Thomas Leonard "Tom" Wells (May 2, 1930 – October 11, 2000) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party from 1963 to 1985 and was a cabinet minister in the governments of John Robarts and William Davis. There is also a school in Scarborough, Ontario named after him. Background Wells was born in Toronto and educated at Victoria College and the University of Toronto. Wells and William Davis played on the University of Toronto's football team at the same time and were both members of the campus Progressive Conservative association. Wells worked as advertising manager for the Canadian Medical Association from 1960 to 1967. He also served on the Scarborough Board of Education from 1957 to 1963, was its chair in 1961–62, and held a concurrent position on the Metropolitan Toronto School Board in 1962–63. Politics Wells was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1963 provincial election, winning a comfortable victory in Scarborough North. Wells served as a backbench supported for three years, and was named a minister without portfolio on November 24, 1966. He was re-elected with a reduced majority in the 1967 election, defeating New Democratic Party candidate John Brewin by 1,527 votes. Wells was promoted to Minister of Health on August 13, 1969, and was responsible for introducing Medicare to the province. In 1971, he was the only member of the Robarts cabinet to support Allan Lawrence's bid to succeed Robarts as Progressive Conservative Party leader and premier of Ontario. Lawrence lost to William Davis on the last ballot, by forty-four votes. When Davis succeeded Robarts as Premier of Ontario on March 1, 1971, he named Wells as his Minister of Social and Family Services. Wells was re-elected again in the 1971 election, defeating Brewin for a second time by a greatly increased margin. He was promoted to Minister of Education on February 2, 1972. Shortly after his appointment, Wells permitted Ontario schoolchildren to watch the final game of the 1972 "Summit Series" ice hockey tournament between Canada and the Soviet Union from their classrooms. He defeated Liberal challenger Gerry Phillips by 2,677 votes in the 1975 election, and was returned by a greater majority again in 1977. On August 16, 1978, Davis appointed Wells as his Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. He was also appointed as Government House Leader in 1979. Both