A faculty member in the criminology department at Simon Fraser University, he previously represented the riding of New Westminster in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1996 to 2001.

[2][3] Bowbrick studied history and political science at Simon Fraser University, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts.

[6] He first ran for office in the 1993 federal election, contesting the riding of North Vancouver as a New Democratic Party candidate and finishing fourth.

[7][8] In the 1996 provincial election, he won the seat of New Westminster in the legislature as a BC NDP candidate,[8] succeeding outgoing MLA Anita Hagen.

[10][11] He then assumed the roles of Attorney General and Minister responsible for Human Rights in November that year from Andrew Petter, who was dropped from the cabinet for declining to run in the 2001 provincial election.