He helped unionize the office employees at the company and then served on the municipal council.
He was active with the Newfoundland Federation of Labour serving as its secretary-treasurer and ran for office as a candidate for the Newfoundland Democratic Party[2] in the 1959 provincial election In 1962, he was elected to the Newfoundland House of Assembly as a Liberal and, as a backbench MHA, took on the legal industry for charging excessive fees and sparked a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the matter.
He attempted to win a seat in the House of Commons of Canada in a St. John's East federal by-election in 1987 but was defeated.
After his retirement he wrote a book about the German U-boat attack on Bell Island in the second World War, called Enemy on our Doorstep.
He also devoted a great deal of time to Bell Island and was instrumental in raising monuments, and to creating a museum.