Gerard Kennedy Newsdesk

Kennedy is 'the one to watch'

2006-09-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

Candidate's youth, optimism and tenacity bolster his bid for the Liberal leadership

MICHAEL POSNER

From Friday's Globe and Mail

This is the ninth in The Globe's series of profiles of the Liberal leadership candidates.

TOROTNO – Quick, now: What does the jumbled Liberal Party leadership race have in common with an obscure 19th-century English novel?

The answer: "a dark horse," a phrase thought to have been first used in print in The Young Duke, published in 1831.

The germane sentence reads: "A dark horse, which had never been thought of, rushed past the grand stand in sweeping triumph." Bonus points if you identified its author, a 27-year-old lawyer who, something of a dark horse himself, would become prime minister of England — Benjamin Disraeli.

The dark horse in the Liberals' current grand national steeplechase is easy to spot. More than halfway toward the finish line — the leadership convention in Montreal — Gerard Kennedy is raring to go, tucked in behind Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae and Stéphane Dion.

But while much of the news media have been focused on the front-runners, Mr. Kennedy has been galloping in their slipstream, signing up thousands of new party members and raising just north of $400,000.

Four weeks ago, a very senior Liberal senator, officially unaffiliated, hosted a salon for Mr. Kennedy in his Montreal home. A private affair, no reporters, just a few well-placed friends to meet the candidate, take his pulse and hear him talk about renewal, what the Liberal Party needs to do to regain the confidence of Canadian voters; the sort of event one might imagine being arranged for a young Pierre Elliott Trudeau, circa 1967.

Clearly, he has some distance to go. A survey conducted by the Strategic Counsel last week for The Globe and Mail and CTV shows Mr. Kennedy tied for fourth place with Ken Dryden, each with the support of 9 per cent of Liberal Party members. Several blogger surveys predict Mr. Kennedy will do better.

Much will depend on the convention's mood. Less sullied and more youthful than his better-known rivals, Mr. Kennedy — neither a Martinite nor a Chrétienite — bears no scars from the party's internecine wars and might thus be regarded as a leader who can heal the rifts.

More importantly, although 81 per cent of Liberals told the Strategic Counsel they believe the party can form the next government, delegates will, in fact, be electing a new opposition leader, for potentially five years. By that time, Messrs. Ignatieff and Rae, with all their liabilities, would be into their mid-60s — not an age, perhaps, to galvanize the emerging generation. Mr. Kennedy would be just 51, seasoned federally and, leaning slightly left, a nightmare for Jack Layton's NDP.

"Kennedy's what I call the sleeper," pollster Allan Gregg said. "He doesn't carry the same baggage as some of the others, although he does carry some — notably, almost no support in Quebec. But it's early days yet. And oftentimes, to find the winner, you have to look not at the front-runner or even the guy in second, but the third choice."

Political consultant John Duffy, a principal at Toronto's Strategy Corp. and officially neutral, agrees. "Kennedy is well positioned to exploit the negatives of the other name candidates. He's definitely one to watch, with a lot of late-ballot potential. The question is: Will he be able to withstand the scrutiny of being the one to watch?"

---

A summer day in Toronto. At the north end of High Park, the city's Ukrainian community gathers for its 10th annual parade and festival: marching bands, costumed dancers, long-coated, mustachioed Cossacks and bins full of perogies.

Gerard Kennedy trades his sport jacket for a traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt and strides casually along Bloor Street, waving and shaking hands. He has genuine standing here; the parade route traverses part of the provincial riding (Parkdale-High Park) that he represented until stepping down to seek the federal leadership. His mother, Caroline Shemanski, descends from a Ukrainian family that arrived in Canada in 1891. But this is strictly a goodwill appearance, not a moment for overt politicking.

Later, from a grandstand, two dozen speakers, mostly local politicians, assemble to make empty speeches to an appreciative, geriatric crowd, an exercise in mutual validation. Among them, only Mr. Kennedy actually seizes the occasion to try to communicate an idea.

"My generation has been the complacent one," he says. "We had the education and the health care and the economic opportunities, thanks to the sacrifices made by your generation. And now we need to make sure that the next generation has the same chances."

Does any of this register with the audience? It seems unlikely. The perogies are a higher priority. But he makes an effort all the same, an effort no one else makes.

---

It isn't entirely true that Gerard Michael Kennedy has no negatives. Although he grew up in small-town The Pas, Man., (read: solid Western roots) ran food banks in Edmonton and Toronto (big heart for social justice), was an MPP in Queen's Park for a decade (political experience) and, until throwing his hat in the leadership ring in April, was education minister for three years in Dalton McGuinty's Ontario government (a key portfolio, by all accounts deftly handled), his regional resonance is still suspect. He's a provincial cabinet minister trying to leap to the national stage. The historical precedents aren't encouraging; there aren't any.

All of that may matter less than his French, which has drawn decidedly mixed reviews. Although he's being tutored and working hard at it, and speaks French at home with his wife, Jeanette Arsenault-Kennedy, his proficiency, Mr. Duffy insists, is not what it needs to be.

"If I were him," Mr. Duffy said, "I'd be working on the French every day, every second. It's that important."

Meanwhile, almost everyone who engages with Mr. Kennedy seems to come away impressed: with his intelligence, his command of whatever dossier is in front of him, his commitment to constructive change, his prodigious work ethic and his essential rootedness. Oh yes, and charisma, a word much debased, but applicable to Mr. Kennedy. He may look like a milky chartered accountant, and you're unlikely to ever see him pirouette with a rose in his teeth, but put him in front of a crowd to talk about poverty or education or gender wage equity and the life force emerges, palpably.

"Incredibly smart," said Annie Kidder, executive director of People for Education, an Ontario parents' organization involved in school reform. "He knew the issues up and down, understood the complexity of public education. And he was really passionate about it. He didn't just talk the talk."

"He did his homework," said Rick Johnston, president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association, who met with Mr. Kennedy regularly. "His attitude was, 'I've read the reports. Here's what I think. Now show me I'm wrong.'"

The approach, Mr. Johnston said, did not always endear him to his senior civil servants. "But he's persuasive. I saw him address a roomful of trustees that was ready to lynch him and, after 40 minutes, they gave him a standing ovation."

Michael Fullan, senior policy adviser to the Premier and chief architect of Ontario's blueprint for raising levels of numeracy and literacy, said he was "amazed" to find at their first meeting that the minister knew more about the proposal than his own officials. Mr. Kennedy quickly became its driver.

In Mr. Fullan's judgment, four things made Mr. Kennedy effective: concern for social justice, his sheer, intellectual prowess, an obsession with results, and indefatigable energy. "He must have worked 20 hours a day. I'm sure it made him annoying to some staffers. Too much micromanagement. Too many expectations. He didn't berate anyone, but he was demanding. He put enormous pressure on people, because he was driven that way. I've worked with policy makers for 25 years. Most just want to get it on the books, not worry about implementation. Gerard's take was, 'How will this translate into results? Where are the results?'"

Mr. Kennedy's single greatest coup as minister is said to be the four-year collective agreements reached between 122 school districts and 72 unions. The previous decade had been torn by bitter labour strife, a miasma of grievances and work stoppages that poisoned the education environment. Until there was labour peace and stability, he argued, nothing else could happen. Still, few thought a four-year contract, which guaranteed labour peace in exchange for a staggered 10.5-per-cent wage increase, was a realistic goal.

"When I first raised it," he recalled, " they literally laughed at me."

"Gerard did something nobody else could have done," Mr. Fullan said. "And technically he had no legal right, since he wasn't a party to the agreements. But he framed the ground rules and rode herd on everyone. He's resilient. He's persistent, but has flexibility. If he can't do it one way, he'll do it another. So he's very ambitious, but ambitious for the right reasons. On the one hand, he's a pure, ambitious politician, and at the same time 100 per cent genuine and rock solid on integrity."

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Gerard Kennedy and Jeanette Arsenault met at a nightclub in Edmonton in 1981. They were out with another couple. Ms. Arsenault-Kennedy, an Acadian francophone from Prince Edward Island, isn't sure what the other couple talked about, but Mr. Kennedy, she remembers, talked politics.

"That's all we talked about, the entire night." Her first impression? "This is one ambitious and motivated guy... Maybe that's what attracted me. He is solid. He knows what he wants." In fact, not long after they started dating, Mr. Kennedy thought it best to put Ms. Arsenault-Kennedy on notice: "You know," he told his future wife, "one day, I'm going to go into politics. You know that." He was 22.

They dated for nine years. When he finally proposed marriage, "at first I didn't believe him," laughed Ms. Arsenault-Kennedy. "It was like — did I hear that right?"

Politics had been part of his world from the start, a staple of conversation around the Kennedy kitchen table in The Pas, 630 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. "There was lots of voluble debate. In our house," Mr. Kennedy said. "Trivial Pursuit was a contact sport."

His father Jack, owner of a gas franchise for the region, was Mr. Community; active in Kiwanis and Knights of Columbus, a school trustee, then mayor and later a Liberal candidate in the 1984 federal election.

Gerard, the second of six children, was born with a clubbed left foot, a handicap he refused to let impede him. "My mother actually made me believe that the reason I had a specially built shoe was that the other kids just hadn't got theirs yet," he said. "I could skate before I could properly walk."

A friend of his father's built a reinforced skate and the young Kennedy, in the dogged manner that would come to mark him, "just kept at it and kept at it." At 14, with his older brother Ed, he won a hockey scholarship to Winnipeg's private St. John's-Ravenscourt school. Later, he played at the Junior A level, a rugged defenceman known for his ability to deliver hip checks. In college, he recalled, not without a glint of pride, he put two guys through the glass that way. He still plays in a Queen's Park pick-up league.

"What Gerard may have lacked in athleticism," said Ed, now CEO of the Winnipeg-based North West Company, "he made up for with sheer tenacity. He wasn't reckless on the ice, but he was determined and fearless. He'd immerse himself in the moment and I think it connects to his life. He's purpose-driven. It's hardwired into him."

After high school, Mr. Kennedy spent a year at Trent University but, when its hockey program was scuttled, transferred to the University of Alberta in Edmonton. It was the early 1980s, a recession had set in, and the provincial Tories had cut welfare payments. A friend recruited him to volunteer at a local food bank and within months, he had suspended his studies and was running it.

"I was probably as abstract as any university student," Mr. Kennedy said, "and I was angered by what I saw — average people with difficult situations and nowhere to run, quite at variance with the country I'd been led to be believed existed."

He intended to return in six months to complete the degree, but never did; addressing the poverty issue seemed a higher calling. He's proud of his achievements there. "We got the [Peter] Lougheed government to restore welfare cuts, a day before we released a report showing how their policies were driving clients to the food bank. We created an awareness of a problem that just was not there before."

"I was immediately impressed with him," recalled Jack Harmer, who befriended Mr. Kennedy in Edmonton and has remained a confidante (Mr. Harmer spoke at the Kennedy-Arsenault wedding in 1991 in Wellington, PEI — Jeanette's largely francophone home town — and predicted they'd one day live at 24 Sussex Drive). "He had immense leadership capabilities. He seemed able to do everything. In the course of a day, he'd run budgets, do research, give a speech, negotiate with food companies, handle media interviews and then be out on the floor at midnight filling bags of food that he would personally deliver."

In 1985, Terry Sweeney, then a Loblaws technology executive and now a consultant to Big Pharma, tried to recruit Mr. Kennedy to run Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank.

"My first impression was that he was too young and I was wasting my time," Mr. Sweeney recalled. "But while I was waiting to see him, he was with a young couple and I eavesdropped. And he was so detailed in his questions. He listened so well and was very creative in looking for solutions. He gave them his complete attention. We ended up talking all night long. It took me a year to get him here."

Finally moving to Toronto with Ms. Arsenault-Kennedy, a daycare supervisor, Mr. Kennedy's first assignment was a fall food drive. "We were expecting to collect 50,000 pounds," Mr. Sweeney said. "We got almost a million. He just generated a ton of media. The thing is, he had a very clear vision. He saw food banks as interim measures that could be used as a platform to talk about poverty in Canada."

During his 10 years at Daily Bread, Mr. Kennedy distributed $30-million in food annually and put hunger in Canada on the front page. It did not hurt that he was bright, articulate and photogenic or that he refused to take a dollar of government money.

"That wasn't ideological," he insisted. "It was practical. It was a waste of time. You can't just throw money at things. The public is not wrong in thinking there is a disconnect between what they're told and what gets delivered."

Sue Cox, Mr. Kennedy's No. 2 for eight years in Toronto, said he was "very good at approaching things from a different perspective. The whole volunteer component — that you didn't need money — but could ask for goods and services without offering tax receipts, that was Gerard. He truly believed you could appeal to people's better instincts. Sometimes his faith was vindicated, sometimes it wasn't."

He worked relentlessly. "People would call at all hours of the night because they knew he'd be there."

Ms. Arsenault-Kennedy said she has long been reconciled to her husband's extended hours. "Gerard is who he is... I'm not going to tell him what he can do and what he can't do."

Still, she said, it's better now that they have a family: seven-year-old Théria and three-year-old John-Julien. "Gerard works hard at trying to find a balance. We both do."

With his bright media profile, it wasn't long before political talent scouts started calling, from every party. Then-Liberal-leader David Peterson sent a personal emissary to woo him. Mr. Kennedy resisted the blandishments. He'd only been in Toronto one year. He wasn't ready.

Later, insiders started suggesting a run for the leadership; in a field of no-names, Mr. Kennedy had a good shot at winning. He'd won a by-election in a former NDP redoubt, York South, beating (now Toronto Mayor) David Miller by 1,118 votes and, by the time Liberals gathered for the 1996 convention, was the front-runner. He led through four exhausting ballots, before Dalton McGuinty grabbed the laurels on the fifth.

So what went wrong? Some observers blamed it on Mr. Kennedy's inexperience, some on his left-of-centre orientation — too risky a bet in Mike Harris's Tory Ontario — some on a smear campaign orchestrated by a disgruntled riding volunteer. Other politicians might have been crushed, resentful; Mr. Kennedy rebounded quickly, throwing his support behind Mr. McGuinty.

There have been awkward moments between them but, three years later, when a party cabal attempted to mount a "Dump Dalton" campaign, Mr. Kennedy refused to sign on. Winning the vast education portfolio, the centrepiece of the McGuinty mandate after the 2003 election, may have been a reward for his loyalty.

"He was disappointed," Ms. Arsenault-Kennedy said, recalling the leadership defeat, "but not devastated. The next day, it was, 'We have work to do.' He just needs to know what he's there for. And what he has to do next."

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A Thursday morning in September. Mr. Kennedy takes a break from prepping for a candidates debate, leaves his midtown campaign headquarters and walks across St. Clair Avenue for green tea. He says he was encouraged to run for the leadership in February by a variety of people: MPs, senators, party activists, businessmen.

Although considered something of a loner — a talented artist, Mr. Kennedy's notion of unwinding is to sit down with a sketch pad and charcoal pencils and draw — he takes soundings from friends and confidantes, including Mr. Harmer; Mr. Sweeney; Katie Telford, his former chief of staff and now national campaign director; her husband, Rob Silver, an energy lawyer and head of his policy team; his father Jack, whom he calls "a touchstone"; and his siblings. Before most major decisions in his life, Mr. Kennedy has flown home to Le Pas to kick the permutations around.

His initial response to the overtures was a polite "no, thanks."

"I was very content doing what I was doing." But he did agree to look at it and, after consultations, decided to run, concerned that the federal party was adrift and that, without a renaissance, would hand the federal Tories a second term almost by default, just as Ontario Liberals had done for Mike Harris in 1999.

"I felt I was the only one who could do with the renewal of the party," he said. "I met with the other candidates. And it's not about their deficiencies. It's about what approach is needed for these times."

Over the past six months, Mr. Kennedy has laid out a broad policy template, calling for the adoption of national education standards, gender equity, energy and environmental initiatives and a review of Canada's military mandate in Afghanistan, an issue that threatens to polarize the convention. He's also spent a lot of time talking about enterprise, what he calls "unshackling the power of the individual to make a difference" and promoting "an innovative, risk-taking climate."

