 james francis foulds (born april 10, 1937) is a former politician in ontario, canada. he was a new democratic member in the legislative assembly of ontario from 1971 to 1987. ==background== foulds was born in port arthur, ontario (now thunder bay), ontario, and educated at lakehead technical institute and the university of british columbia. he has been a member of the canadian civil liberties association. his son andrew is currently a city councillor in thunder bay. ==politics== he was elected to the ontario legislature in the 1971 provincial election, defeating progressive conservative candidate charles johnston by 1,369 votes in the riding of port arthur. he was re-elected by a greater margin in the 1975 election, and defeated pc candidate allan laakkonen by 339 votes in the 1977 election. he served as his party's education critic from 1971 to 1977, when he became natural resources critic. foulds defeated laakkonen again in the 1981 election, even though the ndp lost seats under the leadership of michael cassidy. the following year, he ran to succeed cassidy as party leader in a leadership convention. he competed against front runner bob rae and left-wing candidate richard johnston. foulds had the most experience and supported traditional party positions. however, neither he nor johnston with his appeal to the left wing of the party could stop rae's union backed bandwagon. 
1937_births Lakehead_University_alumni Living_people Ontario_New_Democratic_Party_MPPs People_from_Thunder_Bay