| James A. Taylor | |
| Office: | Ontario MPP |
| Term Start: | 1971 |
| Term End: | 1987 |
| Predecessor: | Norris Whitney |
| Successor: | Keith MacDonald |
| Constituency: | Prince Edward—Lennox |
| Party: | Progressive Conservative |
| Birth Name: | James Allan Taylor |
| Birth Date: | 2 May 1928 |
| Birth Place: | Timmins, Ontario, Canada |
| Death Place: | Belleville, Ontario, Canada |
| Alma Mater: | University of Toronto, Osgoode Hall Law School |
| Occupation: | Lawyer |
James Allan Taylor (May 2, 1928 – September 1, 2020) was a lawyer and politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1987 and was a cabinet minister in the government of Bill Davis. Taylor was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.[1]
Taylor campaigned for the House of Commons of Canada in the 1968 federal election, as a candidate of the federal Progressive Conservative Party. He finished third in Scarborough East, against Liberal candidate Martin Patrick O'Connell.[2]
He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1971 provincial election, defeating Liberal candidate Barry Young by 3,404 votes in Prince Edward—Lennox.[3] He served as a backbench supporter of Bill Davis's government for the next four years, and was re-elected with a reduced majority in the 1975 election.[4] On October 7, 1975, Taylor was appointed to Davis's cabinet as Minister of Community and Social Services.[5]
Taylor was named as Davis's Minister of Energy on February 3, 1977,[6] and was re-elected with a greatly increased majority in the 1977 election.[7] He was dropped from cabinet on January 21, 1978, and again served as a government backbencher.[8] He was re-elected in the elections of 1981[9] and 1985.[10]
After serving in government for forty-two years, the Progressive Conservatives were reduced to a tenuous minority government in the 1985 election, and were subsequently defeated in the legislature on a motion of non-confidence. Taylor served in opposition as his party's Energy Critic, and did not run for re-election in 1987.
Taylor served as the first mayor of the amalgamated Prince Edward County from 1997 to 2003.[11] Taylor died on September 1, 2020, aged 92.[12]