One issue that will require some finesse is the Middle East. When the Lebanon war broke out this summer, Mr. Kennedy warned both his Muslim and Jewish supporters that neither was likely to be satisfied with his position. He was probably right, since he condemned Hezbollah for hijacking the peace agenda and advised Israel to conduct itself with utmost restraint. But when a young B.C. Liberal who supported Mr. Kennedy posted a blog item saying Israel survives "on the blood of innocent people," the candidate quickly disowned him, noting that he played no role in the campaign.

He'd like to be given a mandate for those policies, or at least a nod in their direction. "People have to be buying something. You could slip in and [win by] being the best of the worst, or the only one without too much baggage, or the only one who doesn't fall down, but that's not a mandate and it's not worth having."

Despite his hands-on, let's-review-the-numbers-again style, Mr. Kennedy sees his main role as strategic synthesizer — to bring disparate parties together and create the agenda that will move things forward. "I established clear goals, at the ministry and elsewhere, and gave a lot of latitude, but was never content to see those things not done. You have to get the implementation. There's nothing worth getting up for otherwise."

This, he conceded, "was a bit unusual for people. They were used to being handed an objective along with, 'Could you at least make it look like this is happening?' But government is not an academic exercise. It's spending people's money and causing some good to happen."

Friends say he is realistic about his chances. The leadership race is a marathon, not a sprint, and Mr. Kennedy is pacing himself, more than content not to be the front-runner. He's learned some lessons from 1996. Better, as the home stretch looms, to run behind the pack, the dark horse — and the one to watch.

From the Globe

Kennedy - Eloquent, Intense, Impressive

2006-09-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

It's still never over till it's over

The latest poll may have written off all but three candidates, but no one really knows who will replace Paul Martin


Alan Kellogg
The Edmonton Journal

Thursday, September 21, 2006

CREDIT: Larry Wong, The Journal

Gerard Kennedy

Behind door number one, the youthful 46-year-old, western-born former provincial cabinet minister, untried in federal politics with something to prove.

Behind door number two, the seasoned 58-year-old central Canadian veteran, a former MP and provincial premier, with something to prove.

Both Gerard Kennedy and Bob Rae want to be prime minister. Each carries baggage, pro and con.

There are other doors for delegates to the federal Liberal leadership convention to choose from, too. Much as the national media has attempted to handicap the race, no one really knows who will replace Paul Martin in an open convention that will go to multiple ballots.

A Strategic Council poll of delegates released Wednesday indicated presumed front-runner Michael Ignatieff is locked in a statistical tie with Rae, with Stephane Dion not far behind, Kennedy and Ken Dryden trailing. The pundits will pundit. One not so long ago pontificated from a great height that Kennedy would sail through the middle and win. Wednesday, with an equal measure of hubris, he assured readers that the former Ontario education minister and Edmonton Food Bank founder didn't have a chance and should drop out.

Tuesday, Kennedy and Rae made their pitches at back-to-back Journal editorial board meetings, separated by a 50-minute lunch break. The timing was interesting, inviting instant comparisons. Although the two hopefuls, like their other rivals, agree on more things than they don't, the contrast was striking enough and informed the larger race.

The rough calculus goes: Should Liberals choose a familiar national face, or try someone "new?" And: If that person isn't able to beat Stephen Harper in the next election, how would he -- employing that pronoun advisedly in this race -- fare as an opposition leader, facing a minority or even majority Tory government? Then again, why shouldn't he be able to win? What about party renewal? Who is Harper's worst nightmare, or squishiest, unwitting ally?

With Manitoba-Alberta roots, Kennedy is often mentioned as a prairie favourite son of sorts in these parts. We talked a lot about his western bona fides in a late-night conversation early on in the race, following a long day for the candidate. There wasn't much of that Tuesday, but on a series of questions stretching from Afghanistan to Kyoto to health care, he seemed more poised, prepared, campaign-hardened.

While Afghanistan may well be a flash point in the next campaign as Canadians grow increasingly restive over casualites and purpose, offering a specific alternate plan is another thing.

Kennedy spoke with some eloquence on the subject, maintaining that the mission has lost its way. Genuine security, he says, will only flow when development and opium issues are addressed. The vast majority of our resources in the troubled country have been apportioned to warfare, a fact also mentioned by Rae.

Fair enough, but one wonders how our troops might be in position to help rebuild a region still mired in daily, bloody conflict. I'm simplifying Kennedy's position, but the question remains.

Still, on a variety of issues, the Torontonian left little doubt that he is earning a rightful place on the national stage. He was particularly strong on re-casting the Liberal Party as a bold, renewed force in national endeavour. It might be passion, or a sense that his campaign is flagging, or a combination of factors. But there was an intensity to his remarks -- unlike Stephane Dion, with the odd touch of humour -- that impresses. On what is seen as his greatest liability -- his capacity in French -- he handled himself well enough in a roomful of people sadly shakier on the brief than he is. He's working on it, and maintains his focus is to be able to listen effectively and respond clearly, not to deconstruct Camus.

Bob Rae, as we know, is no slouch in the communications business, either. His demeanor was entirely different -- relaxed, even breezy, a pro sporting his Order of Canada label pin, holding forth comfortably. He shrugs off the oft-cited liability of his troubled tenure as an NDP Ontario premier by citing recent polls pointing he is at least as popular if not more so in that province than his rivals.

It may have been our questions, but he did seem to devote a lot to time to Jack Layton bashing, something he is rather good at. Specificity on the issues was less clear. Western Canada, let it be said, is not his strong suit. But Ignatieff's declaration that the constitution should be revisited was dismissed with the certainty of an old hand who has learned to keep his fingers out of the table saw.

It was interesting, considering the conventional wisdom has it that the party is drifting leftward, that both Rae and Kennedy stressed the entreprenurial side of things, the power of innovation capitalism, the dangers of not getting it right (Dion did, too, in the same boardroom a few weeks ago). While Rae defended the Romanow report as valuable and misunderstood, he allowed that he was the first premier to cut health-care spending, as if that was a plus. He quipped that "the NDP lead position is that everything must done by CUPE."

It's a bit odd that Rae is often cast as a polarizing figure, since he is clearly the most charming, witty and refreshingly self-effacing of the pack. When he looks you in the eye and says he's a happy man who won't be crushed by losing, you believe him. You like that.

Sacrifice. Kennedy gave up a cabinet seat for the race, while Rae is rolling the dice on a hard-won reputation as a non-aligned statesman. I walked out thinking we could do a lot worse than seeing either one of them lead the Liberal party.

A survey of those of us assembled in the room revealed quite different impressions of the two, a situation apparently shared by Liberal delegates. They will soon be faced with an intriguing calculation. You begin to understand why it's still not over until it's over.

akellogg@thejournal.canwest.com

Gerard Kennedy and Scott Brison - leaders on the Afghanistan file

2006-09-06T03:30:00.000-07:00

Liberal leadership contentors Gerard Kennedy and Scott Brison discuss Canada's mission to Afghanistan and the leadership race.

[Direct Link]

Thanks to CTV's Question Period

More from the Toronto Star

No retreat but review, Liberals say
Leadership rivals split on exit strategy

Most agree we must fulfil commitment
Sep. 5, 2006. 01:00 AM
ROBYN DOOLITTLE
STAFF REPORTER

Although divided on an exit strategy, Liberal leadership candidates are calling for a major re-evaluation of Canada's role in Afghanistan.

These demands for a change in mandate from fighters to peacekeepers were renewed after five Canadian soldiers were killed in 24 hours since Saturday during a major Kandahar offensive.

"This mission now has the appearance of being almost entirely a counter-insurgency effort that is being fought overwhelmingly on a military basis," Bob Rae said. "I think we have to look carefully at the original purpose of the mission."

It was a common theme among the eight candidates reached yesterday: After Sept. 11, 2001, Canadian Forces were deployed to help oust the Taliban, build an Afghan infrastructure and bring about a democracy, but now those goals are not being addressed.

Gerard Kennedy likened the Canadian mission in Afghanistan to the American war in Iraq.

"The Canadian strategy in Afghanistan is similar to the U.S. strategy in Iraq ... and it's a losing strategy," Kennedy said. "Canada is now occupying parts of Afghanistan and that is not a traditional role for Canada."

While troops have been focusing on eradicating poppy crops — opium being the major mainstay of Afghanistan's economy, Kennedy said there has been no effort to replace those lucrative crops with alternatives. This, he says, is driving farmers into the arms of the Taliban.

"We can't win the hearts and minds of the Afghani people if we can't win their stomachs," he said.

Many demanded the government begin talks with other NATO countries to develop an exit strategy, and lambasted NDP Leader Jack Layton's call for withdrawal soon and at the latest by February 2007.

`We would not be pleased if others (in NATO) pulled out and left us to stand alone'

Hedy Fry, Liberal leadership candidate

"The idea of Mr. Layton for immediate withdrawal is completely irresponsible. It's as irresponsible as the decision of the Prime Minister (Stephen Harper) to extend the mission there," Stéphane Dion charged.

Hedy Fry, on the road campaigning yesterday, agreed.

"I think pulling out right now, as others have suggested, would put the other troops in jeopardy. We would not be pleased if others (in NATO) pulled out and left us to stand alone," she said.

Most shared Joe Volpe's position that since Canadian parliamentarians committed our Forces to Afghanistan until 2009, Canada must honour that promise. Volpe said we need to be firm on there being no extension of that mandate and on Canada being a peacekeeping nation, not one being called on for combat.

"We're asked to take on a role that the Americans couldn't handle, one of the most equipped of the world powers. Something the Russians and the English couldn't do, and we were asked to do it with an armed forces of about 55,000, and only about 11,000 are deployable at any time," he said.

Active combat and search and destroy missions are not what Canadians signed up for, Carolyn Bennett said, even though "Traditional peacekeeping isn't possible any more.

"We are now dealing with terrorism and civil war and a set of different circumstances that puts soldiers in harm's way ... (so active combat) may not be what Canadians thought we signed on to. The agenda was for better schools and foreign aid."

Martha Hall Findlay said the situation has become so unstable that it would be a mistake to set any withdrawal date.

"We need to collectively determine that we need to exit ... (a strategy) far more effective, if we do it collectively with our other NATO partners."

Michael Ignatieff, who voted to extend the Afghanistan operation from 2007 to 2009, sent an email declining comment.

Scott Brison and Ken Dryden could not be reached.

Kennedy to Nova Scotia: I understand

2006-09-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

Grit candidate puts emphasis on enterprise Link

By DAVID JACKSON Provincial Reporter

Federal Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy is looking at the big picture in his bid for the helm of the party.

During a meeting with this newspaper’s editorial board Friday, Mr. Kennedy said Canada needs to figure out how to respond to three main challenges — globalization, an aging population and the divisiveness in Canada between regions.

"Those things, I believe, have to be reckoned with for the future of the country and they’ll also reflect what should be the political priorities of the new Liberal government," Mr. Kennedy said.

Mr. Kennedy, who left his job as Ontario’s education minister to run for federal leader, said he wants the Liberal party to be different and create the conditions that are the best in the world to start and grow a business.

"We’ve been good at social justice and individual rights. We also need to be, I think, distinguished by a commitment to enterprise, and enterprise to me is getting things done in a conspicuously different way," he said.

Mr. Kennedy, a Manitoba native living in Toronto, is one of 10 people running for the leadership. National media list him in the "top tier" of contenders with Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae, and Stephane Dion. Kings-Hants MP Scott Brison is the lone Atlantic Canadian in the race.

Mr. Kennedy said he has the endorsement of 13 MPs, with more to come. No Nova Scotia MPs are backing him, though he has the support of Bluenose Senator Terry Mercer.

Mr. Kennedy, 45, gave some broad answers to questions about some Nova Scotia issues.

For example, the province has lobbied for a change to post-secondary education transfers from Ottawa. Rather than per capita funding, the province wants Ottawa to base the money on the number of students since Nova Scotia attracts so many from elsewhere.

Mr. Kennedy said Canada has to make sure it’s providing a quality education system.

"We have to go a little further than just saying, ‘Well, let’s pay bills differently.’ Let’s look at what we’re getting," he said.

On regional development, Mr. Kennedy said he’d keep the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, but change it. He also said there needs to be a stronger national commitment and a "shared prosperity agenda" to bring economic growth to smaller communities.

"That means not just subsidizing business. It means looking at tax incentives, it means looking at the combination of things that get companies to locate — infrastructure and education," he said.

Mr. Kennedy entered politics in 1996 after running The Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto for 10 years.

Liberals will pick their new leader in Montreal in December.

( djackson@herald.ca)

Kennedy - A man of Action

2006-08-29T22:13:00.000-07:00

Kennedy on the attack
Canada should pull out of Afghanistan unless mission clarified, he says

Says Harper has made the same mistakes as Bush accused of in Iraq
Aug. 29, 2006. 01:00 AM
LINDA DIEBEL
STAFF REPORTER - Tor Star

Former Ontario cabinet minister Gerard Kennedy last night set himself apart from his opponents in the federal Liberal leadership race by calling for Canada to pull out of the war in Afghanistan outright unless NATO changes the mission.

"Somebody has to pull the plug on this grand illusion that is not working," Kennedy told a meeting of Young Liberals at Ryerson University.

"We should leave Afghanistan if we can't get a mandate that does honour and respect to the people of Afghanistan and to our troops."

He said that by focusing solely on military objectives and ignoring development, "Prime Minister (Stephen) Harper is making the same mistakes the Bush administration made in Iraq and it will lead to long-term failure."

Kennedy, generally considered to be among the top four candidates among 10 leadership hopefuls, put Afghanistan at the centre of his campaign, calling it a "character test" for the country. He will seek to "galvanize people" around the issue in coming weeks.

Gerard Kennedy, Liberal leadership candidate

By doing so, he clearly hopes to align himself with the growing dismay of Canadians over the war and loss of Canadian life, as well as setting himself up as the strongest opponent to Harper.

Since 2002, 27 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan. More Canadians have been killed in combat there this year than in the previous four years.

Kennedy, 46, told about 60 students his generation "didn't always do what it should have" to solve problems, and he stressed there is a "sense of urgency" over Afghanistan. "This isn't just about my leadership, it's about yours."

The former Liberal government first sent Canadian troops to Afghanistan in December 2001. While Kennedy admitted "some big things slipped through the cracks" under the federal Liberals, he said the intention always was to have serious debate on the context and duration of the mission.

Instead, the new Conservative government opted last spring to extend the mission until 2009, with only six hours of debate in the Commons and a vote Harper maintained would not change the outcome.

Among Liberal leadership hopefuls in Parliament only Michael Ignatieff, the MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore, and Scott Brison, from Kings-Hants, voted with the government.

`We should leave Afghanistan if we can't get a mandate that does honour and respect to the people of Afghanistan and to our troops'

"Harper stole from Canadians the terms under which Canadian men and women are being put in harm's way," Kennedy said. Canadian forces have been taken out of peacekeeping and turned into an occupation force, he said.

"With our eyes pushed mightily shut, we are going along with something that isn't right."

"This is not the decision for the military. It is not even the decision for the House of Commons with a minority government. This is a decision for the country."

Despite pleas for development aid from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Kennedy said money has been spent almost exclusively on security. There hasn't been a hydro plant built or a serious effort made to offer alternatives to farmers whose opium fields — their only livelihood — are being burned in an eradication campaign.

Without a focus on development, the war can't be won, he said, adding that Canada has spent $4 billion on its military mission and $100 million on aid to Afghanistan — "a ratio that doesn't work."

The Liberals first announced they would send troops to Afghanistan, under the mandate of the UN, as part of a U.S. coalition against the then-Taliban government, a month after Al Qaeda's attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Kennedy accused Harper of blindly following Bush, adding: "If Canada can't have an independent voice in Afghanistan, then where will we?"

Kennedy - A man of Bold New Ideas

2006-08-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

Aug 23 2006
Kennedy advocate for balance

Jennifer Smith/Capital News

Federal Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy made his second visit to Kelowna on Monday.

