He then unsuccessfully ran for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1983 before being appointed to Prime Minister Mulroney's cabinet.

Wilson retired from politics in 1993 and returned back to Bay Street, heading his own consulting and financial services firm.

Wilson served as Clark's Minister of State for International Trade, though only for nine months as the PCs would suffer a defeat to the Liberal Party in the 1980 election.

Wilson was not a candidate in the 1993 election, and he returned to Bay Street to head his own consulting and financial services firm.

He later rejoined Royal Bank of Canada, and he was Chairman and CEO of RT Capital when that business was sold to UBS AG.

In recent years, he was a spokesman for a lobby group promoting public–private partnerships, and he was the Chairman of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance.

[11] On 9 April 2015, it was announced that Wilson was appointed the new board chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

[14] On 16 February 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the nomination of Wilson as Ambassador of Canada to the United States of America.

He succeeded Frank McKenna in Washington, D.C. Wilson became the 22nd Canadian Ambassador to the United States on 13 March 2006, when U.S. President George W. Bush accepted his credentials.

In March 2008, it was alleged that Wilson told the Canadian media that U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama was not serious about his promise to opt out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Liberal MP Navdeep Bains called on Wilson to step down as Canada's ambassador to Washington while the alleged leaks were investigated.