Lane was educated at Ontario schools until age fourteen, and worked as a farmer and insurance executive.
[1] Lane defeated NDP challenger Winston Baker by 1,127 votes in the 1975 election,[2] and won more convincingly in 1977.
[4][5] Lane was a government backbencher until 1985, when the Progressive Conservative ministry led by Frank Miller was defeated in the legislature.
Premier Bill Davis once singled out Lane and Ron McNeil as the two backbenchers who most frequently wrote to him about constituency issues.
Members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario spoke in his honour on October 1 of the same year.