Jim Wiseman

James Perry Wiseman (born April 21, 1949 in Toronto, Ontario) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995.

Wiseman has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and a Master of Arts degree from McMaster University. He worked as a high-school history teacher before entering political life.

Wiseman first ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1987 provincial election, and finished a distant third behind Liberal Norah Stoner and a Progressive Conservative candidate in the Greater Toronto Area riding of Durham West. He ran for the federal New Democratic Party in the Canadian election of 1988 in the riding of Ontario, and also finished a distant third behind Progressive Conservative René Soutens and a Liberal candidate.

The NDP won an unexpected majority government under Bob Rae in the provincial election of 1990, and Wiseman was elected over Norah Stoner by 1,982 votes in a rematch from 1987. He served as a parliamentary assistant to several ministers between 1991 and 1995, but was not appointed to cabinet. He was known as one of the more environmentally-committed members of the NDP caucus.

The NDP were defeated in the 1995 provincial election, having lost much of their support in the Greater Toronto Area. Wiseman, running for re-election, once again finished a distant third in Durham West, falling almost 20,000 votes behind Progressive Conservative Janet Ecker.

Wiseman stood for office again in the provincial election of 1999 for the redistributed riding of Pickering—Ajax—Uxbridge, but received only 2,814 votes -- and again lost to Janet Ecker by almost 20,000 votes. He did not run in the 2003 election. Wiseman returned to teaching at Ajax High School after leaving the legislature.