Jim Breithaupt

Lieutenant Colonel James Roos Breithaupt KStJ, CD, OM(Pol), QC, MA, LLB (pronounced "bright-up") is a former Canadian politician.

Jim Breithaupt is the longest serving former MPP for Kitchener since 1867, winning 5 elections during his term from 1967 to 1984. Breithaupt was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1967 provincial election as the Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament for Kitchener, Ontario. He was re-elected four times in a row.

He was a candidate in the 1982 Ontario Liberal leadership convention. Early in the campaign, he was considered to be one of the front-runners in the field of five candidates. A car accident kept him off the campaign trail however, and he was represented by his wife, Jane Adamson Breithaupt, at campaign meetings and rallies. Breithaupt placed fourth on the first ballot at the convention, and withdrew from the race.

Breithaupt served as financial and justice critic in the Liberal shadow cabinet for a number of years, and was Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee from 1968–1975 when he became the House Leader for the Liberal Opposition. He resigned from the legislature and was appointed Chairman of the Ontario Law Reform Commission, on November 1, 1984. From 1989 to 1993, he was chairman of the Commercial Registration Appeal Tribunal.

He is the Chairman of the Corps of Commissionaires (Great Lakes Division) which employs some 1200 former Service personnel and he is the Vice-Chairman of the Last Post Fund (Ontario Branch) which attends to the funerals and burial of veterans without financial resources.

He was the Chairman of the German Pioneer's Day Committee locally in Kitchener Waterloo for four years. He has been a Deputy Judge in the Small Claims Courts of Kitchener, Cambridge, Woodstock, Stratford and Hamilton since 1993.

An artillery and infantry officer, he was the Commanding Officer of the Highland Fusiliers of Canada from 1971–1973 and then was the Senior Staff Officer ot the Major General Reserves for Canada, completing 24 years of militia service.

He is a life member of the Waterloo Historical Society and was President from 1996–1998. He was the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Governors of Waterloo Lutheran University and suggested the new name of "Wilfrid Laurier University" in 1973. He was then Vice-Chairman of the Waterloo Lutheran Seminary Board for a further 6 years. From 1952 to 1982, he spent a total of 30 years on campus as a student, lecturer, Board Member and Vice-Chairman.

He was the Chairman of the Peace Monument 1871 Committee in Kitchener and Chairman of the World Horseshoe Tournament in 1997. He organized and wrote the Memorial Plaques at the Waterloo Cenotaph in 1994 and 1995 and gathered the photos of those killed for the memorial displays, and he wrote the text for the plaque at the Kitchener Cenotaph.

Actively involved for the past 40 years with St. John Ambulance, he was Chairman of the K-W Branch (1967–1971) and went on to become President of the Ontario Council of the Order of St. John (1989–1991). He is a Knight of Justice for the Order of St. John and has his own grant of personal arms.

The Government of Poland has made him a Knight of Merit. He is a member of Branch 412 (Polish) and 165 (Fort York) of the Royal Canadian Legion, the Toronto Artillery Officers Association and the Royal Canadian Military Institute.