Profile of Michael Wilson on Famous Like Me

For the film writer see Michael Wilson (writer)

The Honourable Michael Holcombe Wilson, PC , OC (born November 4, 1937) is a Canadian politician and business leader.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Wilson was a Bay Street investment executive when he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament in the 1979 general election. He served as Minister of State for International Trade in the nine-month minority government of Joe Clark.

Wilson was a candidate at the 1983 Progressive Conservative leadership convention. He tried to woo young delegates by having the rock group Spoons perform on his behalf. He dropped off after the first ballot, and urged his supporters to vote for the eventual winner, Brian Mulroney.

Mulroney appointed Wilson Minister of Finance when the party formed a government after the 1984 election.

Despite promises to balance the budget, Wilson ran large deficits throughout his tenure as finance minister. He reformed the tax system to broaden the tax base and lower tax rates, removing many special tax provisions, and helped negotiate the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. Wilson also introduced the unpopular Goods and Services Tax in 1990 which led him to being one of the most unpopular members of a generally unpopular government.

In 1991, after seven years as Minister of Finance, Wilson became Minister of Industry, Science and Technology and Minister of International Trade. In that role, he participated in negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement. Wilson was not a candidate in the 1993 election, and returned to Bay Street to head his own consulting and financial services firm.

In recent years he has become a spokesman for a lobby group promoting Public-Private Partnerships. In September 2003, Wilson was installed as chancellor of Trinity College. This position is of an almost entirely ceremonial nature.

On October 30, 2003, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.

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