co-ordinating the forced amalgamation of municipal governments in Ottawa, Hamilton and Sudbury. The political debate on the future of the Oak Ridges Moraine also began during his tenure. He remained active on the file after his resignation until the passage of the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act in 2001. Gilchrist was elected as Chair of the Standing Committee on General Government and, on April 25, 2002, he was appointed as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Energy and Environment. On June 28, 2001, Gilchrist was put in charge of a commission looking into alternative fuel sources. In the same year, he backed Jim Flaherty's unsuccessful bid to succeed Mike Harris as party leader. In 2002, he was appointed as the first commissioner of alternative energy for the province of Ontario, a position he held until December 2003. During his time in office, Gilchrist introduced many private member's bills which were passed into law, including Bill 20, the Good Samaritans Act of 2001 This act guarantees protects anyone who competently attempts to give first aid or render other medical assistance is protected from any legal liability. In December 2001, Gilchrist's youngest sister underwent a successful heart transplant and, in response to the significant waiting times faced by patients hoping for organ donation, on May 5, 2003, Gilchrist introduced Bill 17, the Organ or Tissue Donation Statute Law Amendment Act, 2003. The bill would have required anyone obtaining a provincial license or health card to complete an organ donation form and would have prevented any other person from overturning the decision of the donor, after death. Other private member's bill's which were passed into law included Bill 172, the Toronto Hospital Act, 1997, which merged the Toronto Hospital and the Ontario Cancer Institute, at their request; Bill 110, the Professional Foresters Act, 2000; and the Act that created the Ontario Association of Former Parliamentarians, Bill 65, the Ontario Association of Former Parliamentarians Act, 2000. He also introduced Bills which would have raised the minimum smoking age in Ontario, formally designated the August Civic Holiday as "Simcoe Day', prevented the demolition of any buildings designated as "heritage buildings" and one which would have required the paying of Ontario income tax on the benefits received by federal Senators and Members of Parliament. His most notable bill was Bill 17, the Ontario Natural Heritage Act, 2002, which became the basis of the government bill, the