Gordon Wilson (Canadian politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Gordon Wilson (born 1949) is a former British Columbia provincial and municipal politician, having served as leader of the Liberal Party of BC, leader and founder of the Progressive Democratic Alliance, and Minister of Finance, Minister of Employment, Investment and International Trade, and a leadership candidate for the BC New Democrats. He has his BSc from the State University of New York and a Masters from the University of British Columbia in Resource Economics.

Wilson was born in Vancouver, spent his early years in Kenya and moved to the Middlepoint area of the Sunshine Coast, BC, in the 1970s. There he raised two children with his wife Elizabeth, dabbled in pig farming and taught Resource Economics and Economic Geography at Capilano College (North Vancouver), where he also served as president of the faculty association.

In 1987 Wilson took over as leader of the BC Liberal Party, a moribund party that had not elected members for many years. In the 1991 general election, following his successful media sound-bite "This is why nothing gets done in British Columbia" in response to Social Credit leader Rita Johnston's interruptions of BC NDP leader Mike Harcourt during the campaign's only televised debate, he led the Liberals to seventeen seats and Official Opposition status in the legislature. Wilson won his own seat in Powell River-Sunshine Coast. Wilson's leadership of the Liberals was challenged, however, after his affair with fellow Liberal MLA Judi Tyabji became known. Both MLAs were married to other people at the time. In 1993, Wilson was defeated in his attempt to retain the Liberal leadership by Vancouver mayor Gordon Campbell. Within weeks, he and Tyabji crossed the floor, leaving the Liberals to form a new party, the Progressive Democratic Alliance.

Wilson retained his seat in the 1996 provincial election, having relocated to Powell River after his divorce and remarriage to Tyabji. In 1997 he joined the governing NDP and served in Premier Glen Clark's cabinet as Minister of Finance and Minister of Employment, Investment and International Trade. He ran for the BC NDP leadership in 2000 but lost to Ujjal Dosanjh. In the 2001 provincial election, he lost his seat to BC Liberal Harold Long, the Social Credit MLA he had defeated in 1991 when he revitalized the BC Liberals.

He has written A Civilized Revolution (1994) about his views on politics and public policy, and wrote, directed and produced Serving Thyme, a television comedy based on the west coast. After leaving politics, Wilson settled back in Powell River and became chairman of the board of a software company.