'ram' through city council a decision to sell the Arrowdale Golf Course, according to leaked emails. He was criticized for not being transparent about the plan that would involve building affordable housing on the site. City council approved the sale of the club in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Kevin Mayors of Brantford Living people University of Calgary alumni Queen's University Faculty of Law alumni Lawyers in Ontario Year of birth missing (living people)