Michael Wilson, Canadian academic and politician, 31st Canadian Minister of Finance
Michael Holcombe Wilson (November 4, 1937 – February 10, 2019) was a Canadian businessman, politician and diplomat who served as minister of finance from 1984 to 1991 and minister of international trade from 1991 to 1993 under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
Wilson was a Bay Street investment executive when he was elected to the House of Commons in 1979. He then unsuccessfully ran for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1983 before being appointed to Prime Minister Mulroney's cabinet. As a cabinet minister, Wilson introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and helped negotiate the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Wilson retired from politics in 1993 and returned back to Bay Street, heading his own consulting and financial services firm. Wilson served as the Chairman of Barclays Capital Canada Inc. from May 2010 until his death in February 2019. He was the Canadian Ambassador to the United States from 2006 until 2009 and the Chancellor of the University of Toronto from 2012 to 2018.