that he and Hamilton spearheaded the organization of a coalition of mayors of the five largest cities in Northern Ontario (Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay). This coalition gave the largest northern municipalities a unified voice in their dealings with the provincial and federal governments. This group, representing approximately 70 per cent of Northern Ontario's population, worked for projects benefitting the whole of Northern Ontario. Over time, this strategy proved effective in pursuing the establishment of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, which would train doctors to serve rural, northern and aboriginal communities, as well as other initiatives such as broadband infrastructure in Northern Ontario. Northern Ontario School of Medicine Gordon was a driving force in obtaining a medical school in response to the ongoing challenges of health-care delivery in the north, in particular the shortage of doctors and the difficulties in providing effective health care for rural and aboriginal communities. In 1999, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care appointed Dr. Robert McKendry to report on physician supply and demand in the province. The report gave weight to the view that "the established medical schools had paid insufficient attention to preparing students for rural and northern practice". McKendry came to the conclusion that meeting underserviced areas' needs might best be met by building a new medical school. In addition to the efforts being made by the university community and medical professionals in the north, Gordon realized that political initiative was required to put pressure on the government of Premier Mike Harris. To that end he arranged, on behalf of the Northern Ontario Mayors Coalition, a coalition of the mayors of the five major cities in the north, to meet with Health Minister Elizabeth Witmer to plead their case. Witmer agreed to have the government's expert panel receive a proposal from the north, a proposal that laid out a model for an entirely new school. However, the expert panel had other ideas, and on February 16, 2001, the Toronto Star published a leaked report that the intention was that Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Windsor would become clinical education campuses, extensions of programmes at existing medical schools. Gordon had been quoted, saying, "It's time for us, the councils in the north, to move politically on this," and when the April 2001 Speech from the Throne brought no announcement, Gordon arranged that the Northern Ontario Mayors' Coalition