Jim Gordon

Who is Jim Gordon?

James K. Gordon is a Canadian politician, who served as mayor of Sudbury, Ontario 1976 to 1981, and 1991 to 2003. He is Sudbury’s longest serving mayor, having served a total of 17 years. He was a Member of Provincial Parliament for Sudbury Riding from 1981 to 1987. He became Minister of Government Services in 1985.

Gordon served on the town council of Espanola in the 1960s before moving to Sudbury. He was elected to city council there in 1971, and became mayor in 1976. He served until 1981, and ran in that year's provincial election as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the Sudbury constituency. He won that election, and served as a backbench supporter of Bill Davis's government. Gordon supported Larry Grossman at the Progressive Conservative Party's leadership convention of February 1985.

Gordon was a cabinet minister in the short-lived government of Frank Miller, serving as Minister of Government Services from May 17 to June 26, 1985. The Miller government was defeated in the Liberal sweep of David Peterson in September 1987.

In 1991, Gordon ran again as mayor of Sudbury, and defeated incumbent mayor Peter Wong. He served as the city's mayor until 2000, when the city, the towns and the Regional Municipality of Sudbury were transitioned into the new city of Greater Sudbury through a transition board established by the Government of Ontario. He ran for mayor of the new amalgamated city in the 2000 municipal election, and won that election as well. Gordon's tenure as mayor of Sudbury was marked by efforts to diversify the city's mining-based economy. As the city's provincial representative in the early 1980s, he was also a key supporter of the Science North project, which has since become the city's and Northern Ontario's most successful tourist attraction.