By John McDonald Staff Reporter

Gerard Kennedy, considered one of the front-runners in the race for the leadership of the federal Liberal Party, touched down briefly in Kelowna on Monday.
But he was here long enough to tell local grassroots party members he believes the Liberals to be the closest thing Canada has to a natural governing party
"The Liberals have always struck the right balance between the social and economic needs of the country," he told the small gathering at a local hotel.
Kennedy is still thought to be within reach of Michael Ignatieff, the Harvard academic largely viewed as the next leader of the Liberals, mainly because of his lack of connection to the previous Liberal government which was tainted by the sponsorship scandal.
The former minister of education for Ontario took his first political office in 1996, winning the riding of York South for the provincial Liberal Party for the first time in its 70-year-history.
But that didn't seem to mean much to the largely Indo-Canadian audience, one of whom asked Kennedy what he would do to help the domestic agricultural sector fend off competition from cheap imports.
Kennedy said Canada needs a national food policy as well as food security but pointed the finger at what he said is a failing World Trade Organization which has not been able to fulfill its mandate. He said he would rather see trade fall under the mandate of an organization like the United Nations which would work on fixing some of the underlying conditions of trade imbalances.
"That way, we wouldn't have to compete with countries that don't have to meet the same social, heath and human rights standards."
Kennedy also promised a federal commitment to infrastructure within the province, saying it would help the whole country.
"We see a huge potential for B.C. as the Pacific Gateway which would require investment in roads, borders and ports," he said. "In that sense, it's not really about B.C. but about the whole country. We would all benefit."
Kennedy also put forward his vision of a national education strategy to help Canada improve its global competitiveness. "We're the only Western country that doesn't have one," he said.
The solution, Kennedy said, was in both a national childcare strategy and a focus on early learning.
"Childcare is important but early learning intervention will make the biggest difference," he said, dismissing one audience member's concerns about federal intervention in a provincial jurisdiction. "The federal government has to be involved in education at some level," he said. "This isn't about crossing our fingers and hoping for a positive outcome."
Kennedy said immigration was also a priority for, estimating that Canada loses $6 billion each year by not taking advantage of the skills of recent immigrants.

Gerard on the ball on attack on Harper

2006-07-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

Harper's stance on Mideast used for fundraising
Updated Fri. Jul. 28 2006 7:08 PM ET

Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- Conservatives are trying to turn Prime Minister Stephen Harper's principled stand on the Middle East conflict into a money-maker for the party.

Using the Lebanese turmoil -- in which hundreds of civilians, including at least nine Canadians, have been killed -- to make a fundraising pitch has drawn the ire of at least one Liberal leadership hopeful.

Gerard Kennedy called the ruling party's latest appeal for donations "crass" and "offensive."

"We have people dying and families being displaced on both sides of this conflict and meanwhile Stephen Harper is allowing his foreign policy to be used as a partisan fundraising tool," Kennedy said Friday.

"This crosses the line."

Khaled Mouammar, president of the Canadian Arab Federation, called the fundraising appeal "shameful and appalling."

Kennedy and Mouammar were reacting to a fundraising appeal e-mailed to prospective donors Thursday night from Conservative executive director Michael Donison.

Donison prefaces his request for donations with praise for Harper's resolute support for Israel during its bombardment of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

"Admit it," Donison says. "Moral clarity feels a lot better than the endless equivocation we found with our previous government."

He boasts that Harper was "amongst the first of the world's leaders to take a principled stand" and suggests that since then "leaders the world over have risen to stand with Stephen Harper."

But Donison observes that "not everyone is grateful" for Harper's "strong, clear direction," particularly not the country's opposition parties which "are only interested in maneuvering for party advantage" and are "blindly determined" to topple Harper's minority government.

"And so," Donison says, "I must turn to you to ask you for your support."

"This government is worth the fight; help us make sure we win the next election whenever it comes. We can expect an avalanche of Liberal fury to get back into power and a flood of media support for their effort," he adds.

"Help us keep the focus on principle and character and Canada's return to its place in the world."

Donison then asks for "a special contribution" of $150 or $75 to help the party "defend the decisive leadership of Stephen Harper."

Donison could not be reached for comment Friday.

But a senior Conservative source made no apologies for the executive director's pitch.

"The point of the letter is to remind Canadians that they have a prime minister that's able to make decisions and at times those decisions may be tough," the source said.

"But unlike the Liberals, he doesn't dither, he decides."

However, Kennedy called on Harper to "repudiate" Donison's pitch "in the strongest terms possible."

"The implication it makes is that this is just another political issue to make hay out of. That's got to be offensive to people on all sides," Kennedy said in an interview.

"It's crass and unacceptable and we would expect much, much more from the party in power ... They're wanting to collect on the position that they've taken."

Many Mistakenly Misjudge Kennedy

2006-07-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

Gerard Kennedy suddenly on everyone's radar screen

Campaign excels at membership recruitment
Young volunteers key to his team's success so far

Jul. 22, 2006. 12:35 PM

{Link} - To TorStar (doesn't always work)

LINDA DIEBEL

Many Liberals were surprised when Gerard Kennedy's people did so well recruiting new members to the party recently Â those numbers being one of the few benchmarks by which to judge the strength of a Liberal leadership candidate before the actual convention later this year in Montreal.

Oh, sure, everyone expected Toronto MPs Michael Ignatieff (Etobicoke-Lakeshore) and Joe Volpe (Eglinton-Lawrence) to be successful, Ignatieff because he's been touted as front-runner and Volpe because his campaign team told everybody he'd signed up of 36,000 new members. Bob Rae, former NDP premier of Ontario, pulled in high numbers and that wasn't a shocker either. (These new Liberals are important because, if registered by July 4, they became eligible, along with existing party members, to vote for delegates to the Nov. 28-Dec. 3 convention that will choose Paul Martin's successor.)

But Kennedy, who began the year as a provincial Liberal cabinet minister, wasn't on anybody's radar. Not really.

Fewer than three months after declaring his candidacy for the leadership in Ottawa, he seemed to be slipping into obscurity. He didn't perform particularly well at the leaders' debates in Winnipeg and Moncton last month (admittedly, the format allowed little spontaneity), coming across as lacklustre. Gone was the wily politician who almost won the Liberal leadership of Ontario in 1996, coming first on four ballots before losing to now Premier Dalton McGuinty. Absent was the charisma of the social activist and a man once included on a Maclean's list of Canada's 10 most eligible bachelors.

Instead, during one debate, Kennedy criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper for trying to buy Quebec and was attacked by the media for sounding like the provincial politician he was, rather than a federalist with larger concerns. His French was parsed and he was deemed not to be bilingual.

During countless early summer conversations with campaign insiders about the race (usually about how the other 10 candidates stacked up in relation to theirs), Kennedy was the name often forgotten. As in: ``How many is that, now? Ten? Okay, there's also uh, uh . . ." Finger-snapping. ``Right, Kennedy.''

In addition to Ignatieff, Volpe, Rae and Kennedy, the race includes MPs Carolyn Bennett (St. Paul's), Maurizio Bevilacqua (Vaughan), Scott Brison (Kings-Hants), StÃ©phane Dion (St. Laurent-Cartierville), Ken Dryden (York Centre) and Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre), as well as Toronto lawyer Martha Hall Findlay.

With the new membership breakdowns obtained by the Toronto Star last week, it's as if Kennedy came out of nowhere to score the most new recruits in British Columbia and a position near the top in all other provinces, except Quebec.

How did he do it? In a simple answer, youth. He has an impressive network of volunteers Â the majority under 25 and many associated with campus clubs Â who signed up new members.
A week ago, the Liberal Party of Canada released its membership at 184,555, estimating about half are new members. The ability to recruit well indicates a team has the volunteers to work on other aspects of the leadership race, such as lobbying members to get involved actively in the delegate selection. It's no guarantee, but a good sign.

`It is just not acceptable for someone to be hungry in Canada'Gerard Kennedy

As for Quebec, Kennedy, who turns 46 next week, plans to spend most of the rest of the summer in the province with wife, Jennette Arsenault-Kennedy and two children, studying French and campaigning. "We'll just keep working in Quebec," he says. Asked if his French will be better in the three debates set for the fall, one in Quebec City, he says to wait and see.
Kennedy is well-known in the West and argues that the rest of the country can't keep treating Western Canada "as an afterthought."
Born in The Pas, Man., son of a former mayor and defeated Liberal candidate, he went to a private boys' school in Winnipeg on a hockey scholarship and dropped out of university to help establish the country's first food bank, becoming executive director of Edmonton's Food Bank in 1983.
In 1986, he was recruited to help establish the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto, running the organization for 10 years without government money, and distributing $30 million worth of food to 150,000 people annually.
"Gerard is very sincere and very compassionate. He's always given the impression that he cares about people, and I can tell you he does," says city councillor Frances Nunziata (Ward 11, York South-Weston) who helped Kennedy win his first provincial riding (now Parkdale-High Park) in 1996, shortly before the leadership convention. "I think he has served his constituency well, plus he's a nice guy."
At the Daily Bread Food Bank, Kennedy lived with the salary cap of $50,000 for executive director.
He says he became a social activist while a student at the University of Alberta. In the third year of a four-year politics and economics honours program (he'd had a year at Trent), he dropped out to work full-time, without getting his B.A.
"I didn't really choose (the work); it chose me," he says, adding that social activism at home began when students thought they should be involved with Canadian issues, rather than focusing, as they were, on the war in Nicaragua.
His thinking hasn't changed. "It is just not acceptable," he says, "for someone to be hungry in Canada. That troubled me right from the beginning ... And Canadians don't want that ... they don't want to have to step over people on their way to work."
He believes that young Liberals may have been attracted to his campaign because of his social commitment and his stand on issues. Some talk about a "cult following" of Kennedy supporters. Although a lot of the social issues he cares about fall constitutionally under provincial jurisdiction, he argues the federal goernment should be setting the agenda for discussion and influencing the tone of debate in Canada.

`He's always given the impression that he cares about people'Frances Nunziata, Toronto councillor

He has described himself as a "very practical progressive" and raises issues important to nationalists. Harper's government has a "continentalist urge," he says, adding it's important for Canadians "not to be seduced by the simplism of neo-Conservatives." He wants Canada to have a stronger foreign policy vis-Ã -vis the U.S. and says: "I think we can convince the Americans that it's in their best interest too if we have control of all of our own decision-making."

Off-the-record, people say he's a perfectionist, a loner and a man who has driven staffers to distraction. "I like him, he's intelligent, but do we want a prime minister who thinks he has to write every press release himself?" asked one critic.

But, in a recent interview with the Star, former attorney general Ian Scott, who supports Kennedy, said that being a loner was "not a drawback" to be being prime minister.

Kennedy says he made the move to federal politics because "the country needs direction right
now and I want to have greater impact on the federal scene. The Liberal party has to make some changes, and I think I am the right person to make those changes."

Perhaps, though, he's not in this to win, but rather to be king-maker, queen-maker or to secure a cabinet post in a future Liberal government.

Not true, he says vehemently.

He took a gamble to enter the race, leaving his job as education minister in the McGuinty government.

"I had one of the biggest cabinet posts in the country and I think that, by any fair assessment, you'd have to say there was progress," he says, of a job that put him in charge of two million students, 4,800 schools and a $17-billion budget.

He's not running for the thrill of the convention ride either.

"I did that once before as a lifetime experience," he says, referring to the 1996 provincial leadership.

"It taught me a lot ... but I don't have to do it again.

"No, I'm all in," he finishes. "I'm as serious as I can be."

Additional articles by Linda Diebel

Jimmy K. see's writing on the wall

2006-07-17T01:20:00.000-07:00

Sets up headquaters on Kennedy Road.

"That's why, as Karygiannis sits mopping his brow on a recent steamy evening at the campaign's Kennedy Rd. headquarters" Link

What do you think of Gerard Kennedy?

2006-07-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

I endorse Kerard Kennedy for Leader

2006-06-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

To clear up any ambiguity.

Kennedy proposes tax on gas guzzlers, GST break on hybrid vehicles

2006-06-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

OTTAWA (AP) - Canada should impose a tax on gas-guzzling SUVs and cut the GST on hybrid vehicles to help meet its Kyoto commitments, says Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy.

Kennedy said Thursday that those two measures would yield a "much more practical" reduction in greenhouse gas emissions than the carbon tax floated by leadership front-runner Michael Ignatieff.

Kennedy, a Manitoba-born former Ontario education minister, claimed he brings a "western sensibility" to the leadership race. He said a carbon tax would unfairly penalize oil-rich Alberta, incense the energy industry and be counterproductive.

"We need the oil sector on side. Eight per cent of our increase in greenhouse gases came from the oil sands," Kennedy told The Canadian Press.

"We need to be working with them and what we don't want to do is cause a huge flight of capital and damage our resource industry that has been part of Canada's economic power."

Kennedy added that "Western Canada has to stop being the afterthought" when it comes to Liberal policy.

"If you're building policies you should ask yourself how they wear in all parts of the country, which is something that the Liberal party has to get better at."

Kennedy reiterated that he's open to running in a western riding for a seat in Parliament. He said there's actually "a small bidding war" among Liberals urging him to run in various places, including Lethbridge, Alberta

Kennedy - to his roots

2006-06-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

Gerard Kennedy banking on his western roots

Plans to take lessons learned establishing Canada's first food bank in Edmonton, and in Queen's Park, to Ottawa if he becomes the next leader of the Liberal party


Alan Kellogg
The Edmonton Journal

Sunday, June 04, 2006

CREDIT: Bruce Edwards, the Journal, File

Federal Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy speaks at an all-candidates forum in Edmonton in early April. Kennedy started Canada's first food bank in Edmonton.

The Man Who Would Be Leader slips into the busy, late-night downtown auberge unnoticed.

I mention to the bartender that, hey, who knows, it's possible the visitor might one day be prime minister. This is met with a blank, uncomprehending stare. The current, supposedly second-tier crop of hopefuls campaigning to replace Paul Martin have logged their accomplishments, to be sure. But aside from Bob Rae, perhaps, instant street identification is not among them.

Then again, much the same might have been said of Stephen Harper not so long ago. And champions of Gerard Kennedy, who was in town this week searching out Liberal delegate votes, reckon his protean chops could well produce the same swift, unlikely rise to the top fashioned by the current PM. "New" faces are sometimes the best faces.

In fact, Kennedy, 45, is no stranger to Edmonton. Growing up in The Pas, Man., he moved here in 1979 to attend the University of Alberta and rack up ice time as a defenceman for the Sherwood Park Crusaders. Most tellingly, he was later recruited, at 22, to head the fledgling Edmonton Food Bank, Canada's first. It was a huge success, if that word is appropriate, and inspirational at that.

Without a cent of government cash, in the midst of a local recession, Kennedy helped bridge the seeming divides between social activists, business folk, religious organizations and the public.

By 1986, he moved on to run Toronto's massive Daily Bread Food Bank, which distributes $30-million worth of groceries annually to more than 150,000 residents. Along the way, Kennedy consulted with locals stretching from France to Ireland, Israel to Ukraine.

That said, any snarky notions that he's a dreamy do-gooder at core are countered by his quantifiable political prowess. You don't put meals on the table for the forgotten without a certain toughness and capacity to convince. He's a professed lifelong Liberal -- if a quiet one in his food-bank years -- whose father Jack once ran for the party in the Manitoba riding of Churchill.

Still, when Gerard was nominated to run in a byelection in the Ontario provincial constituency then known as York South in 1996, few would have given the new guy much of a shot. The riding hadn't gone Liberal in 70 years and, as Kennedy chuckles over a Diet Coke, his party card was just off the press. He triumphed anyway, beating the estimable David Miller, currently Toronto's popular mayor -- and went on to chalk up two successive landslides.

Kennedy's got chutzpah. That same year, the newly minted MPP challenged for the provincial Liberal leadership. He almost won. It took five ballots, running to past 4 a.m., before Dalton McGuinty took the prize. The same successive ballot system that supposedly favours "everyone's second choice" will be in force for the federal Liberal convention set for this fall.

Following the election of the McGuinty government, Kennedy has lately served as minister of education, a tough brief given the previous Conservative regime's rocky history of cutbacks and protracted struggle. By the time he stepped down April 5 to take the federal plunge, his departure was seen as a major blow to the McGuinty government. On that score, Kennedy says it will be re-elected, just wait.

Like any solid candidate, Kennedy has ready answers on the current events file. As in, say, rival Joe Volpe's problems this week with accepting, then returning, under fire, large campaign donations by kids. "The very fact that we're talking about it demonstrates the strength and transparency of the system. It's never been done before. The party has set a high standard and if you don't follow it, you'll get caught. It's one of the reasons I'm able to run. This is not a big-money campaign." That said, he's increasingly mentioned as a front-runner along with Michael Ignatieff.

