Lake traveled to Japan and China in October 2007 promoting Kamloops (and resulted in Chinese speed skaters using facilities in Kamloops to train for the 2010 Winter Olympics), and to Sri Lanka in January 2008 as part of a volunteer organization re-building homes lost in the 2004 tsunami. Lake would return to Sri Lanka in January 2011 to continue his volunteer work. Provincial politics Ranching Task Force In July 2008, Kamloops MLA Claude Richmond announced he would not seek re-election in the May 2009 provincial election. Consequently, Lake announced that he would not stand for re-election as mayor but would instead seek to replace Richmond. With MLA Kevin Krueger moving to the new Kamloops-South Thompson riding, Lake was unopposed for BC Liberal nomination in the Kamloops-North Thompson. The election was expected to be close but Lake ultimately defeated the NDP candidate Doug Brown, student April Snowe for the Green Party, Clearwater resident Wayne Russell of the Refederation Party, and the Work Less Party's Keston Broughton. Lake's BC Liberals won the election and formed a majority government under Premier Gordon Campbell. In the first two sessions of the 39th Parliament Lake was appointed to the Select Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and the Select Standing Committee on Health, however neither of those committees held any meetings. Premier Campbell did not include Lake in the cabinet but he was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary for the Ranching Task Force under the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. The Ranching Task Force began its work in July to review the province's role in the ranching industry, an industry which had been facing setbacks such as declining cattle prices and fewer exports following a Bovine spongiform encephalopathy outbreak and a strengthen currency value (relative to the US dollar). The task force's final report and recommendations were sent to the Minister of Agriculture and Lands in November 2009. Harmonized Sales Tax Lake was also appointed as the convener the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives, which had not met in over a decade and was not expected to meet any time soon. However, Lake was forced to convene the committee after a petition against the provincial government's intentions to switch the sales tax system to the Harmonized Sales Tax system successfully collected the required 10% of voters in every riding. Lake was supportive of the new Harmonized Sales Tax, even though more people in the Kamloops-North