His parents, born in Beverwijk (father) and Moergestel (mother), emigrated from the Netherlands to Canada in 1952.

Not being able to travel to their city of preference Vancouver due to a lack of funds, they chose to start a business in olericulture in Sydney, where Eyking was born eight years later.

[2] On November 27, 2000, he defeated New Democrat incumbent Peter Mancini by over 5,000 votes to win a seat in the House of Commons.

[8] In Paul Martin's government, he served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food with special emphasis on Agri-Food (2003–2004) and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade with special emphasis on Emerging Markets (2004–2006).

[10] His wife Pam represented the riding of Victoria-The Lakes as a Liberal MLA in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 2013 to 2017.