Gerry Phillips

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

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

Phillips began his political career as a school trustee, spending a total of eleven years on the Scarborough Board of Education and the Metropolitan Toronto School Board (and eventually serving as 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 3000 votes.

Phillips was successful in his second bid for the Ontario legislature, in the provincial election of 1987 (in which the Liberals under David Peterson won a landslide majority). He was easily elected in Scarborough-Agincourt, defeating his nearest opponent, David Kho of the NDP, by over 12,000 votes. 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 became Minister 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 served on different occasions as critic for Health, Finance and Native Affairs. In the latter capacity, Phillips made several calls for a public inquiry into the 1995 shooting death of native protester Dudley George by members of the Ontario Provincial Police.

The 1995 provincial election was won by the Progressive Conservatives, and Phillips was only narrowly re-elected in Scarborough-Agincourt, defeating Keith MacNab by about 2000 votes. Many suspected that Phillips would run for the leadership of the Liberal Party when Lyn McLeod resigned in 1996, but he declined and supported Gerard Kennedy (who lost to Dalton McGuinty on the final ballot). In 1998, Phillips was appointed as the party's Deputy Leader; in the 1999 provincial election, he was featured prominently in television ads beside McGuinty.

Phillips's own re-election in 1999 was not guaranteed. Despite receiving an endorsement from the right-wing populist Toronto Sun tabloid (which generally supports Tory candidates), he came within 3000 votes of being defeated by Tory MPP Jim Brown. (The Progressive Conservative 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 the election, and Phillips again established himself as a leading figure on the opposition benches.

The Liberal Party won a landslide majority in the 2003 election, and Phillips was re-elected with 61% support in his riding. Under different circumstances, he might have been appointed Finance Minister in the new government. This position, however, was claimed by Greg Sorbara, who had played a prominent role in the party's successful campaign. Phillips was instead appointed as Chair of the Management Board. He was recently called for Canada to adopt a common securities regulator, rather than relying on separate regulation for each province.

Although Phillips is generally regarded as a fiscal conservative and an ally of Ontario's business community, he is also seen as a supporter of cultural diversity (his riding in Scarborough has a large immigrant population). Ideology aside, he is also respected by most other parliamentarians as a diligent worker and intelligent contributor to the legislative process.