 He began his political career at the municipal level, serving as a councillor in Markham's third ward from 1988 to 1997.He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1997 federal election, defeating Liberal candidate Gobinder Randhawa by 3,639 votes in Markham.Jones was the only Progressive Conservative candidate elected in Ontario in this election, and some credited his win to local dissatisfaction over the previous Member of Parliament (MP), Jag Bhaduria.