On Afghanistan, Kennedy has said (unlike

Ignatieff) that he would have voted against the Harper government's quickie resolution committing to another two years. "We don't have the answer to the fundamental question, which is: Are we making headway to create a civil society, or occupying a troubled part of the world? The answer is not clear. NATO isn't engaged. Without a serious discussion, Mr. Harper risks not providing (our troops) with a full mandate. It's irresponsible."

Recent announcements on eight-year Senate terms and fixed four-year federal election terms (unless a minority government is defeated) are dismissed as "window dressing, nothing more, nothing substantive."

He's not averse to the odd deke. As to whether Alberta's energy-royalty bounty should be considered revenue open for equalization payments, he says it's impossible to look at it isolation. Is that a no? We'll see, he offers with smile. "But I will tell you this. What I say in Edmonton is exactly the same as I would in Montreal or Halifax. Harper is enjoying this, pitting Ontario against Quebec."

In fact, Kennedy, whose wife and two young children live in Toronto, is by far the closest thing to a favourite-son candidate from the West, a fact prominent in his local handouts. He reminisces over his days in Edmonton, living a few blocks away from our meeting place, and back when he resided at the Bel-Air apartments in the west end. Of runs in the river valley, "one of the best attractions in any city." His uncle lives here, and he says he has travelled back "quite a few times," he says.

"In many ways, the years here were among the most formative for me, the underpinnings of what I've done since. And the message I bring to Liberals across the country is that we can't consider ourselves a true national party until we start electing members here. It's a big priority to me." In fact, he has publicly mused on running in the West.

Kennedy speaks often on generational change and the historic opportunity of an open Liberal convention. It's no secret there are some Liberals calculating that another Harper victory is a strong possibility. Given Kennedy's relatively young age and energy, he might be the best-positioned candidate to lead the charge for the next win from opposition. On the other hand, the latest polls show the party only down 10 points, and counting out the Liberals is a dangerous business.

"I believe I can win," he says. "I came up a bit short once, and I'm not in this for the experience."

akellogg@thejournal.canwest.com

Kennedy - I am a healer

2006-05-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

Kennedy touts healing potential

Sarah MacDonald
Saskatchewan News Network

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy brought his message of Liberal renewal to Saskatoon Tuesday night, hoping to muster more western support.

Kennedy, considered a strong contender in the race since he is neither a Chretienite nor a Martinite, hopes to revitalize and unite the Liberal party while strengthening Canada as a whole. His nonaligned position will benefi t him, he said.

"It will help me in the party, in terms of being a healer. I think it's the leadership that has to bring the two sides together and then we can focus on new things," said Kennedy, whose platform focuses on improving education, raising the status of immigrant Canadians and creating more enterprise in Canada.

Kennedy, 45, lives in Toronto, but he has western roots; he was born and raised in The Pas, Man., and he lived in Edmonton, where he was director of the city's fi rst food bank.

He said Liberals want a new approach in the West where people with liberal values and who approve of the programs created by Liberal governments can feel comfortable supporting the party.

"They know that it's only the stigma of the Liberal party that stands in the way of gaining greater acceptance here," Kennedy said. "They know their neighbours think like them . . . but somehow over a number of years there's been a problem in people believing in the Liberal party as caring for their families and being their party of choice." The Liberal party needs to create results, Kennedy said. It can't take its support for granted, he said, but should work to regain the support and trust of Canadians in each election.

Kennedy spent 10 years as a Liberal in the Ontario government, and resigned as education minister in April to run for the federal Liberal leadership. He has since given up his provincial seat to focus on this campaign.

He said his political experience gave him a better understanding of federalism and the need for collaboration between the provincial and federal governments to make Canada stronger internationally.

About 30 people joined Kennedy at the Delta Bessborough. It was a small, but interested crowd.

"A lot of people out West are Liberals but they don't realize it," said Sarah Turnbull, who is helping with Kennedy's campaign in Saskatchewan. "I felt that as a leader he could relate more and renew the party here out West." Saskatchewan Liberal president Frank Proto and Saskatchewan Senator Robert Peterson have also demonstrated support for Kennedy.

The Liberal leader to replace Paul Martin will be chosen in December at the party's convention in Montreal.

samacdonald@sp.canwest.com
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2006

Kennedy: It's Iggy and Me prognosticators continue to prognosticate

2006-05-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

New story Stacks up a Two horse race, confirms earlier prognostication

Ignatieff, Kennedy racking up early support

KAREN HOWLETT AND CAMPBELL CLARK

Globe and Mail Update

TORONTO and OTTAWA — With more than six months to go before the federal Liberal leadership convention, Toronto MP Michael Ignatieff and former Ontario education minister Gerard Kennedy have taken early leads in lining up support from other elected politicians.

Mr. Kennedy has the backing of 24 of the 70 Liberal MPPs in Ontario, although not all of them are ready to go public, said his spokeswoman, Amanda Alvaro. That is in addition to 12 members of Parliament who say they will vote for him in December.

The sizable backing for the former Toronto MPP in his old stomping grounds is surprising, because his supporters have kept a low profile.

Mr. Ignatieff, meanwhile, has racked up endorsements from almost a quarter of the federal Liberal caucus, or 24 of the party's 102 MPs.

The newest recruits are Brampton MP Ruby Dhalla, who briefly flirted with the idea of running, and Prince Edward Island MP Wayne Easter, a former solicitor-general.

Mr. Ignatieff has also signed up MPs with crucial organizing networks, such as Denis Coderre, Pablo Rodriguez, and Marcel Proulx in Quebec, and MPs from seven provinces, including several caucus heavyweights.

“I think it means quite a bit. The judgment of your peers is usually pretty telling in anything,” said Senator David Smith, one of Mr. Ignatieff's campaign co-chairs. “Most MPs are pretty political to begin with, and most of them, to get there, all went through nomination meetings, so they understand the nature of the exercise fairly well.”

The list of Kennedy supporters includes three Ontario cabinet ministers — Community and Social Services Minister Madeleine Meilleur, Labour Minister Steve Peters and Small Business Minister Harinder Takhar — as well as a Liberal backbenchers across the province.

Mr. Peters said Friday that when he first heard rumblings that his former cabinet colleague was considering making the jump to federal politics, he told Mr. Kennedy he could count on his support. Mr. Kennedy stepped down as education minister in April; others came on board after Mr. Kennedy began asking for their support, Ms. Alvaro said.

Raymond Chan, an MP from Richmond, B.C., endorsed Mr. Kennedy yesterday.

Ms. Alvaro said only 22 Liberal MPPs in Ontario have not decided whom to back for the federal Liberal leadership. However, provincial Health Minister George Smitherman said he doubts the number is that low. “I wouldn't be interested in validating that information,” he said on Friday.Mr. Smitherman is supporting former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae, as is Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara. Mr. Smitherman would not comment on whether other MPPs have joined the Rae campaign.

“I know several of my colleagues that are interested and keen on Bob, but I can't tell you which ones are ready to be put in the public domain.”

MPs have only one vote at the convention, but they are coveted because they usually have a network of supporters they can deliver, and some extend far beyond their own ridings.

For example, Toronto MP Ken Dryden's campaign is rated by organizers in some other camps as one of the strongest in Manitoba, which they attribute in large part to the backing of Winnipeg MP Anita Neville and Senator Sharon Carstairs, the leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party from 1986 to 1993.

Former immigration minister and Toronto MP Joe Volpe has the support of seven MPs. The rest of the 11 declared candidates have just two or three MPs, or in some cases, none.

Mr. Rae, judged by many Liberals to be near the top of the race and likely running second to Mr. Ignatieff, has recruited only two MPs, former justice minister Irwin Cotler and former Moncton mayor Brian Murphy. The lack of early support could reflect the doubts of many Ontario MPs that Mr. Rae can win an election because of baggage from his controversial tenure as the province's NDP premier from 1990 to 1995.

Those doubts could also hurt Mr. Rae at Queen's Park. Mr. Peters, who was mayor of St. Thomas in Southwestern Ontario when Mr. Rae was premier, remembers the tremendous challenges the NDP government posed for municipal leaders.

“I know Bob Rae. I like him as an individual, but my memory goes back as a municipal politician and that's what sticks in my mind.”

Kennedy - Lauded in London

2006-05-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

Kennedy brings pitch to area Liberals
Fri, May 26, 2006
The former education minister said he'd eliminate the earning gap between immigrants and native Canadians.

Gerard Kennedy called on London-area Liberals yesterday to help rebuild the federal party under his leadership.

The former Ontario education minister told a crowd of about 75 supporters at the Marconi Club "we need to be pulling together" to take the federal government back from the Conservatives.

Kennedy, one of 11 leadership hopefuls, told a receptive audience: "I'm the right person for the these times" to oversee the rebuilding process.

He said he sees Canada becoming "the first international country," taking an active role in international trade organizations and helping shape trading rules instead of just sitting back and complying with rules that penalize farmers and manufacturers.

Such a move, he said, would benefit the farmers and trade-reliant industries of Southwestern Ontario.

Kennedy is the third leadership hopeful to visit party members in the London region in recent days in advance of the party's leadership convention Dec. 2 and 3 in Montreal.

His appearance in London followed a noon-hour speech to the Economic Club of Toronto in which he called for an end to the earning gap between native-born Canadians and immigrants.

Kennedy said the gap exists despite similar education and work experience and is costing the Canadian economy $6 billion annually.

"By 2016, we will eliminate the immigrant success gap."

He would do so with increased access to language training, changes in the point system immigration officials use for skilled labour and by setting annual immigration targets with a federal-provincial-municipal business committee.

Kennedy has lived in Manitoba and Alberta and was director of a Toronto food bank when first elected to the Ontario legislature in 1996.

Fluently bilingual, Kennedy comes from the centre-left of the Liberal party. He ran second to Dalton McGuinty in the provincial party's 1996 leadership race and stepped down as the province's education minister to pursue his leadership bid.

London-North-Centre Liberal MP Joe Fontana, Kennedy's Ontario campaign chairperson, said Kennedy is "the strong first choice" of Liberals across Southwestern Ontario and is very competitive in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec.

"He is the total package," said Fontana, who himself weighed and then rejected a leadership bid.

He said Kennedy appeals to "the pragmatic left and the progressive right" and can span the urban-rural divide.

Besides Fontana, Kennedy can claim as supporters Khalil Ramal, Liberal MPP for London-Fanshawe, and Steve Peters, MPP for Elgin-Middlesex-London.

After his London appearance, Kennedy was off for dinner and a speech to about 70 Liberals north of Listowel.

Improving Immigrants experience Imperative

2006-05-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

Improve immigrants' lot, Kennedy says

It's the way to make Canada competitive in global economy, Liberal hopeful says

MURRAY CAMPBELL

TORONTO -- Canada needs to improve the lot of recent immigrants if it hopes to compete successfully in a global economy, Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy said yesterday.

Mr. Kennedy said recent newcomers to Canada are much less successful than those who arrived 25 years ago. He warned that the country will suffer labour shortages if it does not thrive in the competition for new immigrants.

"We can't move forward without successful integration of immigrants," he told about 200 people at the Economic Club of Toronto.

The former Ontario cabinet minister released his platform for eliminating what he called the "immigrant success gap." He said that a Liberal government he led would ensure that immigrants earn the same as non-immigrants within 10 years of their arrival.

Mr. Kennedy detailed how immigrants are not faring as well now as they used to, even though they are more highly educated. The problem, he said, is that the programs needed to help these people settle have not changed.

He said recent immigrant men earn 40 per cent less than non-immigrants of similar education and work experience. The gap in earning, he noted, is about 44 per cent for women.

Mr. Kennedy said figures from 2001 show that the unemployment rate of recent immigrants between the ages of 25 and 44 was double that of the Canadian-born population.

People not born in Canada comprised half the 175,000 individuals using food banks in the Greater Toronto Area. He said that the families of 4,000 immigrants with doctoral qualifications depend on Toronto food banks.

"As long as we have PhDs turning to food banks and as long as we've got people so discouraged they actually turn back in significant numbers in their first year, we can't consider ourselves being successful with immigration," he told reporters later.

The policy he proposed would mean creating a position of "immigrant success advocate," an officer of Parliament who would act on behalf of immigrants.

Mr. Kennedy said the federal government should consult closely with lower levels of government and business groups to set annual immigration targets.

While Canada should continue to pursue highly educated immigrants, the current point system for judging applicants punishes blue-collar workers who could, for example, immediately find jobs in the booming construction industry, he said.

He also called for an expansion of the family-reunification plan, to make it easier for the extended family of an immigrant to come to Canada. He suggested that this would reduce the anxiety that often prompts immigrants to return home.

Mr. Kennedy said that rural communities should be consulted as part of devising programs to attract new immigrants away from the big cities where three-quarters of them currently settle.

Kennedy Brings Hope

2006-05-25T14:35:00.000-07:00

Leadership hopeful Kennedy vows to improve life, unify families of immigrants

ANGELA PACIENZA

TORONTO (CP) - Federal Liberal leadership hopeful Gerard Kennedy went looking for support among immigrant voters Thursday with a promise to build a party that would fight to improve their wages and unite their families.

Kennedy said he wants to close the income gap between immigrants and Canadian-born citizens by improving language training and making it easier for people trained in other countries to ply their trade in Canada. There are "whole families of people whose hope is slipping away bit by bit," Kennedy said, noting that twice as many new immigrants are unemployed as Canadian-born citizens.

"We invited them. We have to take responsibility for the welcome they receive."

Kennedy, one of 11 people vying for the top Liberal job, has focused his campaign on building a so-called "international country" that would tap the full potential of Canada's immigrant population.

He said Canada needs to prepare for an upcoming labour shortage - estimated by the Conference Board of Canada to be at one million unfilled jobs by 2020.

"We can't move forward without successful integration of new immigrants," he told a luncheon audience of about 200 people at the Economic Club of Toronto.

"Everyone in this room has benefited from a previous welcoming Canada."

After the speech, he lambasted Canada's current immigration plan, which he said is "randomly selecting people on abstract credentials."

"Canada has lost some focus," said Kennedy, one of 11 people vying for the top Liberal job.

The educational requirements for new immigrants have been tightened, but there's little to help new Canadians broaden their skills and education when they arrive, he said.

"We've become a little ambitious in terms of the people that we brought in without changing the programs to adapt to them," he said.

"We don't have sufficient courses and programs available for business language, which is keeping a lot of our professionals out of where they belong."

He proposed a national agency that would establish Canadian equivalencies for international work experience.

Others fighting for the leadership include Nova Scotia MP Scott Brison, former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae, rookie Toronto MP Michael Ignatieff and former minister and hockey legend Ken Dryden.

Entrepreneurs Eagerly await Enterprise Economics

2006-05-24T23:31:00.000-07:00

    TORONTO, May 24 /CNW/ - Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy will
make a major platform announcement during a luncheon address to the Economic
Club of Toronto on the topic of "Improving Economic Opportunity for All
Canadians."

   DATE:     Thursday, May 25, 2006

   TIME:     Speech at 12:30pm
             Media availability at speech conclusion

   LOCATION: Stop 33, Sutton Place Hotel, 955 Bay Street at Wellesley,
             Toronto

Kennedy - I like risks

2006-05-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

Toronto-based Liberal leadership hopeful Kennedy may seek western seat

By JOAN BRYDEN

Federal Liberal party leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy. (CP/Frank Gunn)

OTTAWA (CP) - Gerard Kennedy, one of eight Toronto-based candidates for the Liberal leadership, says he's willing to consider seeking a federal seat in western Canada.

"I'm not closed-minded to that at all," the former Ontario education minister said in an interview.

Of the 11 contenders in the race, only one - Vancouver MP Hedy Fry - is currently based in the West, largely a political wasteland for Liberals.

But Kennedy is casting himself as a quasi-western candidate who can finally lead the Liberals to their long-sought breakthrough in the West.

He was born and raised in The Pas, Man., and he spent some years in Edmonton, where he attended university and founded a food bank.

"I think part of what I'm bringing (to the leadership race) is a sensibility from the West, if not residency. It's where I grew up. It's where I think the new proposition from Liberals has to be effective, just as it does in Quebec," he said.

"It's a once-in-a-generation chance to say, 'Here's what Liberalism stands for, how's it feel to you?' "

Kennedy is one of only three candidates who does not already hold a seat in Parliament. The others are Bob Rae, a former Ontario NDP premier, and Martha Hall Findlay, a Toronto lawyer.

