About Rick Perkins

Rick Perkins was raised in Nova Scotia. Currently a resident of St. Margaret’s Bay, Rick’s family has lived in the South Shore – St. Margarets federal electoral district for more than 270 years and were founding families of several communities as farmers, shipwrights, fishermen and carpenters.

Rick is a business leader who has worked in both the public and private sectors and has founded several small businesses. Rick led businesses in Nova Scotia, Ontario and Alberta and as a retail business leader, he engineered the takeover of the largest private-sector alcohol retailer in Alberta and British Columbia.

Like far too many Nova Scotians, Rick had to leave the province after high school to find work. He returned home in 2003 to help turnaround one of Nova Scotia’s leading retailers.

As a community leader, Rick has served in volunteer roles for several organizations in Nova Scotia including serving seven years as Vice-Chair of the Nova Scotia Hearing & Speech Foundation and the Neptune Theatre Board.

Rick has served on several Committees of the Retail Council of Canada and the Canadian Bankers Association, as well as the Chief Marketing Executives Committee of the Conference Board of Canada. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Business Development Bank of Canada.

Rick holds a Master of Business Administration from the Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University where he received the Gold Medal as top student. He was the founding President of the Saint Mary’s University EMBA Alumni Association.

Since being elected to the House of Commons in 2021, Rick has served in several Shadow Cabinet positions. In 2022, he was appointed the Conservative Shadow Minister for Innovation, Science and Industry, and serves as the Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology and as a member of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. Previously, he served as the Conservative Shadow Minister for Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard and served as the Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.