Dalley started his career as a social worker in Twillingate, before becoming a guidance counsellor for several schools on the Baie Verte Peninsula.
[2] Dalley ran as the Progressive Conservative Party candidate in the 2003 provincial election in the district of Twillingate and Fogo, against Liberal cabinet minister Gerry Reid.
[2] The district was renamed The Isles of Notre Dame for the 2007 provincial election and Dalley once again challenged Reid, who now served as the leader of the Liberal Party.
Kelvin Parsons, who was the acting Official Opposition Leader, said the announcement showed Dalley was in trouble in his district and that he was appointed to cabinet to help him in the upcoming election.
[12] At the time of Dalley's appointment the department was dealing with a proposal from Ocean Choice International (OCI) that would allow the company to ship out raw product to Europe and Asia in return for processing jobs at the fish plant in Fortune.
At the time OCI had 60 seasonal employees working at the Fortune fish plant and planned to create 110 full-time processing jobs if government approved their proposal.
[15] The following day Dalley, along with Premier Dunderdale and executives from Husky Energy, were in Placentia to announce a multibillion-dollar development in the offshore oil industry.
The announcement was on the White Rose Extension Project, which would see a graving dock facility complete with gates built in Argentia.