Kennedy resigned his Ontario cabinet post in order to run for the federal leadership. He resigned his seat in the provincial legislature on Thursday.

Win or lose the leadership, Kennedy is committed to running for the Liberals in the next federal election. He said it's "at least a possibility" that he'll run in the same Toronto riding, Parkdale-High Park, that he's held provincially.

That riding is currently held by a New Democrat but Toronto generally is the safest political turf for Liberals these days.

But he did not rule out trying a riskier route to Parliament, attempting to win a seat in the Liberal-hostile West.

John Turner took that route after winning the Liberal leadership in 1984. He won a Vancouver seat, despite having previously represented a Montreal riding and having lived most recently in Toronto.

But although Turner established a beachhead in the West, it did not lead to the hoped for Liberal breakthrough across the four western provinces.

Indeed, the Liberals have struggled in western Canada since 1972. They currently hold only 14 of 92 seats in the region.

While running in the West would be risky, Kennedy cast himself as a risk taker. He is the only one of the 11 candidates who actually had to give up his current job to run for the leadership, a sacrifice he called "a pretty modest thing to do."

"This is what I'm advocating as a sort of attitude for the party and the country. We need to be enterprising . . . and you don't get anything good to happen unless you take some risks."

Kennedy says funding overhaul needed

2006-05-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

April Lindgren, CanWest News Service

Published: Friday, May 19, 2006

TORONTO - Federal Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy says it is "impossible" to say which provinces should get more money from the federal government in the absence of an overhaul of existing mechanisms for transferring the cash.

Kennedy, who on Thursday resigned his seat in the Ontario legislature, said "fair claims are being made on all sides. A good prime minister takes those into account and puts them ... in some kind of objective forum where they are not a political football.

"As prime minister, what I would do is find a means by which we would have a transparent and open formula for transfers."

Until such changes are made to the equalization and other transfer programs, he insisted, "it's impossible to say how much money should be going in what direction."

Kennedy was Ontario's education minister until April 5 when he announced his intention to seek the Liberal leadership. The provincial government under Premier Dalton McGuinty, has been waging a long, public campaign for more federal money to close what it calculates to be an $18-billion fiscal gap between what Ontarians send to the federal government in taxes and what they get back in terms of federal programs and services.

Ontario has also been campaigning against proposals, supported by the other provinces, to enrich the national equalization program designed to ensure that Canadians across the country have access to comparable programs and services at comparable tax levels.

At Thursday's press conference where he announced he is resigning his Parkdale-High Park seat, Kennedy insisted he is not "going to be offering money to Ontario to support me either as a candidate or as a prime minister."

Federal-provincial financial relations, he said, "should not be done in the current political fashion. It is Prime Minister Harper who is trying to play off Quebec against Ontario. This is just like a family budget. The worst arguments in families can be about money. We should not be having those kinds of arguments within the confederation. There should be an objective body that should be determining this, not Mr. Harper running full-time for election."

Earlier this week, Quebec Finance Minister Michel Audet accused Ontario of being "dishonest" when it suggests it is being shortchanged under the proposed changes to the equalization program.

Kennedy welcomed to federal fold

2006-05-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

Liberal Party of Canada Announces Fourth Official Candidate

May 18, 2006

Liberal Party of Canada Announces Fourth Official Candidate

Ottawa – The Liberal Party of Canada today announced that Mr. Gerard Kennedy has become the fourth candidate for its leadership to fulfill all registration requirements.

Registration requirements include gathering the signatures of at least 300 Liberal Party members, at least 100 of which are in each of three provinces or territories, as well as the payment of the first $25,000 installment of the entry fee.

Official Candidate Profile:

Gerard Kennedy


	Gerard Kennedy Gerard Kennedy Campaign Office 60 St. Clair Ave. E., Second Floor Toronto, ON M4T 2Y3 (800) 622-9399 info@gerardkennedy.ca http://www.gerardkennedy.ca

Gerard Kennedy most recently served as the Minister of Education in Ontario and as a member of the Planning and Priorities Board of Cabinet. With responsibility for two million students, 4,800 schools and a $17 billion annual budget, he led a turnaround in public education after a decade of turmoil under the Conservatives. First elected as a Member of Provincial Parliament in a 1996 by-election, Kennedy took the riding of York South in Toronto for the Liberal Party for the first time in its 70-year history. He was re-elected in landslide victories 1999 and 2003 in the riding of Parkdale-High Park in Toronto.

Western Roots

Gerard Kennedy spent the first 26 years of his life in Western Canada. Born and raised in The Pas, in northern Manitoba, Gerard was educated at Trent University and the University of Alberta in political science and economics. Enterprising from the start, Gerard left the University of Alberta at the age of 22, when he was recruited to be the first executive director of Canadas first food bank in Edmonton from 1983 to 1986. Next he established Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank, serving as executive director until 1996. Every month, Gerard was responsible for the collection and distribution of food for more than 150,000 people – $30 million worth of food annually – without a dime of government funding. During this time Gerard assisted with local initiatives to develop food banks in Quebec City, Halifax, Ottawa, St. Johns, and in Ireland, France, Poland, Israel and the Ukraine.

Liberal Heritage

Member of the Official Opposition in Ontario, 1996 - 2003
Chair of Ontario Liberal Party reform commission, 1997, and the membership renewal project, 1999, Gerard played a lead role in rebuilding the Ontario Liberal Party after its last leadership
Critic for consumer affairs and housing, health and education
Seven years as Chair of the Estimates Committee and member of the Public Accounts Committee
Co-chaired policy, communications and organization committees for the Liberal’s election readiness strategy in Ontario in 2003

A Canadian Leader

Gerard Kennedy was named one of the Top 50 Influential People, Toronto Life Magazine, 1992 and "Newsmaker of the Year", Toronto Star, 1993. The Financial Post Magazine awarded "honourable mention" as CEO of the Year in 1995 to Kennedy, and in 2002 he was chosen as one of the citys "Torontonians of Distinction", by the Toronto Star.

Gerard Kennedy lives with his wife Jeanette Arsenault-Kennedy and their two children, in Toronto.

Send a directed contribution to the Gerard Kennedy campaign.

Kennedy - Queen's Park, I bid you adieu

2006-05-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

Kennedy resigns seat

May 18, 2006. 02:32 PM

FROM CANADIAN PRESS

Liberal leadership hopeful Gerard Kennedy accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday of denying Canadians an opportunity to fully debate extending military service in Afghanistan to further his party’s political goals.

“That debate has been stolen away by a fairly crass, political consideration by the prime minister,” Kennedy said after officially resigning his seat in the Ontario legislature to concentrate full-time on his leadership bid.

Kennedy said Harper had no right to limit debate on keeping troops in Afghanistan for another two years to just six hours.

“In putting his politics and his presidential sort of system of trying to manipulate Parliament ahead of the interests of Canadians, he has potentially undermined the mandate for those troops. It’s highly regrettable, and I don’t accept that the prime minister has a mandate to act in this fashion.” he said.

“There is no possible reason for Prime Minister Harper not to give a full explanation of how NATO is going to be taking part in this mission, when the NATO mandate truly starts, how the Canadian troops would be deployed, under what conditions will we pull back from Afghanistan. None of those questions have been answered.”

Kennedy also accused Harper of trying to use the ongoing debates over the fiscal imbalance and possible changes to the equalization program to pit one province against another in an effort to help the Conservatives win a majority in the next federal election.

“It’s Prime Minister Harper who’s trying to play off Quebec against Ontario,” he said. “There should be an objective body that’s determining this (equalization), not Mr. Harper running full-time for re-election.”

Kennedy, a former Ontario education minister, made the formal announcement that he would step aside as a provincial representative at a seniors home in his Toronto riding of Parkdale-High Park.

Provincial opposition parties had been critical of Kennedy for continuing to draw a $1,600-a-week salary from Ontario taxpayers while campaigning across the country for the federal job instead of appearing in the legislature.

Kennedy resigned from the Ontario cabinet several weeks before he officially joined the Liberal leadership race in late April, but Wednesday marked his first appearance in the House since that time.

The 45-year-old Kennedy said he always intended to resign his seat, but wanted to finish some projects he’d been working on.

He’s one of 11 candidates running to replace former prime minister Paul Martin as Liberal leader. The party will hold its leadership vote in Montreal in December.

Kennedy’s resignation means Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty will have to call a byelection within the next six months.

But Kennedy said Thursday he did not discuss the timing of the byelection with McGuinty.

“There may be other considerations, other byelections and so on,” he said. “That has not been a factor in the timing of my decision.”

Kennedy said he would run for the Liberals federally in the next election even if he doesn’t win the party’s leadership. But he couldn’t say if his federal bid would also be in the same west-Toronto riding.

Gerard continues encounters with Canada - New Brunswick Edition - handles french interview with ease

2006-05-17T23:48:00.000-07:00

Hat Tip to the Dan Report. I rarely miss these but thanks for the help!

NB Telegraph-Journal | Politics
As published on page A3 on May 13, 2006

Liberal leadership hopeful brings message of unity to N.B.
Gerard Kennedy says provinces, Ottawa need to focus on global economy

Gerard Kennedy made a campaign stop at the New Brunswick legislature Friday morning

By Carl Davies
Telegraph-Journal

FREDERICTON - Federal Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy says provinces need to stop squabbling and focus their attention on how to compete in a global economy.

Mr. Kennedy brought his campaign to New Brunswick this week, stopping at the New Brunswick legislature Friday morning to introduce himself to some of the party's provincial politicians.

Federal-provincial relations have been marred in recent years by infighting, whether it's Premier Bernard Lord fighting with Paul Martin over funding for New Brunswick projects, or more recently Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty scrapping with Stephen Harper over the equalization formula that decides how money should be divvied up among provinces so services are provided equally across the country.

"Our real challenge is out there with the rest of the world and that's where we've got to be focused," Mr. Kennedy said.

On equalization, Mr. McGuinty favours more of a per capita formula while Mr. Lord is on record as saying that would be a losing proposition for this province, an opinion shared by Quebec's Jean Charest.

Mr. Kennedy says he's not taking sides on the issue, at least not yet.

"I'm not declaring for one formula or another one. What I want to see is a formula that's objectively fair," Mr. Kennedy said.

"We don't have a new equalization formula on the table that I would support yet.

"We want to make sure this is done right."

He accused Mr. Harper of trying to "curry favour with Quebec" on the issue.

Mr. Kennedy was Mr. McGuinty's education minister until entering the federal leadership race in April. Born in Manitoba, he spent time out west before moving to Toronto. He finished a close second to Mr. McGuinty in the Ontario Liberal leadership race in 1996.

His main connection to Atlantic Canada is his marriage to an Acadian from Prince Edward Island. He handled interviews in both English and French with ease on Friday.

Still, Mr. Kennedy admits he's got a long way to go before becoming a household name in this region.

"I'm doing as much listening as I am talking," he said of his first campaign swing through New Brunswick, during which he picked up former New Brunswick premier Ray Frenette as a supporter.

"I've got to work twice as hard if I want to be the successful person at the end of this."

He said one way the federal government can stimulate the New Brunswick economy is by "investing in enterprises and technologies that will thrive in some of the smaller communities."

He also believes the province would benefit from more, not less, federal services.

He said the main goal of all candidates is to restore faith in the federal Liberal party.

"It's regrettable we've had this disconnect with the Canadian public. It's important for the country that people support the renewal of the Liberal party."

G&M flip flops on Kennedy flair for french

2006-05-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

Kennedy Bilingual, Globe and Mail Admits Error

TORONTO, May 14 /CNW/ - The Globe and Mail has issued a retraction of afront-page article published on Saturday, May 13, that by the newspaper'sadmission incorrectly identified Gerard Kennedy as being not bilingual.
In a correction posted on its website, the newspaper states:
"Editor's note: Due to an error in the article, Gerard Kennedy and Maurizio Bevilacqua were misidentified earlier as failing to meet the requirements for a bilingualism certificate. Anyone receiving a grade of 2 or more would be deemed bilingual. Both Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Bevilacqua received a grading of 2."
The Kennedy Campaign views the Globe's error as serious, disappointing and requiring a prominent correction. While the Kennedy Campaign acknowledges the timeliness with which the Globe moved on its website to correct its own findings about the language skills of Liberal leadership candidates, Campaign representatives have respectfully requested that the Globe demonstrate its journalistic integrity by publishing a retraction in its next print edition on Monday, May 15, comparable in size and placement to the front-page story in which the error was made.

  The full text of the Globe's article correcting its error may be found at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060513.wxlanguage13/BNStory/National/home

Kennedy - Quebec's the place for me

2006-05-07T00:16:00.000-07:00

Kennedy plans move to Quebec

May 7, 2006. 01:00 AM

SUSAN DELACOURT

OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF

Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy is moving from Toronto to Quebec for part of the campaign in a bid to show he's serious about reconnecting with the province.

"We look forward to doing that as a way to allow me to do a lot more grassroots things in Quebec," says Kennedy, who resigned his post as Ontario's education minister to seek the top job in the federal Liberal party.

Kennedy and his wife, Jeanette Arsenault, are now looking for a home as well as schools for their children, aged 3 and 7. They'll move as soon as they can and spend at least several months there in advance of the Dec. 2-3 leadership vote.

The Kennedy family all speak French to varying degrees. Arsenault, an early childhood education administrator, is an Acadian from Prince Edward Island and the children have been enrolled in French-immersion programs in Toronto.

Kennedy Connects in Kamloops

2006-05-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

Will this man be King Grit?

DAVE EAGLES/KTW

Federal Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy was in Kamloops on Wednesday, becoming the first of 11 leadership hopefuls to make a stop in the Tournament Capital.

By MARKUS ERMISCH
Staff reporter
May 05 2006

Gerard Kennedy stands on the Sun Rivers golf course, squinting into the sun that's starting to set over Kenna Cartwright Park.
Inside Hoodoos Restaurant, a handful of local Liberals are patiently waiting for the federal Liberal leadership candidate to finish interviews with the media.
Ken Sommerfeld is one of them. The former Grit candidate will be flying to Montreal in December to cast his ballot for whom he deems the best leader of the party last led by Paul Martin, who failed to bring the Liberals to victory in January's federal election.
Kennedy is the first of 11 candidates to make it to Kamloops. He is also one of the least known, at least outside Ontario, where he was first elected to the legislature 10 years ago in a riding that hadn't been held by a Liberal for about 70 years.
The 45-year-old realizes his profile is low outside Ontario. He acknowledges he has to work harder than some of his opponents, including Bob Rae and Ken Dryden, to overcome this disadvantage.
In Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta, however, he said he has "a good base" of support as he has lived in those provinces.
Not so in British Columbia. That is why he has spent the last week visiting the province's major population centres.
Kamloops, where Kennedy has relatives, hasn't sent a Liberal to Ottawa since Len Marchand was defeated in 1979. Part of the reason for losing the riding that includes Kamloops, Kennedy said, is that previous Liberal governments have neglected smaller, less populated areas in favour of Canada's urban centres.
"To go through renewal means that places like Kamloops and Kelowna need to be paid attention to fully," Kennedy said. "We need to take new seats in new kinds of areas if we're going to be able to form a majority government."
Kennedy's opponents, naturally, are similarly motivated. Before either one of them can lead the Liberals into the next election campaign against Stephen Harper's Conservatives, that candidate must beat a wide field of leadership contenders.
But it's still early in the race, and those who have declared their intentions so far still need to position themselves. Only later, when forerunners begin to emerge, will the contest become more personal.
Kennedy hasn't yet singled out any of his challengers as the main opponents.
"The only person I'm running against is Stephen Harper and Jack Layton. Those are the people that are getting a free ride right now," he said. "Those are the folks that get me out of bed in the morning."
Kennedy described the NDP as "opportunistic" and declared the Tories a "narrow-minded neo-conservative party."
Kennedy also talks a lot about "vision" - and the vision he has for Canada.
Canada, he said, has the chance to become "the world's first international country," which will be able to influence the global economy and trade, as well as international affairs.
When asked how that may be possible considering that Canada's southern neighbour is already playing such a role, Kennedy said the U.S., under President George W. Bush, has become increasingly isolationist.

