Jim Foulds

Who is Jim Foulds?

James Francis Foulds is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1987 as a member of the New Democratic Party.

Foulds was born in Port Arthur, Ontario, and educated at Lakehead Technical Institute and the University of British Columbia. He has been a member of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

He was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1971 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative candidate Charles Johnston by 1,369 votes in the Port Arthur constituency. He was re-elected by a greater margin in the 1975 election, and defeated PC candidate Allan Laakkonen by 339 votes in the 1977 election. He served as his party's Education critic from 1971 to 1977, when he became Natural Resources critic.

Foulds defeated Laakkonen again in the 1981 election, even though the NDP lost seats under the leadership of Michael Cassidy. The following year, he ran to succeed Cassidy as party leader in a leadership convention. Although Foulds was from the centrist wing of the NDP, he was not supported by the party's chief organizers, who convinced Bob Rae to run for the leadership. He finished third out of three candidates, behind Rae and left-wing candidate Richard Johnston.