After graduating, he became executive director of Youth in Conflict with the Law, and was a board member of the Working Centre (St. John's Soup Kitchen).

He won an easy victory to the House of Commons of Canada three years later and was subsequently re-elected four times, all by comfortable margins.

He was concerned with a clause that gave Canada's parliament, rather than the courts, the right to remove a person's citizenship, and in particular Helmut Oberlander's [2] who was a constituent of the riding he then represented.

In response, Telegdi noted that his stepfather was a Jewish refugee from Romania, and claimed his comments had been reported out of context in a sensational manner.

Telegdi also engaged in a public dispute with Liberal Party activist Warren Kinsella during this period.

He also opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, expressing concern that the American approach of "pre-emptive strikes" would create new problems and undermine multilateral institutions.

[5] For several years, Telegdi was a supporter of Paul Martin in his bid to succeed Jean Chrétien as leader of the Liberal Party.

The final validated count, showing errors in two polls, confirmed his opponent had won the seat by 17 votes, the smallest margin of victory in the 2008 federal election.