He completed his BA at McGill University and his MBA at the International Management Institute (IMI) in Geneva, Switzerland.
A businessman by profession, Faulkner entered politics as the Liberal candidate in Peterborough, Ontario in the 1962 federal election.
[1] Faulkner surprised political observers by handily defeating former Premier of Manitoba Dufferin Roblin who ran in Peterborough as a "star candidate" for the Progressive Conservative Party in the 1974 election.
In 1990 he joined Swiss industrialist Stephan Schmiheiny to form the Business Council for Sustainable Development, Geneva.
In 1990 he bought the vineyard Domaine de Grand Cros, Provence, France which he and his family operate.