John Wilkinson unabashedly calls himself a Dalton McGuinty man.

After McGuinty won the Ontario Liberal leadership in 1996, Wilkinson was so impressed with the new leader, he left the business world where he'd been for 25 years and opted to run in the 1999 election.

He got crushed by the Progressive Conservative candidate by more than 5,000 votes.

But four years later, things had changed in Ontario and Wilkinson was ready for a rematch. And this time, he won, capturing what was normally a safe PC riding (then called Perth-Middlesex). Half a year later, he became a parliamentary assistant, and in 2007 when the Liberals won re-election, he was appointed to cabinet.

In June 2009, Wilkinson was shuffled into one of the toughest jobs in cabinet --- selling the new harmonized sales tax and other tax reform measures. It is, without a doubt, one of the most controversial things the McGuinty government has ever undertaken.

Wilkinson is traveling the province, making his pitch. He was on The Agenda last night, explaining why the province is harmonizing its retail sales tax with the federal goods and services tax. If you missed it, you can watch it here

Politics is actually a family affair for Wilkinson. He's one of four brothers, and one of them, Peter, is Premier McGuinty's chief of staff.

Having a family connection in high places can sometimes be a tricky business.  Wilkinson discusses that in the clip below:

Extra Note:

During the course of our interview, Wilkinson referred to a study saying Ontario was the leading foreign direct investment location in North America. When I asked him "what study?" he smiled and had to acknowledge he couldn't remember, although he thought the word "global" was in the title.  Apparently, others did remember, as the minister wrote in an email he sent me later that night (reproduced below, with his permission):

Steve, my email inbox has increased exponentially as all and sundry in the mcguinty government have reminded me that it was none other than IBM's latest annual global locations trend report that says ontario is the leading foreign direct investment location in north america.  I knew "global" was in there someplace!   Thanks for having me on.  Regards.  JW