• Elected to the House of Commons for BC Southern Interior as the NDP MP in January 2006
• Has served as Federal Agricultural, Agri –Food and Rural Affairs Critic, and was past critic responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board.
• Educated at UBC and U of Toronto with a BA in Physical Education, a teaching diploma, and MA in Russian.
• Served as an interpreter during the Prime Minister's visit to the Soviet Union in 1989 and for the Canadian Navy trip to Vladivostok in 1990
• A former teacher and instructor of Russian, French and English at a number of schools across Canada and the United States.
• As Recreation Consultant with the Yukon Government, served on the Coaching Council of Canada, and as co-ordinator for the Canada Games (1977 and 1979)
• Worked with the Boys' Clubs of Vancouver
• Served as an Officer with the Canadian Armed Forces
• He is a karate instructor with the Castlegar Karate Club.
• Active in the Kootenay Regional United Nations Association
• Lives with his wife Ann, a retired French teacher, in Castlegar.

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