He is currently Senior Fellow at the Van Horne Institute in Calgary, Canada’s foremost think tank on transportation issues. He is a former Assistant Principal Secretary and Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau; a former Chair of the Canada Council; the founding CEO and Chair of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA); and a founding member of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on National Security. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Marine and Environmental Law Institute at Dalhousie University and a former Fellow of the Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute in Calgary.
He is a former syndicated columnist for newspapers across Canada and is a former adjunct professor at Saint Mary’s University and Dalhousie Law School. For his lifelong public service, Dalhousie Law School gave him the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service. He is a graduate in science from Saint Mary’s University; in law from Dalhousie, University College London and the Hague Academy of International Law. He is a Member of the Order of Canada and has two honorary degrees.