Jim Conrad

Who is Jim Conrad?

Jim Conrad is a Canadian politician. He has campaigned for public office on several occasions, and has been active with no fewer than five different political parties throughout the course of his career.

In private life, Conrad is a petrochemical engineer with extensive experience in the oil sector. A newspaper report from 1978 lists him as 47 years old, with twenty years experience working for multinational corporations such as Texaco, Shell, Union Carbide and Sun Oil. During the 1980s, he became the executive director of the Canadian Federation of Independent Petroleum Marketers. He was a frequent critic of the major firms during this period, and often accused them of overcharging Canadian consumers. In late 1987, he was a vocal opponent of the Brian Mulroney government's free trade deal with the United States.

He has long been active in Canadian politics, having joined the Liberal Party of Canada in the late 1970s. In 1978, he was chosen as executive director of the Committee for an Independent Canada, a group which promoted economic nationalism in industry. Conrad sought the Liberal Party nomination for Etobicoke Centre in the 1988 federal election, but lost to Mary Schwass. He also sought the party's nomination in Mississauga South, but lost to Gil Gillespie.