Jim Wilson (politician)
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Jim Wilson (born April 4, 1963 in Alliston, Ontario) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1990, initially representing Simcoe West and later Simcoe—Grey for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.
Wilson was educated at St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto where he served on Student Council President and as a member of the university's governing council. During and after his graduation, he worked as an assistant to Ontario Management Board chair George McCague, and subsequently worked for federal cabinet minister Perrin Beatty.
In the 1990 provincial election, he was elected in Simcoe West by 1940 votes over New Democrat Leo Loserit. The NDP won a majority government in this election, while the Tories won only 20 seats of 130 for third-party status. In September 1991, Wilson was given the key position of Health Critic for his party. As Critic, he fought for the expansion of kidney dialysis services in Ontario.
There was a significant swing to the Progressive Conservatives in the 1995 provincial election, and Wilson was re-elected by almost 20000 votes over his nearest opponent. On June 26, 1995, he was appointed Minister of Health in the government of Mike Harris. Wilson was given charge of restructuring much of the province's health sector, including downloading some responsibilities to municipalities. His time in office was marked by high levels of confrontation with health workers, a number of whom were laid off in the government's early months. Wilson also implemented twenty-three new dialysis clinics in the province.
In October 1997, Wilson was named as Minister of Energy, Science and Technology. His management of this portfolio was much less controversial. In this position, Wilson was responsible opening Ontario's electricity sector to private markets.
After redistribution, Wilson ran for re-election in the 1999 provincial election in the new seat of Simcoe—Grey. He defeated his nearest opponent, Liberal Norman Sandberg, by over 19,000 votes, making the constituency the safest Tory seat in the province on a statistical basis. He was retained in the Energy, Science and Technology portfolio until April 2002, when Ernie Eves replaced Mike Harris as Premier. Eves named Wilson as Minister of Northern Development and Mines, and Chair of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation. On June 17, 2003, he was also named Minister of Environment.
The Progressive Conservatives were defeated in the 2003 election, although Wilson retained Simcoe—Grey by a reduced margin. In 2004, he supported John Tory's successful bid to replace Eves as party leader.
In Opposition, Wilson has served as his party's Critic for Community and Social Services, Transportation and currently serves as Deputy House Leader of the Official Opposition, Labour Critic and as a member of the Standing Committee on Estimates.
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