Gerry Phillips served as a cabinet minister in the governments of David Peterson and Dalton McGuinty.
14 Facts About Gerry Phillips
1.
2.
Gerry Phillips founded the Sales Development Group in 1979 and the Retail Resource Group in 1982, and served on the Board of Governors of the Scarborough General Hospital during this period.
3.
Gerry Phillips served as a school trustee for eleven years on the Scarborough Board of Education and the Metropolitan Toronto School Board eventually becoming chair of both organizations.
4.
Gerry Phillips 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.
5.
On September 29,1987, Gerry Phillips was appointed Minister of Citizenship, with responsibility for race relations, multiculturalism and the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
6.
The Liberals were defeated by the NDP in the provincial election of 1990, although Gerry Phillips was re-elected without difficulty in his own riding.
7.
Many suspected that Gerry 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.
8.
Gerry Phillips was appointed as the party's Deputy Leader in 1998.
9.
Gerry Phillips was re-elected in 1999 by nearly 3,000 votes defeating Tory MPP Jim Brown whose own nearby riding of Scarborough West was abolished in the lead-up to the election.
10.
The Progressive Conservatives won re-election across the province, and Gerry Phillips remained in opposition serving in critic roles such as Native Affairs.
11.
Gerry 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.
12.
Gerry Phillips was re-elected in the 2007 election, and was appointed Minister of Energy.
13.
Gerry Phillips was appointed minister without portfolio and chair of cabinet.
14.
Gerry Phillips was appointed Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure on November 9,2009 after Smitherman resigned to enter municipal politics.