Jim Gordon served as mayor of Sudbury for a total of 17 years – from 1976 to 1981, and again from 1991 to 2003. He also served as the MPP for Sudbury from 1981 to 1987. During his political career and thereafter in his retirement, he is credited with having made a number of significant contributions to the community. Among them were his successful advocacy for the Northeast Cancer Centre and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.
In the first of three video interviews, Jim tells us how his character was shaped in his youth by his “indomitable” father and his trailblazing mother. “I’ve got guts and I have lots of determination,” he tells us. “And I never take no for an answer. Ever. Don’t ever say no to me because I won’t quit.”
In the second of three videos, Jim tells us about the values that guided him, his commitment to social justice, and his understanding that as mayor of a city dependent on the boom-bust cycles of the mining industry, his number one priority was community development, economic diversification and sustainability. He tells us about his efforts to bring labour and management together to settle the devastating strikes in the 70s and 90s, and reminisces about Sudbury 2001, the paradigm-shifting community-based effort to chart the future of the city. He also talks about his boyhood dream of being elected to provincial parliament and how he went about winning approval for a cancer treatment centre for Sudbury and northeastern Ontario.
In the third video, Jim explains how he brought together the mayors of Northern Ontario’s major cities to lobby the provincial government to approve a medical school for Northern Ontario – the first new medical school in Canada in 43 years. He shares insights on the importance of pan-Northern unity, using the media and surrounding oneself with smart people.