Leonard Wood (born February 4, 1942) is a former

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. He was a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

from 1990 to 1999, sitting for the

New Democratic Party of Ontario The Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP; , NPD) is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is Ontario’s provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. The ...

Background

Wood completed a four-year millwright course after graduating from high school, and worked as a millwright mechanic before entering politics. He was actively involved in the labour movement and the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church.

Politics

In 1987 he contested Cochrane North (located in the province's northeastern corner) in the 1987 provincial election, but lost to Liberal incumbent

René Fontaine Jacques Noe René Fontaine (November 5, 1933 – March 17, 2012) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1985 to 1990, and was a cabinet minister in the government of David Pe ...

by almost 4,000 votes. In the federal election of 1988, he contested Cochrane—Superior for the federal NDP and lost to Liberal

Réginald Bélair Réginald Bélair (April 6, 1949 – March 3, 2020) was a Canadian politician. Bélair was a Liberal member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 2004, representing the riding of Cochrane—Superior until 1997 and subsequently Tim ...

by 1,201 votes. The NDP won the 1990 provincial election and Wood defeated Liberal Donald Grenier to win Cochrane North by 143 votes. He served as

Parliamentary assistant In British politics and some Commonwealth nations, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan staff member employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work ...

to the

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' ...

from 1990 to 1995. Voting trends in the 1995 provincial election were against the NDP in most parts of Ontario, and the party fell from government to third-party status. In Cochrane North, Wood countered the provincial trend and dramatically increased his majority: he defeated Liberal candidate Gilles Gagnon by almost 2,000 votes. In opposition, he served as critic for Northern Development and Mines. Redistribution eliminated Cochrane North in the 1999 provincial election, and Wood sought re-election in the newly formed riding of Timiskaming—Cochrane. He finished third, behind fellow incumbent David Ramsay of the Liberal Party and Rick Brassard of the Progressive Conservatives. Wood ran again for the federal NDP in the 2000 election in Timmins-James Bay, but lost to Bélair by 6,950 votes.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Len 1942 births Living people Ontario New Democratic Party MPPs People from Perth County, Ontario 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario