He received an honours political science degree from the University of Waterloo and did post-graduate studies in Canadian parliamentary procedure and election administration.
[1] When Howard Pawley introduced a constitutional amendment to address a court decision respecting French language rights in the 1980s, Anstett was a leading supporter of the measure.
As Government House Leader, he was the minister responsible for the constitutional amendment, which was the subject of rancorous debate throughout the province.
[5] Most observers cite Anstett's leadership role in the unpopular constitutional amendment as the reason for his defeat by 55 votes by Progressive Conservative Gilles Roch in the election of 1986.
From 1998 to 2005, he was Vice President of Corporate Affairs for AEC-International in Toronto and through the International Property Tax Institute, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Lincoln Institute on Land Policy, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, he advised governments in the developing world and in countries in transition in Eastern Europe on property assessment and tax policy.