Kennedy's a natural: Brabant Newspapers

2006-05-05T12:48:00.000-07:00

Walking through the gate, Gerard Kennedy doesn't strike you as the next Prime Minister of Canada.

Hands jammed into the pockets of his blue suit, the slimmed down 45-year-old former provincial education minister slouches as he wedges into a summer chair on a comfortable, but cool evening, ready more for a beer than an interview.

"I see myself as the next generation," said Mr. Kennedy. "I'm running a campaign that allows people to get involved."

It's that ability to attract good people based on the promise of being part of a glorious future that transcends his Robert Redford good looks. It belies a fierce political drive, which people have said caused friction within the Ontario cabinet, most notably with Premier Dalton McGuinty, after the 1996 Liberal leadership race.

As opposed to veteran Montreal Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Stephane Dion, who has been called arrogant and the media-darling Michael Ignatieff, 58, the Harvard lecturer who talks past people, Mr. Kennedy is able to sustain a connection with people.

It's that common left-of-centre touch, earned through his grueling years first at the Manitoba food bank and then at the Toronto Food Bank, that has made him something of a star, especially among the so-called forgotten people, that had veteran local politicians standing for hours waiting to shake his hand.

"There will be room for debate, even in my leadership campaign," said Mr. Kennedy. "And I don't think people are used to seeing that."

About 70 of Hamilton's Liberal intellegencia were out in force to meet and greet the fresh-faced uniter and they seemed eager to do political battle with him at their sides.

There was Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot Liberal MPP Ted McMeekin speaking about Mr. Kennedy in the fondest terms, while failed federal candidates Bill Kelly and Javid Mirza believe he will return them to glory in the next federal election. There was even a Russ Powers sighting at the event. (The mercurial Mr. Powers also made an appearance with Mr. Dion a day later for good measure.)

Hamilton Mayor Larry Di Ianni even asked Mr. Kennedy what he would do for cities and Mr. Kennedy didn't disappoint, saying he will assist municipalities to solve their infrastructure problems.

It is a credit to Mr. Kennedy's big Liberal tent ideology that he can attract such high-profile political talent that cuts across the entire political spectrum. Anytime you can get a Mr. Mirza and Mr. Powers, not known for being left-of-centre on their best days, supporting the same candidate, you can then go and part the Red Sea for good measure. Mr. Kennedy so far has the most Liberal MPs among the candidates tailing behind his wake.

Actually, it was the Liberals who were not there that was more noticeable. Stoney Creek Liberal MPP Jennifer Mossop, the city's Liberal gadfly Hamilton West MPP Judy Marsales and Hamilton Mountain Liberal MPP Marie Bountrogianni, who will support Mr. Kennedy's political ambitions, as one wag put it, "when Hell freezes over."

And where was former Hamilton Mountain Liberal MP Beth Phinney, who still believes she controls the Hamilton Mountain riding association? It appears she is an Ignatieff supporter.

But it is among the Liberal membership where the leadership fight will be won or lost.

Remember, Hamilton has been very good for Mr. Kennedy in the past, having overwhelmingly supported him during his 1996 Ontario Liberal leadership race.

So its no surprise that among a few people - not politicians - Mr. Kennedy was either their first or second choices. Mr. Ignatieff, the only other candidate to make an appearance in Hamilton (although on one occasion he didn't attend the event, which angered a few people), seems more a political novelty for disinterested members. One person liked Mr. Dion because, as she put it "He's good looking. But so is Kennedy."

Not surprisingly, former Ontario NDP Premier Bob Rae has more negative connotations than any other candidate. Instead of the erudite political statesman persona he was creating, people were instead referring to Rae Days, a mismanaged economy and a Keystone Cops-style government.

"I haven't been part of those (Liberal) battles," he said. "I don't have some of that baggage. Provincial and federal (politicians) all know we have some work to do to gain the full measure of respect from the people of Hamilton."

Kevin Werner is regional reporter for Brabant Newspapers.

Kennedy: Harper Failed Aboriginals

2006-05-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

British Columbia in Brief
Harper Tories failed aboriginals, Kennedy says

Kelowna -- Federal Liberal leadership contender Gerard Kennedy is spreading his opinions in the province this week.

The former Ontario cabinet minister is one of several people vying for the job.

Mr. Kennedy told a crowd in Kelowna that the Conservative government dropped the ball by not honouring the Kelowna accord for natives signed by governments last year.

He said the accord sets targets to improve native education and employment. Mr. Kennedy said advancement for aboriginal people has to be a principle of a new Liberal government.

Vancouver Liberal MP Hedy Fry is expected to declare her intentions to join the leadership race tomorrow. CP

Kennedy - The way for the West to be in is with the Liberal Party

2006-04-30T12:26:00.000-07:00

Western heritage played up

By CP

OTTAWA -- Gerard Kennedy played up his western roots and evoked the West's spirit of enterprise as he formally joined a Liberal leadership contest dominated by left-leaning Torontonians.

The 45-year-old, former Ontario education minister played down his reputation as a left-leaning social activist and one-time food bank founder. Instead, he cast himself as a business-friendly centrist with coast-to-coast support and a national vision.

Considered a front-runner, Kennedy is the ninth contender to formally join the race.

Kennedy, who was born and raised in The Pas, Man., and lived in Edmonton during his early adulthood, had his campaign speech reflect "a bit of a western sensibility."

"This idea of enterprise lives a little bit more readily in parts of Western Canada. but I think it is appreciated in many parts of Canada. And I think the new Liberal proposition has to be fairly pan-Canadian."

Kennedy - Early Leader?

2006-04-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

Kennedy has early Liberal lead


Juliet O'Neill
CanWest News Service

Saturday, April 29, 2006

CREDIT: Ashley Fraser / The Ottawa Citizen

Gerard Kennedy, former Ontario education minister, is considered the frontrunner in the Liberal leadership race.

OTTAWA - Only 30 of 102 Liberal MPs have publicly endorsed any of the 10 Liberal leadership candidates and a third of them are backing Gerard Kennedy, the former Ontario education minister and food bank director.

Three candidates have snagged no MPs so far: former NDP Ontario premier Bob Rae, Toronto MP Carolyn Bennett and Toronto lawyer Martha Hall Findlay.

The latest entrant, MP and NHL hockey great Ken Dryden, counts one on his list.

And three have two colleagues apiece: MPs Scott Brison, Maurizio Bevilacqua and Stephane Dion.

MP Joe Volpe has seven on his list of backers and MP Michael Ignatieff's campaign people won't say, although five are on record.

It's early in the Liberal leadership campaign, with seven months to go before the vote.

Thus officials for most candidates say they have MPs leaning their way or working for them but are too shy to declare yet -- especially if they haven't consulted their riding associations.

Nobody wants to be accused of strong-arm tactics of the past and there are so many little-known candidates that many MPs and riding people want to look and listen before they make a decision.

It's a stark contrast to former prime minister Paul Martin's 2003 leadership, as described by Susan Delacourt, author of Juggernaut: "Martin's support in caucus and within the party was about as close to unanimous as any leadership candidate could boast. This was more than a team. This was a juggernaut."

The 102 MPs, 65 senators plus 205 candidates from the last election and presidents of 285 riding associations are among 892 ex-officio delegates to the Nov. 29-Dec. 3 convention in Montreal.

They are among 6,166 eligible voters, the bulk of whom are elected as delegates by riding association members.

The candidates list the following MPs on their teams.

- Gerard Kennedy: Joe Fontana, Omar Alghabra, Navdeep Bains, Mark Holland, Gurbax Malhi, Bernard Patry, Mario Silva, Scott Simms, Brent St. Denis, Andrew Telegdi, Borys Wrzesnewskyj.

- Joe Volpe: Joe Comuzzi, Sukh Dhaliwal, Jim Karygiannis, Wajid Khan, Massimo Pacetti, Yasmin Ratansi, Lui Temelkovski

- Stephane Dion: Marlene Jennings, Bryon Wilfert.

- Scott Brison: Mike Savage Mark Eyking.

- Maurizio Bevilacqua: Gerry Byrne, Roy Cullen.

- Ken Dryden: Anita Neville.

- Michael Ignatieff's team won't list caucus support, but three MPs are on his campaign team -- Jim Peterson, Rodger Cuzner, Pablo Rodriguez -- and two endorsed him in news releases -- Ray Simard and Paul Zed.

Kennedy: I feel the party's pain

2006-04-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

'I don't have to worry about the past'

THE LIBERAL LEADERSHIP: Ontario MPP Gerard Kennedy enters race to heal party rifts from Martin, Chrétien camps

CAMPBELL CLARK

OTTAWA -- Gerard Kennedy painted himself as the no-baggage candidate with lifelong ties to the Liberal Party yesterday when he formally jumped into the race to become the party's national leader.

The Manitoba-born Ontario politician evoked his "Western sensibility" when he called for a more entrepreneurial spirit in Canada and said he offers an agenda for attacking Canada's "drift" that Stephen Harper's Conservatives have failed to provide.

But as he launched his campaign surrounded by 10 MPs, Mr. Kennedy presented himself to Liberals as a candidate who has deep ties to the party, but no scars from its internal wars between the Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin camps.

"I think it is important that this Liberal Party has been handed a tough assignment, which is to heal itself, bring itself together, in a very short period of time," he said.

" I think, overall, I am able to come in from being most recently a provincial Liberal and look forward. I don't have to worry about the past, I don't have to explain or justify, and that may be part of the advantage we frankly need, because the Liberal Party has a very big hill to climb in terms of getting the respect and the appreciation of the public back."

Mr. Kennedy said his first involvement in a Liberal leadership race was as a seven-year-old, when he carried then-candidate Mitchell Sharp's briefcase during a visit to Mr. Kennedy's hometown of The Pas, Man.

It was a reminder that some of his competitors have short or spotty involvement in the party, such as former NDP Ontario premier Bob Rae, who just joined the party; rookie MP Michael Ignatieff, who made his academic career in Britain and the United States; Ken Dryden, who entered politics in 2004; and Scott Brison, a Tory until 2003.

Mr. Kennedy's launch included the strongest federal caucus support any candidate has so far mustered, including London, Ont., MP Joe Fontana who just gave up his own flirtation with a leadership bid, and Montreal MP Bernard Patry, who will serve as a Quebec campaign adviser.

After resigning as Ontario's education minister three weeks ago, Mr. Kennedy, 45, has captured substantial early momentum as a candidate for generational change. However, his launch speech on a breezy bluff across the Ottawa River from Parliament Hill will not add to his reputation for charisma, as his delivery was largely flat.

It also revealed that his French-language skills are middling: He sometimes struggled with French portions of his speech, but was able to make himself understood despite flawed grammar in answer to reporters' questions.

"He doesn't have the mastery of French of some other candidates, but he understands it very well," Mr. Patry said. "He can read it, he understands it, and now for speaking it, he has some work to do. He will spend a whole month in Quebec this summer to improve his French."

Mr. Kennedy's speech centred on a call for Canada to become "the first international country," which he said required a more enterprising culture to compete with the rest of the world, "practical compassion" to deal with social issues at home, a stronger global voice and a return to Canada's honest-broker role in world conflicts.

He waded into a controversial foreign-policy issue, questioning whether Canada should send more troops to Afghanistan when the current mission ends next February. He said he supports Canadian troops there now, but the public needs a full debate before they are committed again.

"The question is, are we building a civil society, or are we simply trying to pacify a country that has a very troublesome possibility of pulling itself together?" he told reporters.

Although he is viewed as a left-leaning party "progressive," Mr. Kennedy's speech carried a centrist note, including an emphasis on developing small business and business-friendly conditions. "The government must be a catalyst for the start-ups and growth of business, and not a hindrance," he said.

Mr. Kennedy, who was raised in Manitoba and lived for seven years in Alberta, tied that approach to his background in the West.

"I think what you heard today, if I may, was a bit of a Western sensibility. This idea of enterprise lives a little bit more readily in parts of Western Canada, but I think it is appreciated in many parts of Canada," he said.

He said that while the Liberals gave Canada good government, there has been social and economic drift. He called Mr. Harper's agenda "lazy" and aimed at managing public relations.

"Mr. Harper, I believe, is playing a fairly cynical game of politics. It comes off the shelf in the Republican store. It's about minimizing what we can do as a country," he told reporters. "We've had, I believe, 12 successful years under the Liberals, but we also need to be pushing for a future. Mr. Harper isn't offering that." Globe and Mail Link

Profile of Gerard

Gerard Kennedy

Age: 45

Born in The Pas, Manitoba, Mr. Kennedy was educated in Manitoba, Ontario and Alberta. Before entering political life, Mr. Kennedy was well known for his work with food banks in different regions of the country. In 1983, he founded the Edmonton Food Bank. After moving to Ontario, he served as the executive director of the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto, a role he held from 1986 to 1996.

His move into politics came in 1996, when he won a provincial by-election to take the Toronto riding of York South, which had been held by the NDP for decades. In that race, he beat out David Miller, who was running for the NDP. Mr. Miller would eventually go on to become mayor of Toronto. In 1996, Mr. Kennedy also entered the race to replace Lyn McLeod as leader of the provincial Liberals but was defeated by Dalton McGuinty on the fifth ballot after running first for four rounds, who later went on to become premier. He later went on to serve as health critic while the Liberals were in opposition. When Mr. McGuinty's Liberals formed the provincial government in 2003, Mr. Kennedy -- then representing the riding of Parkdale-High Park -- was named education minister. He held that post until earlier this year, when he stepped aside to pursue the leadership of the federal Liberal Party.

Most recent office held: Ontario MPP, Parkdale-High Park; former provincial education minister

Quotable quote: "Bullying is an underestimated and pervasive problem. It is a proven precursor to violent behaviour and is never acceptable in Ontario's schools or communities." Introducing the province's anti-bullying strategy

Positive: Long-time Liberal, comes with little political baggage

Negative: Low profile outside Ontario, little federal experience

Kennedy: Harper's Lazy/With great power comes great responsibility

2006-04-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

Kennedy enters Liberal leadership fray

Three weeks after bowing out as Ontario's education minister, MPP Gerard Kennedy has formally announced he will seek the leadership of the federal Liberal Party, adding his name to an already lengthy list of contenders.

Thursday's declaration by the well-regarded provincial politician brings the number of formal candidates now vying for the job to nine. Liberal MP Ken Dryden — the last in the series of expected aspirants — is to formally throw his hat in the ring on Friday.

Mr. Kennedy — who is said to be positioning himself as a centrist candidate — made his announcement during a rally in Ottawa, with introductions coming from members of both political and business circles.

“We are the party of social progress and economic progress in Canada,” Mr. Kennedy said.

“This is the party of hope and of opportunities. It is a party of respect that has -- giving everyone what is due to them.”

The 45-year-old Ontario politician comes to the race with a lower profile than some of his competitors from the federal arena but he's also seen as bringing a fresh face to the race.

A Strategic Counsel poll conducted earlier this month suggested Mr. Kennedy wasn't as well known across Canada as contenders like former Ontario Premier Bob Rae or former environment minister Stéphane Dion. But, he also evoked fewer negative reactions.

Speaking to supporters, Mr. Kennedy — introduced by former labour minister Joe Fontana as a “Canadian of many experiences” — likened Prime Minister Stephen Harper's approach to government to that of former Ontario Progressive Conservative Premier Mike Harris

“I got into politics because of the devastating effect Mike Harris was having on Ontario and I've spent the last two-and-a-half years cleaning up the mess he [Mr. Harris] left for students in publicly funded education in the province,” he said.

“Those of us who have the insight, who know better, can not let Stephen Harper do to Canada, what Mike Harris did to Ontario.”

He also accused Mr. Harper of having a “lazy outlook” for the country and suggested the Prime Minister is more focused on blame and getting “you a little bit of your money” than fostering a caring nation.

“Liberals see our country as a land of infinite potential,” he said.

“We understand our good fortune and opportunities, but we understand the absolute importance of matching privilege with responsibility and ambition with compassion.”

Born in Manitoba, Mr. Kennedy founded the Edmonton Food Bank in 1983 and later served as executive director of Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank for a decade.

He entered provincial politics in 1996, winning a by-election to take a seat in the Ontario legislature.

In 1996, Mr. Kennedy sought to replace Lyn McLeod as leader of the Ontario Liberal Party but lost out to Dalton McGuinty, who is now premier of the province..

