Donald Oliver

Conservative Senator Donald Oliver will be retiring from the Senate in the fall of 2013 after spending over 20 years in the Upper Chamber on an appointment by Brian Mulroney. At the time, Oliver was a successful barrister and businessman, well known in Nova Scotia for his courtroom successes as well as for his prominent roles within the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia. Oliver was one of five children born to a Baptist Minister for a father and a concert pianist and dressmaker for a mother. Music and religion played a large part in the Oliver family's home in Wolfville, Oliver played the trumpet as a young boy and even had his own jazz band. Oliver learnt to cook from his two sisters and to this day makes his own jams and relishes and pickles. Oliver attended the Cordon Bleu Cooking School in London and took another course in Italian cooking in Florence. His father wanted Donald to follow in his footsteps and become a minister, but Oliver opted to study law at Dalhousie instead. Oliver's tenure in the Senate will likely be remembered for his work as Chair of the Banking and Legal Affairs Committees . Oliver is President of Glen Moir Holdings ,Pleasant River Farms and Dolin Fisheries, all based in Nova Scotia and is a director of a number of companies. Senator Donald Oliver talks to Catherine Clark about his life Beyond Politics.