Turnbull was educated at the Edinburgh College of Domestic Sciences, and worked as a hotel manager in Scotland, Switzerland and Germany.
The Tories won a majority government in the provincial election of 1995, and Turnbull was re-elected by more than 11,000 votes over his nearest opponent.
In 1999, Turnbull was re-elected in the redistributed Don Valley West riding, outpolling Liberal candidate Paul Davidson by over 3,000 votes.
When Ernie Eves succeeded Harris as Premier of Ontario on April 15, 2002, he named Turnbull as his Associate Minister of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation.
[6] He sought election to House of Commons of Canada for the federal Don Valley West riding the following year, but was defeated by Liberal incumbent John Godfrey.