Mr. Kennedy was appointed Ontario's education minister in October, 2003.

The federal Liberals will pick their next leader at a convention in December. The job was left open after former prime minister Paul Martin stepped down as leader in the wake of January's election defeat.

In addition to Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Rae and Mr. Dion, contenders for the race include MP and scholar Michael Ignatieff, former public works minister Scott Brison, former immigration minister Joe Volpe, former public health minister Carolyn Bennett, MP Maurizio Bevilacqua and Toronto lawyer Martha Hall Findlay.

TERRY WEBER

Globe and Mail Update

Kennedy - One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.

2006-04-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

Kennedy to veer to the centre
Progressive Ontario politician to back 'enterprise' in bid to lead Liberals

CAMPBELL CLARK

OTTAWA -- Gerard Kennedy will run for the Liberal leadership as a centrist candidate, even though he is known as a "progressive," emphasizing enterprise and entrepreneurship in a bid to broaden his appeal, advisers say.

Mr. Kennedy, a former Ontario education minister and still a Toronto MPP, will officially announce his bid for the federal Liberal leadership today on Ottawa's Sussex Drive, the street that houses the Prime Minister's official residence.

The provincial politician is not the best-known candidate outside Ontario, but is already backed by about a half-dozen of the federal party's younger MPs, who are pushing 45-year-old Mr. Kennedy as the candidate for "generational change."

And while the former food-bank director is considered the standard-bearer of the Ontario Liberal Party's left wing, he will run up the middle in his race for the federal opposition leader's job, campaign advisers say.

The advisers say that Mr. Kennedy does not need to advertise his progressive credentials and will take a centrist tack because he believes it is important to drive the economy to pay for social services and because it is good strategy to win a leadership race and elections.

"He's going to run to the centre because that's where he is philosophically. And he's going to run to the centre because that's how you win elections in Canada," one Kennedy campaign strategist said.

Mr. Kennedy has already put forward the term "enterprise" as the buzzword for his campaign, arguing that the Liberal Party needs to promote conditions for entrepreneurship in business and more effective delivery of services in government.

He is also expected to emphasize his history as an active Liberal since his teens, inviting an unspoken contrast to other leadership contenders, like Bob Rae, the former NDP premier who joined the Liberal party this month, and Michael Ignatieff, who returned to Canada last year after spending much of the past 30 years abroad.

His supporters are already promoting him as a fresh face who is not tied to either the sponsorship scandal or the internecine wars between supporters of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin.

"I think that it's about a new generation that's coming up, but also including those that have been there in the past, about having a new face to the party, and about renewal," said Mark Holland, the 31-year-old MP for Ajax-Pickering, outside Toronto.

A Strategic Counsel poll of 1,000 Canadians conducted this month indicated that Mr. Kennedy is less well known across the country than Mr. Rae, Mr. Ignatieff or former federal ministers Stéphane Dion and Ken Dryden.

But he also evoked fewer negative reactions than Mr. Rae, Mr. Ignatieff, and Mr. Dion. And, of the few respondents who suggested the name of someone they would like to see as leader -- 19 per cent -- far more chose Mr. Kennedy than Mr. Dryden.

Kennedy comes to Ottawa

2006-04-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

From the New South Wales - Leading the Charge - Merimbula News

Liberal leadership hopeful Gerard Kennedy visits Ottawa

Staff and agencies
25 April, 2006

The visit was an opportunity to introduce Mr. Kennedy to several sitting Liberal Party MPs and Senators in advance of December's leadership vote.

Long a star of provincial politics, Kennedy has to get his face and name out there to start to build a presence in the federal Liberal Party.

His comments to MPs touched on a diverse range of topics which included creating a culture conducive to business, building a government dedicated to helping people and redeveloping Canada’s global voice.

An anonymous Kennedy source tells the Recorder, "Gerard is viewed by many as left; he has a big heart and is best known for his good works with foodbanks. However, he is pragmatic and recognizes that enterprise and entrepeneurship are the bedrock of a successful country and that will be the emphasis of his campaign."

With the dropping out of many star candidates, Gerard Kennedy is one of about 5 hopefuls that stand a chance at winning the leadership on December 2 (and maybe 3rd as the vote is expected to go past midnight).

Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae and Stephane Dion are some of the other more recognizable names contesting the Liberal leadership.

Mr. Kennedy joins Mr. Dion on a very crowded left wing of the party, with right wing stage quickly becoming the domain of Michael Ignatieff. If an "anyone but Ignatieff" movement takes flight, it could be to the great benefit of Gerard Kennedy, who could become king-maker...or perhaps even the king.

Media Advisory - Gerard Kennedy to Launch Federal Liberal Leadership Bid

OTTAWA, April 26 /CNW/ - Gerard Kennedy, joined by supporters, will
officially launch his campaign for the leadership of the Liberal Party of
Canada in Ottawa.

DATE: Thursday April 27, 2006

TIME: 12:00 noon EDT

LOCATION: Astrolabe Theatre, Nepean Point
Behind the National Gallery, 380 Sussex Drive, Ottawa

PARKING: Available onsite at National Gallery's underground parking
garage; $1.50 per half-hour. Exit from Gallery west to outdoor
Astrolabe Theatre, by statue of Samuel de Champlain.

For further information: or to schedule an interview: Amanda Alvaro at
(416) 453-XXXX or XXXXX@gerardkennedy.ca

Kennedy: It's Iggy and Me prognosticators prognosticate

2006-04-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

G&M Link (Subscription Required) Full Text Below by JOHN IBBITSON

Imagine the scene: A reporter files from the floor of the Liberal leadership convention on the day of the vote.

As the dust settled following the third ballot, it became clear that the race had boiled down to a contest between Michael Ignatieff and Gerard Kennedy.

And the question on delegates' minds as they prepared to cast their fourth and final ballot was simple: Should we pick the guy with the best shot at winning the next election, or choose a leader who's in it for the long haul?

Despite all the speculation and scenario-spinning by strategists, it was evident from the beginning of the weekend showdown at the Palais des CongrÃ¨s that most of the candidates were doomed to go down as also-rans before the race had even begun.

Dark horses such as Maurizio Bevilacqua and Carolyn Bennett, who had hoped for a convention floor miracle, saw those hopes dashed on the first ballot, while the second ballot revealed that several other campaigns, including those of Scott Brison and Joe Volpe, had no momentum or potential for growth.

Only after the third ballot, however, were the battle lines clearly drawn.

StÃ©phane Dion's supporters had argued that, under the ancient principle of rotation, it was time for a francophone to lead the party, and had promised to revive Liberal fortunes in Quebec.

But his humourless visage, and his uncompromising stand in defence of a powerful federal government, doomed him to fourth place, whence he threw his support to Mr. Ignatieff, a fellow academic centralist.

Bob Rae couldn't hide the bitterness over his third-place finish. With many of Jean ChrÃ©tien's most powerful backers helping to run his campaign, and a respected national profile, Mr. Rae believed he could both unite the Liberal Party and shift it to the left.

But those same ChrÃ©tienite backers alienated others in the party, while polls clearly revealed that Ontario's middle-class suburban voters had not forgiven the former NDP premier for five years of deficits and tax hikes. Conservative onlookers sighed with disappointment when it became clear Stephen Harper wouldn't have the pleasure of taking on Bob Rae in the next federal election.

Michael Ignatieff's strong first-place finish on all three ballots appeared to guarantee victory. The charismatic intellectual had sloughed off criticisms of his expatriate background. Mr. Ignatieff's foreign-policy experience and his carefully nuanced, if ambiguous, statements on social policy placed him in the classic mould of a radically centrist leader who could appeal to social progressives, fiscal conservatives and foreign-policy pragmatists.

But Mr. Ignatieff's age (he is 59), and the Johnny-come-lately quality of his candidacy, counted heavily against him in some circles. More than a few Liberals at the convention were quietly conceding that, barring the unforeseen, the Conservatives were likely to win the next federal election. Many Liberals wondered whether Mr. Ignatieff would have the stamina to stick with the party in the event of such a defeat.

As one skeptical delegate put it: â€œI just don't see this guy working the riding associations in Saskatchewan in January, especially if we get our asses kicked next time out.â€

Such sentiments immeasurably boosted the campaign of Gerard Kennedy, the former education minister in the Ontario Liberal government. Mr. Kennedy has had a difficult time establishing a name for himself outside Ontario, and rumours from within the Ontario Liberal camp that the JFK-esque politician was diffident and an intellectual lightweight further hampered his campaign.

But his youth (Mr. Kennedy is 47), his energy, his centre-left credentials, and the bad blood between the Rae and Ignatieff camps, pushed many Rae supporters to his side.

â€œGerard can lose an election and still be credible,â€ one former Rae delegate confided. â€œHe can win in 2010 or 2012, when Michael will be a pensioner.â€

It was too close to call as delegates entered the booths for the final vote. But in the end â€”

EDITOR: WILL FILE FINAL PARAS AFTER RESULTS ARE KNOWN.

Kennedy - Mississauga hear me roar!

2006-04-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

THE MISSISSAUGA NEWS

MP support for Kennedy growing

John Stewart

Apr 21, 2006

A caucus of Liberal MPs is leaning toward supporting former Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy as the party's new federal leader, say two Mississauga members.

The MPs, many of them young and new to public service, started out as a policy group, said Omar Alghabra, who was elected MP for Mississauga-Erindale in January.

Since the leadership race began, the caucus has been reviewing candidates, most of whom are still officially undeclared.

"I have not made a commitment, nor has the group, but I think it's safe to say we are leaning toward Mr. Kennedy at this point," Alghabra said in a phone interview yesterday (April 20).

"Mr. Kennedy represents a new face, new ideas and a new energy that the Liberal Party and Canadians would benefit from," added Alghabra, who has spoken to all declared and undeclared candidates. "I think he brings the right combination of skills to the table."

Although it has been described as a caucus of young MPs, Alghabra said there is a broad base, which consists almost exclusively of those elected in 2004 and 2006 elections. There is a disagreement within the group about whether it should make a decision now, or later, about its choice for leadership.

Members from more urban centres, such as Mississauga, generally favour a quicker decision to gear up for the drive for new members required to elect the candidate of choice.

Mississauga-Brampton South MP Navdeep Bains is also a member of the group.

"If Gerard were to run, I would definitely support him," said Bains, elected in 2004.

The caucus members see Canada, "as a progressive, compassionate country and we were looking for somebody who embodies those ideals," said Bains.

Alghabra disagrees with many political pundits who complain the roster of would-be leaders is a "B-list."

Belinda Stronach, Frank McKenna and John Godfrey have said they're not running, or have withdrawn.

"I'd say the party has an A-list of candidates and any of them would make an excellent leader," said Alghabra.

You can reach John Stewart at jstewart@mississauga.net.

Found At http://www.mississauganews.com/mi/news/story/3457684p-3995729c.html

Kennedy - I see a gander of young MPs to support me?

2006-04-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

Jane Taber's glowing review of Gerard's organization continues her seeming asperation to be Team Kennedy's press secretary

Young MPs set to back Kennedy

JANE TABER

SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER - Globe and Mail

OTTAWA -- A group of about a dozen young Liberal MPs acting as a bloc is poised to support former Ontario education minister Gerard Kennedy's bid to become leader of the federal Liberal Party.

The group's support would be a boost for Mr. Kennedy, 45, who has never been a member of the federal Liberal caucus and is not well known outside Ontario. The Kennedy campaign team is emphasizing generational change and the support of young MPs would underline that and show he has early momentum.

"Individually, our voices can only get us so far," said Ajax-Pickering MP Mark Holland, 31, explaining why the MPs decided to throw their support as a bloc. "If there's a number of us that are of a like mind and are looking for similar sorts of things, then there's a lot power if we work together."

Mr. Holland emphasized that he was not the spokesman for the group and that all members have an equal voice. He was vague about the number of members in the group, describing it only as "sizable."

However, it is believed that the group numbers between 12 and 15, of which the majority are young MPs elected in the last two elections. Members include Scott Simms, 35, of Newfoundland; Mississauga MPs Navdeep Bains, 28, and Omar Alghabra, 36; Mario Silva, 39, of Toronto; and Borys Wrzesnewskyj, 45, of Etobicoke.

This group is preparing to publicly announce its support for Mr. Kennedy soon. But it is part of a larger group, which includes former MPs and defeated candidates, that is still debating policy and considering candidates.

Mr. Holland said the group members were looking for a candidate who could unite the party and was not a "hyphenated Liberal" or an "ite." He was referring to the two factions -- the Chrétienites and Martinites, or supporters of former prime ministers Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin -- who feuded within the party for nearly 10 years.

He said members were also looking for a "progressive" Liberal who could balance a strong national government that could deliver social programs and keep the country's finances in order.

Most members of the group are from Ontario, the province that has the most Liberal MPs. Of the 102 Liberals in the House of Commons, 54 are from Ontario.

Mr. Holland said group members had "really good conversations" with a number of the candidates, and the consensus reached around Mr. Kennedy was not easy. Mr. Kennedy was recently informed of the group's thinking. "We've let him know that there's a good portion of us that are going in that direction," he said.

The Kennedy team is obviously pleased with the support.

"I don't want to comment on individual names," said Senator Terry Mercer, a Kennedy strategist, about the group's decision. "But I think that Gerard Kennedy will show a significant amount of caucus support. I think people will be impressed by it."

The group of young MPs has been meeting, sometimes twice a week, in Ottawa or Toronto or by conference call to discuss the candidates and policy issues. The meetings started after election night when Mr. Martin declared he would be stepping down as leader.

Members have never met as a group with candidates. Rather, they have met individually by phone or in person with some of the candidates and have brought the intelligence from those meetings back to the group. Mr. Holland said the criteria "was that if out of our group a name didn't come up at least more than once amongst the group, then it wouldn't make sense, we couldn't build consensus around that person. That's how we narrowed things down."

Mr. Alghabra, the MP for Mississauga-Erindale, said he found it an "effective way of discussing what's important for us as . . . parliamentarians and based on those issues, instead of going after the individual, highlight the important issues and find the best that we think will champion those issues."

Mr. Simms, the MP for Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor, suggested it's more effective to work as a group. "If, indeed, strength is in numbers," he said, "then we get to flex our muscles a bit more than we would on our own."

Kennedy still crisscrossing our great nation

2006-04-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

From The Globe and Mail - Jane Tabor

A Strategic Counsel poll published in The Globe and Mail last weekend suggested that Ontario MPP Gerard Kennedy was emerging as the candidate to watch, partly because he lacks Chrétien or Martin baggage.

Liberal Senator Terry Mercer, a Kennedy strategist, said yesterday that the team has not decided when Mr. Kennedy will officially launch his bid. However, he is crisscrossing the country -- he was in British Columbia and Montreal last week -- meeting with small groups of Liberals.

The Kennedy campaign is also playing up generational change: Mr. Kennedy is also 45 years old.

"When we launch, I think we want to look new and fresh and I think people will see a bit of that . . . probably will see it by the looks of the people around him and who some of those people are. I mean, I hope I will be the oldest person around, and that's an important thing, because . . . the party needs to attract new, bright people," Mr. Mercer, 58, said.

Full Text Can Bevilacqua be the new Liberal face?
Globe and Mail, Canada

Kennedy :Good in '96, Great in '06!

2006-04-14T22:34:00.000-07:00

Update: Undoubtably this along with a new poll by the Tory friendly Strat Council have other candidates shaking in their boots.
*To enable this to be somewhat google searchable :
This is a copy of the editorial in which the Toronto Star endorsed Gerard Kennedy to be leader of the Ontario Liberal Party in 1996. It explains the ABK movement ( Anybody but Kennedy ) and the placement of the contenders in initial balloting.

Kennedy Attracts NDP Organizer

2006-04-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

NDP organizer switches to Liberals

Jim Kinnear photo

Tsawwassen’s Thomas Hubert is now concentrating his political efforts with the campaign of federal Liberal leadership hopeful Gerard Kennedy.

