Pelissero was educated at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and worked as a farmer and egg producer.
He served as president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, and chaired a Federal-Provincial Crop Insurance Review Committee.
[1] He sat as a government backbencher for the next three years, and served as a parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Tourism and Recreation from 1987 to 1988.
[3] In 1991, Pelissero was hired by the Independent Contractors Group of Ontario to represent "open shop" business concerns in the province.
He contends that the group is not anti-union, but is meant to ensure a "level playing field" between unionized and non-unionized parties in contract negotiations.