Jonathan D. Wilkinson (born June 11, 1965) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician and former businessman. A member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

, he has represented North Vancouver—Capilano in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

since the 2015 federal election. Wilkinson previously served as

Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard The minister of fisheries () is the minister of the Crown responsible for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG). The minister is a member of the King's Privy Council for Canada and the Canadian Cabinet ...

from 2018 to 2019,

Minister of Environment and Climate Change The minister of environment and climate change () is a minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada. The portfolio is responsible for the Environment and Climate Change Canada, as well as a number of other federal organizations including Park ...

from 2019 to 2021 and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources from 2021 to 2025. Before entering federal politics, Wilkinson worked as a civil servant and businessman, spending 20 years in the private sector, primarily with clean technology companies.

Early life and education

Wilkinson was born in

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Sault Ste. Marie ( ) is a city in northern Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of the St. Mary's River directly across from its "twin city," Sault Ste. Marie, in the state of Michigan. The city's population was 72,051 at the 2021 census, makin ...

, and grew up in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

. He was the former leader of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

's youth wing in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. Wilkinson earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

from the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

in 1988, and was named the Prairies

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

the same year. He earned master's degrees in international relations, politics, and economics from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

Career prior to politics

Wilkinson was an advisor to Saskatchewan premier

Roy Romanow Roy John Romanow (born August 12, 1939) is a Canadian politician who served as the 12th premier of Saskatchewan from 1991 to 2001. He was the leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party from 1987 until his retirement in 2001. He was the Mem ...

and served in the provincial

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

from 1991 to 1995. His work included a role as part of the

Charlottetown Accord The Charlottetown Accord () was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada, proposed by the Canada, Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. It was submitted to a public referendums in Canada, referendum on October ...

negotiations. In 1995 Wilkinson joined the consulting firm

Bain & Company Bain & Company is an American management consulting company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm provides advice to public, private, and nonprofit organizations. One of the Big Three (management consultancies), Big Three management co ...

at their

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

branch. In 1999, he relocated to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

to become the chief operating officer at QuestAir Technologies, a gas purification company. He was appointed President and chief executive officer in 2002. In 2009, he became the senior vice-president for business development in Nexterra Systems, a

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

company. In 2011, Wilkinson became the chief executive officer of BQE Waters (formerly BioteQ Environmental Technologies) a water treatment company based in Vancouver.

Political career

Wilkinson re-entered politics as a member of the

, securing the nomination for the riding of North Vancouver—Capilano. In the 2015 federal election he defeated incumbent Conservative Party candidate Andrew Saxton, receiving 56.7% of the vote. His victory came amidst a broader surge of Liberal support in

Greater Vancouver Greater Vancouver, also known as Metro Vancouver, is the metropolitan area with its major urban centre being the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The term ''Greater Vancouver'' describes an area that is roughly coterminous with the r ...

during the 2015 federal election. Wilkinson was re-elected in the 2019 federal election, where he again faced Conservative Party candidate Andrew Saxton. He received 42.9% of the vote, a reduced vote compared to the 2015 federal election. In the

2021 Canadian federal election The 2021 Canadian federal election was held on September 20, 2021, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons to the 44th Canadian Parliament. The Writ of election, writs of election were issued by Governor General of ...

, Wilkinson was again re-elected, receiving 45.1% of the vote, a slight increase from his

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

result. Wilkinson was re-elected for a fourth term in the

2025 Canadian federal election The 2025 Canadian federal election was held on April 28, 2025, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons to the 45th Canadian Parliament. Governor General Mary Simon issued the writs of election on March 23, 2025, afte ...

. He received 59.8% of the vote, his highest result to date. Wilkinson was first appointed to the federal cabinet on July 18, 2018, as

. Prior to this, he had served as Parliamentary Secretary to the

Catherine McKenna Catherine Mary McKenna (born August 5, 1971) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as a Cabinet minister from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, McKenna was the minister of environment and climate change from 2015 to ...

. On November 20, 2019, he was appointed

. In 2020, he released Canada's plan to meet its 2030 emissions reduction targets, titled "A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy." On October 26, 2021, Wilkinson was shuffled to the role of

Minister of Natural Resources The minister of energy and natural resources () is the minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada, Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). In addition to NRCan, the minister oversees the federal government' ...

, succeeding

Seamus O'Regan Seamus Thomas Harris O'Regan (born January 18, 1971) is a Canadian politician and a former cabinet minister in the government of Justin Trudeau. He resigned from cabinet effective July 19, 2024. A member of the Liberal Party, O'Regan was first ...

. His title was amended on July 26, 2023, when he became Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. Wilkinson retained this role in the first cabinet of

Mark Carney Mark Joseph Carney (born March 16, 1965) is a Canadian politician and economist who has served as the 24th and current Prime Minister of Canada, prime minister of Canada since 2025. He has served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, lead ...

. As an MP, Wilkinson has been active in supporting the Iranian-Canadian community. During the 2022–2023 Iranian protests following the

death of Mahsa Amini On 16 September 2022, 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, also known as Jina Amini, died in a hospital in Tehran, Iran, under suspicious circumstances. The Guidance Patrol, the Islamic religious police, religious morality police of ...

, Wilkinson joined several Canadian MPs in publicly sponsoring political prisoners detained by the Iranian government. Among those he sponsored were Dr. Hamid Ghare-Hassanlou and his wife Farzaneh Ghare-Hassanlou, Mohammad Rakhshani, and rapper

Toomaj Salehi Toomaj Salehi (; born 3 December 1990) is an Iranian rapper mainly known for his protest songs concerning Iran's societal issues and the policies of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In July 2023, the Iranian Government sentenced Sa ...

. Wilkinson stated that political sponsorship aims to increase international scrutiny and pressure for the release of individuals facing imprisonment or capital punishment in Iran. In January 2025, Wilkinson announced he was considering running in the

2025 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election From February 26 to March 9, 2025, members of the Liberal Party of Canada voted on a successor for Justin Trudeau after he announced his intent to resign as the party leader and prime minister of Canada. Mark Carney, the former governor of ...

upon the resignation of Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

. However, he decided not to run, citing the importance of continuing his role as Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. He subsequently supported

Electoral record

References

External links

Official Website

Bio & mandate from the Prime Minister
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Jonathan 1965 births Living people Members of the 30th Canadian Ministry Members of the 29th Canadian Ministry Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Liberal Party of Canada MPs Businesspeople from Ontario Businesspeople from British Columbia Politicians from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario People from North Vancouver Canadian management consultants Canadian Rhodes Scholars University of Saskatchewan alumni Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford McGill University alumni Ministers of the environment of Canada 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada