Gerry Phillips

Gerry Phillips (born September 11, 1940) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is currently a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and serves as a minister in the government of Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Early life

Phillips was educated at the University of Western Ontario's School of Business, and worked as a managing consultant before entering public life. He worked in the marketing department of Procter & Gamble, and joined the Canadian Marketing Associates organization in 1970 (becoming its President in 1977). Phillips founded the Sales Development Group in 1979 and the Retail Resource Group in 1982, and also served on the Board of Governors of the Scarborough General Hospital during this period.

School trustee

Phillips began his political career as a school trustee, serving for a total of eleven years on the Scarborough Board of Education and the Metropolitan Toronto School Board (and eventually becoming chair of both organizations). He also ran for the Ontario legislature as a Liberal in the provincial election of 1975, but lost to Progressive Conservative Tom Wells in Scarborough North by about 3,000 votes.

Provincial politics

Phillips was more successful in his second bid for the Ontario legislature. He was easily elected in Scarborough—Agincourt in the provincial election of 1987, defeating his nearest opponent, David Kho of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) by over 12,000 votes. The Liberals won a landslide majority in this election under David Peterson. On September 29, 1987, Phillips was appointed Minister of Citizenship, with responsibility for Race relations, Multiculturalism and the Ontario Human Rights Commission. In August 1989, he was transferred to the Ministry of Labour.

The Liberals were upset by the NDP in the provincial election of 1990, although Phillips was re-elected without difficulty in his own riding. Tory Keith MacNab finished second. In opposition, he held critic portfolios in Health, Finance and Native Affairs. In 1992, he supported Lyn McLeod's successful campaign to become party leader.

The 1995 provincial election was won by the Progressive Conservatives, and Phillips only narrowly won re-election in Agincourt, defeating Keith MacNab by about 2,000 votes. Many suspected that Phillips would run for the party's leadership when Lyn McLeod resigned in 1996, but he declined and supported Gerard Kennedy, who lost to Dalton McGuinty on the final ballot. Phillips was appointed as the party's Deputy Leader in 1998.

Phillips' own re-election in 1999 was not guaranteed. Despite an endorsement from the right-wing Toronto Sun tabloid newspaper (which usually supports Tory candidates - and which his opponent was a former employee of), he came within 3,000 votes of losing to incumbent Tory MPP Jim Brown. (The Mike Harris government had previously reduced the number of ridings from 130 to 103, forcing several MPPs to face one another for re-election.) The Progressive Conservatives won re-election across the province, and Phillips remained a leading figure on the opposition benches. In his capacity as Native Affairs Critic, Phillips helped lead the fight for a public inquiry into the 1995 shooting death of protester Dudley George by members of the Ontario Provincial Police.

The Liberal Party won a majority in the 2003 election, and Phillips was re-elected with 61% support in his riding. Phillips was appointed as Chair of the Management Board. After a cabinet shuffle on June 29, 2005, Phillips's portfolio was restructured as the Minister of Government Services. The new Ministry takes on most of the core services of the former Management Board Secretariat, Consumer and Business Services, and a large part of the Cabinet Office.

He was re-elected in the 2007 election, and was appointed Minister of Energy shortly after. In a cabinet shuffle on June 20, 2008, the Energy portfolio was given to George Smitherman. Phillips was appointed minister without portfolio and chair of cabinet.

Phillips was appointed Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure on November 9, 2009 after Smitherman resigned to enter municipal politics. He is expected to remain in the position until the end of the current legislative session.

Electoral record

Ontario general election, 1995:

• (x)Gerry Phillips (L) 13472
• Keith MacNab (PC) 11337
• Christine Fei (NDP) 4112
• Daphne Quance (NLP) 313

Ontario general election, 1990:

• (x)Gerry Phillips (L) 13347
• Keith MacNab (PC) 8640
• Ayoub Ali (NDP) 6763
• Bill Galster (Lbt) 1368

Ontario general election, 1987:

• Gerry Phillips (L) 19101
• David Kho (NDP) 7021
• Adrienne Johnson (PC) 6284
• Barry Coyne (Lbt) 794

Political office

External links

• Gerry Phillips official MPP Site
• Gerry Phillips profile at Legislative Assembly of Ontario
• Gerry Phillips Liberal party of Ontario biography

References