Bruce Hyer

NDP MP Bruce Hyer was born in Hartford, Connecticut and first came to Canada for a camping trip when he was just a boy. After reading about Tommy Douglas and the fight for medicare, Bruce became even more enamoured with Canada and eventually moved here when he was 29. Bruce gave up a promising career with the State Government in Connecticut and set up a camp 24 miles west of Armstrong Station in Northern Ontario where he built a tepee and lived there for the next two years. Eventually Bruce tired of the solitary life and moved 250 km south to Thunder Bay where he started up an ecotourist company he runs to this day with his wife Margaret. Bruce ran for the NDP in 2004 and again in 2006 and lost both times to long time Liberal MP Joe Comuzzi. In 2008, Joe Comuzzi stepped aside and Bruce was able to finally win the riding of Thunder Bay-Superior North. He spoke to Catherine Clark about his life Beyond Politics.