[1] He was an executive member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and served as leader of the Kingston and District Labour Council.
[3] Wilson ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1987 provincial election, but finished about 6,600 votes behind Liberal incumbent Ken Keyes in the constituency of Kingston and the Islands.
[6][7] The NDP were defeated in the 1995 provincial election, and Wilson finished third in a close three-way race against Progressive Conservative Sally Barnes and the winner, Liberal John Gerretsen.
[8] He later ran for the House of Commons of Canada as a candidate of the federal New Democratic Party in the elections of 1997 and 2000, but finished fourth on both occasions.
He now works at the Lederman Law Library at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and has served as chair of the CUPE Local 1302.