The 1971 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election was held on February 12 of that year to replace retiring premier John Robarts.
Darcy McKeough, Bob Welch and Bert Lawrence had less support and were viewed as compromise candidates.
He represented a small group of young Conservative members who felt the five established candidates were not speaking clearly enough about the issues.
Bob Welch discarded his prepared speech and gave a fierce rendering of his vision.
Allan Lawrence ignored his previous arguments about excessive spending on education and government services.
Bert Lawrence who realized that he was well behind in the polls, promised an improved relationship between government and people, structural reform of the cabinet, an enlarged role for backbenchers, and better coordination of the work of the civil service.
Alan Eagleson, a key organizer of the convention, explained to delegates how the voting machines would work.
Voting began at 3:15 pm but after an hour it was announced that 12 of the 15 machines had failed work properly.
In the meantime, unofficial results from the machine vote had leaked out and there was intense discussions between candidates and their organizers.
Some argued that Davis' moderate stance was almost outshone by Lawrence who curried favour with more right-wing Conservatives.