Gilles Bisson
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Gilles Bisson (born May 14, 1957 in Timmins, Ontario) is a Franco-Ontarian Canadian politician who has represented the northern riding of Timmins—James Bay in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1990. He is a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party, and currently serves as the party whip and as critic for the Ministries of Natural Resources, Northern Development and Mines, Aboriginal Affairs, Francophone Affairs and Transportation.
Before entering politics, Bisson was a labour union organizer, who coordinated a workplace literacy program for the Ontario Federation of Labour (of which he was the Northeast Director for a time). He also worked with the United Steelworkers of America on a project aimed at encouraging the Workers Compensation Board of Ontario to recognize lung cancer as a compensable industrial disease.
Bisson was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1990, defeating Liberal Peter Krznaric by about 2,000 votes in the old riding of Cochrane South. He served as parliamentary assistant to the Ministers of Northern Development and Mines and Francophone Affairs in Bob Rae's government, and also served as a member of the cabinet committee on the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993.
Although the NDP were defeated in the provincial election of 1995, Bisson significantly increased the margin of his victory in Cochrane South. He was, in fact, the only NDP candidate to elected with more than 50% riding support in that cycle. He was easily re-elected in the 1999 election, and fought off a closer challenge from Liberal Michael Doody, a former mayor of Timmins and broadcaster, in the election of 2003.
Bisson's popularity has helped make Timmins—James Bay one of the top ridings in Ontario for the federal NDP as well, helping Charlie Angus pick up the seat in the 2004 election.
Bisson is married and is the father of two daughters.
A licensed private pilot, Bisson owns a small aircraft which he uses to fly between communities in his far-flung riding, the legislative seat in Toronto and elsewhere.
