Before running for public office, he worked for the Bank of Nova Scotia in Ottawa, Toronto, Cornwall, Elliot Lake, and Gravenhurst.
[10] Shortly after his appointment, Mitchell announced that Canada's national parks would not be privatized or commercialized apart from a small number of projects that had already been approved in the previous parliament.
[12] In April 1998, Mitchell said the Canadian government would block a salvage company's plans to dynamite the wreckage of the Empress of Ireland ocean liner to recover an estimated one million dollars' worth of nickel ingots.
Over one thousand people were killed when ship sank in the Saint Lawrence River in 1914, and Mitchell argued the detonation would violate Canada's laws against interference with human remains.
[13] Mitchell joined with environmental groups in late 1998 to oppose a bid by the government of the Northwest Territories, the Inuvialuit, and the Toronto-based company Falconbridge Ltd. to change a proposed boundary of the Tuktut Nogait National Park and permit nickel mining in the disputed area.
Mitchell argued that the change would endanger the local caribou population and noted that eighty per cent of the nickel find was already located outside of the park's boundaries.
[15] Mitchell supported a private member's bill introduced by Liberal backbencher Albina Guarnieri in 1998 to reduce parole opportunities for criminals convicted of multiple murders.
[17] He also introduced thirty-seven million dollars for small and medium-sized businesses in Ontario and new money for advanced grain identification technology in Manitoba.
[21] Later in the same year, he promoted increased high-speed internet service for rural Canada and announced a fifteen million dollar plan to support co-operatives.
[22] In August 2003, he joined with Chrétien and Industry Minister Allan Rock to unveil Canada's Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund, valued at one billion dollars.
[28] In early 2004, Mitchell recognized embattled grand chief James Gabriel and the elected band council as the legitimate authority in Kanesatake, Quebec.
He was also appointed as minister of state for the federal economic development initiative for Northern Ontario in June 2005, after Joe Comuzzi's resignation.
[35] Mitchell withdrew the government's support for a conference promoting agricultural exports to Iran in April 2005, following revelations that Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi had died from torture in an Iranian prison two years earlier.
[38] Mitchell spent part of the 2006 federal election participating in previously scheduled World Trade Organization talks in Hong Kong on agricultural subsidies.
After extended negotiations, Mitchell and International Trade Minister Jim Peterson announced their support for a tentative deal that would end farm export subsidies while allowing the Canadian Wheat Board's operations to continue.