Anton was born and raised in Latvia, though he managed to leave his homeland after the Soviet occupation and immigrate to England.

While working on a farm, fixing equipment, he met Sarah, and soon after marrying, the couple immigrated to Canada.

Tabuns was also president of Citizens for a Safe Environment, a Riverdale environmental group that lobbied the city to end garbage incineration at the Commissioners Street plant in the Port Lands.

[5][6] In 1996, he supported a boycott of Harvey's restaurants because its parent company Cara Operations had donated money to the Progressive Conservative Party for the previous three years.

Tabuns said, "What Mike Harris has done is put greased skids under the economy of this city and pushed it downhill.

Under Tabuns' leadership, the organization advocated for environmental protection, including the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol.

Tabuns was criticized by some members of Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) local 343 (now Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union 343) in 2002, when Greenpeace terminated its door-to-door fundraising efforts and transferred foot canvassers to telephone fundraising.

Churley resigned her provincial seat in order to run in the 2006 federal election as the NDP candidate for Beaches-East York.

[13] Upon being sworn in as an MPP, NDP Leader Howard Hampton reorganized his shadow cabinet and gave the rookie member a long list of portfolios, including Transportation, Environment, Public Infrastructure Renewal, Greater Toronto Area, Culture, Tourism and Recreation, Citizenship and Immigration, and Multicultural Affairs.

[21] Following the resignation of party leader Howard Hampton in June 2008, Peter Tabuns was mentioned in the press as a likely candidate in the emerging campaign for the leadership.

Tabuns lost to Andrea Horwath by a margin of 60% to 40% on the third ballot following the defeat of contenders Michael Prue and Gilles Bisson in earlier rounds.