Jim Wilson

Who is Jim Wilson?

Jim Wilson 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 20,000 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.