Oliver is President of the Ottawa Centre Federal NDP and of the Eastern Ontario NDP Area Council. He was President of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) from 2009 to 2015, and Treasurer of CPAWS for three years before that. Oliver spent most of his professional career as a partner in the management consulting practice of Price Waterhouse, which was acquired by IBM. He provided advice to federal, provincial and municipal governments and Crown corporations across Canada on strategy, program management, and the implementation of change. He also had local and national leadership responsibilities for consulting in the public sector. When he retired from IBM, Oliver returned to graduate school and completed an MA in Economics focusing on resource and environmental economics. Earlier, he had earned a BA in Economics from York University and an MBA from Carnegie-Mellon University.