He represented Cape Breton County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1920 to 1925 as an Independent Labour member.
He was born in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, the son of William Waye and Mary Ross.
He was whip for the United Farmers-Labour coalition which formed the official opposition in the provincial assembly.
His radicalism made it hard for him to get work as a machinist, as he was blacklisted by employers.
He sold tombstones and did other odd work, until he was hired in 1938 as a staff worker for the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, on the condition that he leave the Communist Party of Canada and join the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.