He represented the electoral districts of Guysborough-Port Hawkesbury and Guysborough-Sheet Harbour in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1999 to 2009 as a member of the Progressive Conservatives.
He was later employed with the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation, and the Guysborough Journal as advertising manager.
[2] Chisholm first attempted to enter provincial politics in the 1998 election,[3] but was defeated by Liberal incumbent Ray White.
[8] He was re-elected in 2006,[9] and retained the fisheries and aquaculture portfolio in a post-election cabinet shuffle.
[10] Chisholm was defeated when he ran for re-election in 2009, losing to New Democrat Jim Boudreau by more than 1800 votes.