1940s, the Conservatives re-organized and developed new policies. Rather than continue to oppose government spending and intervention, a policy which hurt the party politically in the time of the Great Depression, the Conservatives changed their policies to support government action where it would lead to economic growth. The party changed its name to the "Progressive Conservative" party after its federal counterpart changed its name to the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in December 1942 on the insistence of its new leader, John Bracken, whose roots were in the populist Progressive Party. The Progressive Conservatives took advantage of Liberal infighting to win a minority government in the 1943 provincial election, reducing the Liberals to third-party status. Drew called another election in 1945, only two years into his mandate, to get a majority government. The PCs played up Cold War tensions to win a landslide majority, though it emerged several years later that the PC government had set up a secret department of the Ontario Provincial Police to spy on the opposition and the media. The PCs would dominate Ontario politics for the next four decades. Under Drew and his successor, Leslie Frost, the PCs were a strong champion of rural issues but also invested heavily in the development of civil works throughout the province, including the construction of the 400 series of highways, beginning with the 401 across Toronto. In 1961, John Robarts became the 17th premier of Ontario. He was one of the most popular premiers in years. Under Robarts's lead, the party epitomized power. He was an advocate of individual freedoms and promoted the rights of the provinces against what he saw as the centralizing initiatives of the federal government, while also promoting national unity against Quebec separatism. He hosted the 1967 "Confederation of Tomorrow" conference in Toronto in an unsuccessful attempt to achieve an agreement for a new Constitution of Canada. Robarts opposed Canadian medicare when it was proposed, but later endorsed it fully, and the party implemented the public health care system that continues to this day. He led the party towards a civil libertarian movement. As a strong believer in the promotion of both official languages, he opened the door to French education in Ontario schools. Big Blue Machine era In 1971, Bill Davis became party leader and the 18th premier. Anti-Catholicism became an issue again in the 1971 election, when the Tories campaigned strenuously against