Career
A teacher by profession, Knight was first elected as a New Democratic Party Member of Parliament in a 1971 by-election and was re-elected in 1972. He represented the riding of Assiniboia, Saskatchewan until his defeat in the 1974 federal election by Liberal Ralph Goodale. Knight attempted to return to Parliament from the same constituency in 1979 but was defeated by Progressive Conservative Len Gustafson.
Knight served as principal secretary to both federal NDP leader Editor Broadbent and Saskatchewan Premier Allan Blakeney in the 1970s.
In the 1980s he was federal secretary of the New Democratic Party and its chief electoral strategist. Knight joined the cr union movement in 1989 and, from 1995 to 2001, served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Cr Union Central of Canada, the central governing body for the cr union movement, and helped integrate services at cr unions cross the country.
In 2001, Knight was named the first Commissioner of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada by Finance Minister Paul Martin. His term ended in 2006.