Born in Toronto, Ontario, Powers moved with his family to Dundas, Ontario in 1966, and remains a member of that community. He was educated at Dundas District High School, Mohawk College and the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene, and worked at McMaster University in laboratory medicine from 1979 until his retirement in 2007.[1] Powers also has military experience, having served as a Logistics Officer in the Canadian Army & Air Reserves.
Political career
First elected to municipal office in Dundas in 1982. In 1995, he became a Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Councillor representing Dundas. When Dundas was amalgamated with Hamilton in 2000, Powers was elected as Dundas' first representative to the Hamilton, Ontario City Council in the newly created Ward 13.[1]
In 2003, the Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) named a bridge on the west-end Rail Trail crossing Binkley Hollow and the Ancaster Creek for Powers. The bridge, a former TH&B Rail bridge, is named "Powers Crossing" in honour of Powers' time as chair of the HCA.[2]