James Gillies Politician
James McPhail Gillies, CM (born 2 November 1924) is a former Progressive Conservative member of the Canadian House of Commons. He is an economist and educator by career.Gillies attended public and secondary school in Teeswater, Ontario. He then went to London, Ontario to attend University of Western Ontario. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1944 during World War II. In 1945 he continued his education in the United States at Brown University and Indiana University at Bloomington. He joined the faculty of University of California, Los Angeles's Graduate School of Management in 1951 and remained there until his return to Canada in 1965 where he was the initial dean of York University's Faculty of Administrative Studies, now named the Schulich School of Business.Gillies was chair of the Ontario Economic Council in 1971 and 1972. He was then elected at the Don Valley riding in the 1972 general election and re-elected there in the 1974 federal election, and left federal office after completing his term in the 30th Canadian Parliament. In 1976 Gillies was a candidate for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, placing 9th out of 11 candidates and withdrawing after the first ballot. He was a Special Advisor to Prime Minister Joe Clark in the brief PC government of 1979-80.He was named a professor emeritus of the Schulich School of Business and continued to provide commentary on economic matters as of December 2009.