He taught Russian, French and English at a number of schools across Canada and the United States.

Other community activities include involvement with the Canadian Youth Hostelling Association in Whitehorse and serving on the Coaching Council of Canada during the 1970s.

He contested the riding of Southern Interior, as it was called then, in the federal election of 2004; he lost narrowly to the incumbent Conservative MP, Jim Gouk.

His candidacy received a significant boost after the Conservative candidate, Derek Zeisman, was disowned by the party after being caught trying to smuggle alcohol across the U.S.–Canada border.

He gave so many young people, who are rightly critical of many aspects of our electoral system, something to believe in, something to hope for in what he was trying to achieve and the vision he shared with so many in our party.