John Godfrey is Special Advisor for Climate Change to the Government of Ontario and Chair of Ontario’s (CAG) Climate Action Group.

John has had an extensive and accomplished career dedicated to public service that spans over 30 years. He was first elected to the federal House of Commons as the member of parliament for Don Valley West in 1993. He was re-elected four times, holding the position until 2008. From 2003-04, Godfrey was the parliamentary secretary to the prime minister and from 2004-06, he served in cabinet as minister of state for Infrastructure and Communities. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing the distribution of $5.6 billion for strategic, municipal, rural and border infrastructure programs.
Prior to being elected to Parliament, Godfrey served as vice-president of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. He was also editor of the Financial Post for four years and spent 14 years in academia, holding various positions at the University of Kings College, including associate professor, president and vice-chancellor.

Godfrey has been involved in many community and public service organizations, including president of the Council for Canadian Unity, a board of directors member for the National Film Board, a co-founder of the Committee of Concerned Nova Scotians for Justice and a board of directors member for Pollution Probe.

Most recently, Godfrey was the headmaster of the Toronto French School. He has a bachelor of arts (honours) in modern history and English literature from the University of Toronto, a master's degree in modern history from Oxford University, and a Ph.D. in modern history from Oxford University