John William Gillis (October 31, 1936 – August 15, 2009), generally known as Bill Gillis, was a Canadian politician who served in the
Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1970 to 1998. He represented the electoral district of
Antigonish for the
Liberals.
Gillis first attempted to enter provincial politics in the
1967 election, but lost to Progressive Conservative William F. MacKinnon by 26 votes.[7][8] He ran again in the
1970 election and defeated Progressive Conservative William Shaw by 408 votes to win the Antigonish riding.[9] On October 28, 1970, he was appointed by Premier
Gerald Regan to the
Executive Council of Nova Scotia as Minister of Agriculture and Marketing, and Minister of Municipal Affairs.[10] He was named Minister of Welfare in September 1972,[11] and was shuffled to Minister of Education in August 1973.[12] Gillis was re-elected in the
1974 election,[13] and remained as Minister of Education until February 1976 when he became Minister of Mines.[4]
Gillis was re-elected in the
1978 election,[14] but the Liberals were defeated[15] and he moved to the opposition benches for the next 15 years. During his years in opposition, Gillis was re-elected in the
1981,[16]1984,[17] and
1988 elections.[18]
In the
1993 election, the Liberals led by
John Savage won a majority government,[19] and Gillis was re-elected in his riding by over 4,000 votes.[20] On June 11, 1993, Savage appointed Gillis to cabinet as Deputy Premier and Minister of Justice,[21][22] becoming the first non-lawyer in the province's history to hold the justice job.[23] Gillis remained as Minister of Justice until June 26, 1996, when he became Minister of Finance, while being retained as Deputy Premier,[24] the two jobs he continued to hold after
Russell MacLellan took over as premier in July 1997.[25] Gillis did not reoffer in the
1998 election.[26][27]