He represented the electoral district of Dartmouth South in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1998 to 1999.
Chard was a member of the former Dartmouth district school board and a planner with Parks Canada who first ran for provincial politics in the 1993 election.
[1] He was defeated,[2] but ran again in the 1998 election, winning the Dartmouth South seat for the NDP.
[5] He was defeated by Progressive Conservative Tim Olive when he ran for re-election in the 1999 election.
[6][7] Chard made another attempt at the NDP nomination in 2003, but lost a coin toss to Marilyn More after the vote count ended in a tie.