Former Kamloops mayor, MLA and Health Minister Terry Lake will be starting a new teaching job at Thompson Rivers University in the new year.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Lake says he is no longer vice president of corporate and social responsibility with the cannabis company Hexo.

He says Hexo’s share price has fallen from more the $11 per share to about $3.

“And that’s because the markets have held the cannabis industry to a very high standard in terms of revenues over expenditures. Even despite the fact that the full market hasn’t materialized yet… So it’s not a mature market and yet the investors are holding this industry to a very high standard, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” Lake says.

“Hexo went from 1,100 employees down to 900. And as part of that, I found myself staying here in Kamloops. But there are many upsides to that. I’m happy not to be working in Ottawa during the winter. And I mean I love Kamloops so much and now I have this opportunity to go back to teaching at TRU.”

Lake had taken a leave from Hexo to run for the Liberal Party in October’s election, and he finished second on the ballot in the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo with 27 per cent of the vote.

Lake’s election loss was his first since finishing ninth of the ballot for Kamloops council in 1999, when eight were elected.

He’ll now be teaching part-time to students at TRU.

“Teaching a couple of sections in the School of Business and Economics in their management program, a 300-level course on business ethics,” he says.

“Mostly in corporate responsibility, which I’ve been doing for the past couple of years. So, I’m looking forward to getting in front of the classroom again, giving real life examples of the way businesses need to operate. Particularly in a very highly-regulated environment.”