He ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1977 provincial election, but lost to New Democratic Party candidate Mac Makarchuk in the riding of Brantford.
[5] He was promoted to Minister of Skills Development on May 17, 1985[2][6] but accomplished little before the Tories were defeated in a non-confidence motion in the house two months later.
[8] Gillies ran communications and advertising for the Ontario Progressive Conservatives in the 1990 provincial election in support of new party leader Mike Harris.
[2] He later worked as a consultant for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, the Royal Bank of Canada and other corporations and non-profit organizations,[2] and came out as gay.
He led his hometown of Brantford to become the first municipality in North America to ban the trade and possession of shark fin through a by-law passed on May 24, 2011.
These municipal campaigns led Canada's Parliament to pass legislation to ban the national shark fin trade.
In the summer of 2014, Gillies became Associate Director of Policy on the campaign of Toronto mayoralty candidate John Tory.