He was promoted to corporate marketing manager with Gore Mutual, Cambridge in 1980, and became a partner in the firm of Wettlaufer, Collins, Rankin Insurance Brokers in 1984.
[3] Wettlaufer was re-elected in the provincial election of 1999, defeating Liberal Berry Vrbanovic by over 4,000 votes in the redistributed riding of Kitchener Centre.
[4][5] He was appointed to the position of deputy whip after the election, and continued in his role as a backbencher throughout his time in the legislature.
[8] In 2012, as president of the Ontario chapter of the German-Canadian Congress, Wettlaufer defended accused war criminal Helmut Oberlander who was stripped of his Canadian citizenship.
[12] During the election campaign Wettlaufer contradicted his party platform during an all candidate debate when he said that public sector jobs would be cut entirely through attrition.