He was the mayor of East York from 1982 to 1993, a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1993 to 1999, and a senior cabinet minister in the government of Mike Harris.
He was elected to the provincial legislature in a by-election held on April 1, 1993, following the death of NDP member Margery Ward in the constituency of Don Mills.
[1] Johnson was easily re-elected in the 1995 provincial election, in which the Progressive Conservatives won a majority government under Mike Harris.
He developed a reputation as a calm and skilled negotiator, and generally tried to remain above the partisan bantering that frequently dominates legislative sittings.
After the strike ended, Johnson moved forward legislative initiatives which gave the province the discretionary połwer to dismiss elected school boards, reduced the bargaining power of the unions, and altered funding in a manner that threatened several schools with closure.
He made little secret of the fact that he was a Red Tory, and often appeared uncomfortable defending the Harris ministry's more right-wing initiatives.