Hon. John Wilkinson

Minister of Research and Innovation

 

John Wilkinson was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 2003 as the MPP for Perth-Middlesex. He was re-elected in 2007 as the MPP for Perth-Wellington and was subsequently named Minister of Research and Innovation. Wilkinson previously served as the Parliamentary Assistant to Premier Dalton McGuinty in his capacity as Ontario's first Minister of Research and Innovation. He has also served as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of the Environment. Wilkinson is the first Certified Financial Planner elected to the Ontario legislature.

Before entering politics he founded Wilkinson & Keller Financial Planning Ltd. of Stratford, a successful small business. In 2003, he was presented with the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in recognition of a decade of outstanding work in helping to find a cure or control for cystic fibrosis, the leading genetic cause of death in Canadian children. In 2006, Wilkinson was named a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow for his humanitarian efforts.

John lives in Stratford with his wife and three children.