Jonathan Wilkinson

Jonathan Wilkinson PC MP (born June 11, 1965) is a Canadian Liberal politician, who was elected to represent the riding of North Vancouver in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 federal election, and re-elected in the 2019 election. He was sworn in as the Minister of Environment and Climate Change on November 20, 2019. Wilkinson previously served as the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard. Before entering politics, Wilkinson was a constitutional negotiator and businessperson who spent 20 years in the private sector, mainly with green technology companies.

This article is about the Canadian politician. For the English footballer, see Jonathan Wilkinson (footballer).
The Honourable

Jonathan Wilkinson

PC MP
Minister of Environment and Climate Change
Assumed office
November 20, 2019
Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau
Preceded byCatherine McKenna
Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
In office
July 18, 2018 – November 20, 2019
Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau
Preceded byDominic LeBlanc
Succeeded byBernadette Jordan
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change
In office
December 2, 2015 – July 18, 2018
MinisterCatherine McKenna
Preceded byColin Carrie
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for North Vancouver
Assumed office
October 19, 2015
Preceded byAndrew Saxton
Personal details
Born (1965-06-11) June 11, 1965
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
Political partyLiberal
Other political
affiliations		New Democratic (formerly)
ResidenceNorth Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Alma materUniversity of Saskatchewan (B.A.)
University of Oxford, McGill University (Masters)
ProfessionBusinessman

Early life and career

Wilkinson was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and grew up in Saskatoon.[1] He was the former leader of the New Democratic Party's youth wing in Saskatchewan.[1][2]

Wilkinson earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Saskatchewan and went on to be named the Prairies Rhodes Scholar in 1988, reading Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at Exeter College, Oxford.[3] He earned master's degrees in international relations, politics, and economics from Oxford and McGill.[1]

Wilkinson was an advisor to Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow and served in the provincial civil service from 1991 to 1995, when he joined Bain & Company's Toronto branch.[1] In 1999, he relocated to Vancouver to work for QuestAir Technologies, a gas purification company and he became its CEO in 2002.[1] In 2009, he became the senior vice-president for business development in Nexterra Systems, a biomass company.[1] In 2011, Wilkinson became the CEO of BioteQ Environmental Technologies, a water treatment company based in Vancouver.[1]

Wilkinson defeated Conservative junior minister Andrew Saxton by a nearly 2-to-1 margin amid the Liberal wave that swept through Greater Vancouver in the 2015 federal election. North Vancouver and its predecessor, North Vancouver—Burnaby, had been in the hands of a centre-right party for all but four years since 1979. He was reelected in 2019 by a reduced margin, but still bested Saxton by 16 percentage points in a rematch.

On November 20, 2019, Wilkinson was appointed Minister of Environment and Climate Change in the 29th Canadian Ministry.

Electoral history
2019 Canadian federal election: North Vancouver
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalJonathan Wilkinson26,97942.9-13.75
ConservativeAndrew Saxton16,90826.9+0.02
New DemocraticJustine Bell10,34016.4+8.61
GreenGeorge Orr7,86812.5+4.19
People'sAzmairnin Jadavji8351.3–
Total valid votes/Expense limit 62,930100.0
Total rejected ballots 349
Turnout 63,27971.7
Eligible voters 88,254
Source: Elections Canada[4][5]

References
  1. Blackwell, Richard (6 September 2012). "BioteQ's Jonathan Wilkinson a business oddity, but no fish out of water". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  2. "Liberals select North Shore candidates for 2015 federal election". Vancouver Sun. 28 June 2014. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  3. "The Impact of Philanthropy: The Rhodes Trust Donor Report 2011–2012" (PDF). rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  4. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  5. "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
29th Ministry – Cabinet of Justin Trudeau
Cabinet posts (2)
Predecessor Office Successor
Catherine McKenna Minister of Environment and Climate Change
November 20, 2019 –		 Incumbent
Dominic LeBlanc Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
July 17, 2018 – November 20, 2019		 Bernadette Jordan
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.