By Philip Raphael
South Delta Leader
praphael@southdeltaleader
Apr 14 2006

Same outlook. Different party.
Hoping to help draw the federal Liberal Party back to its left of centre roots, Thomas Hubert, the NDP’s youthful riding association president from Tsawwassen, has quit the party and joined the Grits.
Hubert, 16, said he was disillusioned by the lack of support and subsequent criticism waged at him by NDP members following the recent federal election and decided this week to officially cross over to the liberal camp.
Hubert was the campaign manager for NDP candidate William Jonsson, 21, who placed third in the polls behind incumbent Conservative John Cummins, and Liberal Patricia Whittaker.
Hubert said the criticisms came mostly from party members in the Richmond side of the riding who were not satisfied with how he ran the last campaign.
“Unfortunately, there was not much support from local membership during the campaign,” Hubert said. “And some members, who had not been active at all came out of the wood work afterwards and were extremely critical of me and William. So critical that it verged on harassment.”
Some of that dissent was focused on Hubert and Jonnson’s age, he said.
“They were saying things that we were just too young, didn’t reach out to the membership or didn’t do enough, which I think frankly is unfair and incorrect.”
Hubert said that under his guidance the NDP managed to improve slightly on the party’s share of the votes in the conservative stronghold that has chosen Cummins as its MP in five consecutive elections. Jonsson received 7,176 votes—14.7 per cent of the vote—compared to 6,838 votes—14.63 per cent—earned by Itrath Syed who ran for the NDP in the 2004 federal election.
Hubert waged his own criticism at the Richmond members, saying many treated the riding association as a social club and viewed his and Jonsson’s efforts as threatening. “And I found their behaviour unacceptable and resigned.”
One riding association member, De Whalen, told the South Delta Leader there will always be disagreements in any democratic organization and the membership is sorry to see him go.
Currently, Hubert is in the midst of helping support the Liberal Party leadership bid of former Ontario eduction minister Gerard Kennedy.
Hubert said he went to hear Kennedy speak in Vancouver several weeks ago and was impressed by what he heard. It was from that point he decided to change political stripes and join the liberals.
“I think the party’s leadership front runners all hail from left wing party which is moving back to a 1970s era, more like the party of Pierre Trudeau. And it’s time for progressive people to get involved.”
On Tuesday Hubert officially signed up with the party at the Delta Richmond East riding association’s annual general meeting.
Former NDP provincial candidate and Ladner resident Dileep Athaide said the loss of Hubert from the NDP’s ranks and cross over to the federal liberals is disappointing, but added he would not be shocked if the departure was short-lived.
“It may just be for the duration for the leadership campaign,” said Athaide who ran against incumbent liberal MLA Val Roddick in last May’s provincial election. “I think Thomas was disappointed and extremely frustrated with the party and has changed political horses.
“But at least the change has been to a horse that is not of too different a colour or size,” Athaide added.

Kennedy "Interesting" says Shelia Copps

2006-04-13T08:55:00.000-07:00

April 13, 2006

Our Sheila's not running

Columnist won't be contender for Grit leadership

By SUN MEDIA

TORONTO -- Sun Media columnist Sheila Copps says she won't be diving into the crowded Liberal leadership pool.

"Seriously, there is a fine group of candidates amassing, and I think it's time for someone who does not carry any scars from the last couple of years of Liberal infighting," she told readers in a Canoe online chat yesterday.

"I hope the choice will lead the party to true renewal and not simply a search for a saviour."

Readers asked Copps about the prospects of a number of leadership candidates, including former Ontario premier Bob Rae, and why he would return to politics after a success career outside of government.

"He is at a stage in his life where he is seen as a statesmen who has outlived Rae Days and the run at the leadership represents significant risk for him," she told Craig from Edmonton.

"Nonetheless, I assume he misses the thrill of the game - to quote the dearly departed Ernie Eves, 'the worst day in politics is better than the best days on Bay Street.'"

Asked about Toronto MP Michael Ignatieff, who threw his hat in the ring last week, Copps described him as "an enigma" because "I find it strange that one who has chosen to live all of his adult life outside the country would want to be prime minister."

Asked for her favourite candidate, the former deputy PM allowed that while Gerard Kennedy's candidacy is "interesting," she's waiting for each to unveil their complete platforms.

When asked how any new leader can erase mistrust of the party following Adscam, Copps said an extended stay in the political wilderness could be a good thing for the party.

"Time heals all wounds, even political. However, there is no doubt that the damage to the Liberal party is deeper than what is probably commonly perceived," she wrote.

"If this time in the opposition is used wisely, the Liberal party will survive the troubles of the last few years."

- Toronto Grit MP John Godfrey opted out of the Liberal leadership race yesterday, cutting loose his organizing team because of health problems.

Godfrey, who took to the stage last weekend in Edmonton to woo Alberta Liberals, said after a battery of tests he remains unsure of what ails him.

"The irony is the campaign was gathering strength from all points of view including strong financial backers coming from behind," Godfrey said at a hastily arranged press conference less than a week after the leadership race officially began.

"Just at the moment when things were working out quite well - it's disappointing."

Godfrey said he's been feeling unwell for the past two months and wants to focus on improving his health instead of on a leadership run.

"I'm still going to be very active," he said, adding he'll back a candidate that supports his push for social justice, action on climate change and a national day-care program.

Godfrey's decision to bow out puts him in the ranks of high-profile Liberals Belinda Stronach, Frank McKenna and John Manley, who've also stepped aside.

Kennedy's apprenticeship

2006-04-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

When Gerard Kennedy came to Toronto in 1986 to run the Daily Bread Food Bank, hunger was the city's dirty little secret.

A poll that year showed half of Torontonians believed world hunger was a serious problem. But only one in 10 thought it was a local issue. By the end of that year, however, Kennedy had put local hunger on the front pages of every newspaper and on every radio and television broadcast in Toronto.

Kennedy forced Toronto to look at the poverty in its own back yard. For a city that still saw itself as Toronto the Good, it was shocking. And the city responded.

Fire halls and grocery stores collected food. The Blue Jays became the first professional baseball team in North America to hold food drives during games. The Star became the first newspaper to distribute brown paper grocery bags so readers could contribute.

An impressive $1 million worth of food was collected during that year's Thanksgiving food drive. Ten years later, Daily Bread was the largest in the country, raising $30 million worth of food annually.

Kennedy walked away from this charmed career in 1996 to make an ultimately unsuccessful bid for the provincial Liberal leadership. Last week, the popular Ontario education minister left his post to seek the federal Liberal leadership. His decade at Daily Bread is widely seen as an experience that will differentiate him in this race.

For Kennedy — just 25 when he moved here from Edmonton, where he founded that city's food bank — food banks weren't only about feeding people. They were a vehicle for educating the public about social justice and what it means to live in a civil society. He was critical of welfare rates and a social assistance system that trapped people in poverty. He complained about the lack of affordable housing that forced families to choose between paying rent and buying groceries. And he warned about the impact of hunger on kids.

But Kennedy knew passion alone wouldn't change policy. He needed facts. So the food bank began to collect data on clients to strengthen the case.

In 1988, he hired Sue Cox, an Australian who had been working in the American anti-poverty movement, to handle advocacy and community action.

"He was a type I had encountered in the United States,'' says Cox, who ran Daily Bread from 1996 until she retired earlier this year. "He was young, smart, and quite zealous. The interesting thing about people like that is that they are what they appear to be. He walks the talk."

Cox laughs when she remembers her job interview.

"I didn't even have a resumé. But I had a few press clippings," she says. "He always says I came with my media credentials."

Kennedy's media stunts were legendary. During one food drive, he convinced journalists to live on a food bank diet and report on the experience. Another time, hundreds of donors took up his challenge to write personal messages to politicians on the bags they filled with groceries, which were then dump-ed on the Legislature floor.

Kennedy's tousled blond hair and personal magnetism turned many heads. Female newspaper columnists swooned in print, dubbing him the city's most eligible bachelor, Cox remembers. More than a few female volunteers were drawn to the cause, just to meet him.

"He was absolutely oblivious to it," Cox laughs.

Kennedy married Jeanette Arsenault in 1991 after a courtship that began in Edmonton.

Food banks have existed in various forms for generations. But until Kennedy arrived they were viewed as a necessary evil, not to be encouraged. And many social activists feared that building up food banks would take pressure off government.

Former Toronto councillor Joanne Campbell, a socially progressive politician who represented the Regent Park area at the time was one of the few politicians who urged Metro Council not to support the growth of food banks locally.

"I just didn't believe this was the right direction to be headed," says Campbell, who never sparred directly with Kennedy on the issue. "I felt we were institutionalizing food banks as a second-tier support system."

Another person troubled by Kennedy's wild success was Bill Bosworth, founder of the Homes First Society, which believed the homeless needed affordable housing not hostels.

"Ideally, you want to be addressing both the short-term solutions to homelessness and hunger while working on the long-term policy solutions," he says. "Gerard seemed to understand that and talked about wanting to shut down Daily Bread. But he never did. And the food bank got bigger."

Anti-poverty activist Michael Shapcott, who helped form a number of prominent protest groups in the late 1980s and early 1990s, feels Kennedy was better at redistributing food to the needy than changing the system that made food banks necessary.

"There was a sense that Gerard didn't want to rock the boat with his corporate sponsors by pointing to the root causes of hunger in our community," says Shapcott, an NDP candidate in the last federal election.

However, Kennedy had fans in social justice circles for his ability to lever the active involvement of so many donors, both private and corporate.

Fiona Nelson, a former Toronto School Board trustee and member of the city's health board, recalls Kennedy's energy.

"He had this amazing ability to guilt people into giving and paying attention to this issue," she says. But Nelson is distressed at how poverty and hunger in the city has increased in the 20 years since Kennedy revved up Toronto's food bank network.

"He was a constant thorn in the sides of the policy makers," she says. "I'm just sorry he wasn't a sword."

Kennedy: the buzz continues

2006-04-10T19:06:00.000-07:00

The Boy Scout who would be king

Adam Radwanski
National Post

Even Gerard Kennedy's longtime supporters look back on his last leadership convention -- or at least, one particular aspect of it -- with a tinge of embarrassment.

More than likely, Kennedy would have lost the Ontario Liberal leadership anyway; having vaulted from head of Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank to the front-runner on the first ballot, he was the inevitable target of an "anybody but Kennedy" movement in other leadership camps stocked with party veterans. But it was the video that accompanied his convention speech that was probably the final nail in the coffin.

To the strains of U2's One, delegates were treated to a montage of human suffering -- homelessness, mostly -- designed to show the horrors of the Mike Harris era. Interspliced were shots of Kennedy looking earnest, and a quick flash of a certain former prime minister intended to drive home the message that the provincial Liberals had found their answer to Pierre Trudeau.

Among Liberals' suspicious of Kennedy's sudden emergence as their party's golden boy, it was taken as proof of the messiah complex they'd been whispering about for months. Although more the handiwork of his campaign team than Kennedy himself, the video fit the caricature of a candidate who'd come off as aloof and self-righteous during the campaign.

In the decade since, Kennedy has done much to change that image. Defying accusations that he had no interest in the provincial Liberals beyond his own leadership aspirations, he worked diligently in opposition to help get Dalton McGuinty into the premier's office. After the Liberals won office in 2003, he emerged as arguably the government's most popular and successful minister -- not least because of a friendly working relationship with McGuinty.

And yet, as he rides into another Liberal leadership race as the white knight -- this time on the federal level -- Kennedy will need to dispel the same bad rap he failed to dispel the first time.

Confronted with his lack of experience in federal politics, Kennedy's supporters are quick to point out that he's virtually the only contender for Paul Martin's job without any baggage.

Strictly speaking, that's true: Kennedy was never a New Democrat (Bob Rae) or a Conservative (Scott Brison), he's never been accused of links to an income trust scandal (ditto), and he didn't support the Iraq war (Michael Ignatieff). Of the candidates who actually have a chance to win, only Ken Dryden can claim as clean a slate.

The one thing that Kennedy must overcome, though, is in some ways more challenging than standard baggage. Somehow, he needs to avoid rubbing people the wrong way.

There are many, many provincial Liberals who like their erstwhile former education minister. They admire his impeccable work ethic, his strong liberal values, and even the boy-scout naivete that sometimes makes him seem apolitical 10 years into his political career.

But what is endearing to idealists can be anathema to jaded political types -- and there are a lot more of the latter than the former in the upper echelons of the federal Liberal party.

They expect their leadership candidates to be good gladhanders, to kiss the right rings, to make pragmatic choices and to be easy to work with. None of those tags exactly fits Kennedy. He's awkward in crowds, he forgets people's names, his listening skills are less than stellar, and he has a reputation for being rough on staff -- not so much because of a temper, but because he expects them to match his slavish commitment to work.

Even Kennedy's integrity can be a downside. Long past his food-bank days, he still sees himself as more community servant than politician -- insisting, for instance, on devoting far more time to local issues than your average minister. Whereas most politicians in his shoes would hold onto their provincial seats until they saw how their federal aspirations played out, he's planning to resign his because he doesn't want to under-represent his riding in the interim.

Perversely, that sort of persona will rub more pragmatic types the wrong way. At some level, it feels like he's trying to show them up -- and nobody likes a candidate who makes them feel inferior.

There are, too, legitimate questions about how his skills will translate nationally. Being a micromanager can be an asset provincially -- certainly in the education ministry, which needed close attention. But at the federal level, more about setting general directions than managing the minutae of social policy, taking a step back is imperative.

That last one, though, will be for Kennedy to worry about if and when he gets there. For now, he needs to make a good first impression on the nine provinces where nobody much knows who he is, and where his opponents will be trying to paint him with the same brush as in '96.

An early word of advice for his campaign team: Don't show that convention video again.

Great Welcome to Kennedy

2006-04-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome Kennedy to national stage
Charismatic, complicated

April 6.

In the late '90s when I was working in Ottawa, I called Kennedy to tell him I wanted to nominate him for an Order of Canada (for a youthful touch to the old gang). Having known him in Edmonton as the "inventor" of the food bank concept, my thinking was that not only did he deserve to get an Order of Canada for his selflessness and charity, but it would inspire other young people to engage in public service.

Kennedy would not give me permission to launch a nomination. His humility, which is genuine, did not see that his name on such an honour would have an impact on youth in public service, let alone be deserved.

We should all welcome Kennedy onto the national stage of public service and wish him a long tenure.

Greg Schmidt, Calgary, Alta.
From the Toronto Star

Kennedy gains from Stronach decision - Star

2006-04-07T01:48:00.000-07:00

Stronach won't seek Liberal leadership

Apr. 7, 2006. 01:00 AM
LES WHITTINGTON
OTTAWA BUREAU

OTTAWAÂ

Stronach's decision was widely seen as a break for other younger potential candidates, particularly 45-year-old Gerard Kennedy, who resigned Wednesday as Ontario education minister to be free to be on the ballot at the federal Liberals' December leadership convention.

"By the end of this race, the party is going to be looking at people who are younger," said former party president Stephen LeDrew, who added he was sorry Stronach won't take part.

"Having a history in the party, of course, is beneficial," admitted one of her aides.

"I think the French is, of course, hugely important," Toronto MP John Godfrey (Don Valley West), remarked.

"One has to be able to handle questions in a press conference or deal with a televised debate or take questions in the House of Commons without prior notice in French and feel comfortable in it. It's particularly important for the Liberal party, which has a job to do rebuilding itself in Quebec."

She declined to say who she might support in the leadership race.

"I'm sorry that Ms. Stronach has seen fit not to run. I think we need a vigorous debate" in the leadership campaign, Kennedy, MPP for Parkdale-High Park, said on CBC-TV. He said he would officially declare his candidacy in a few days.

Gerard Kennedy speaks fluent french, and was one of Ontario's most competent ministers.

Kennedy's Globe and Mail Love in

2006-04-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

THE LIBERAL PARTY

Liberals queue up for their day at the races

Maverick Kennedy regrooming himself for a federal sortie from Queen's Park

MURRAY CAMPBELL

TORONTO -- People who know Gerard Kennedy said they knew he was serious about jumping to federal politics when he began doing up the top button of his shirt and pulling his tie tight. That slightly undone tie has been part of his image for the decade he has been involved in Ontario politics -- a world where collars (and minds) are usually buttoned up very tightly.

That carefree look reinforced his reputation as something of a maverick, even a loner. He's the guy, after all, who defied all of his Liberal colleagues in 2001 by voting against a bill to give MPPs a 25-per-cent pay raise.

But the seemingly casual attitude couldn't mask the fact that he is a politician of formidable intelligence who worked harder than anyone else and was passionate in his belief that government existed to help people. And if some egos were bruised by the way he made his case or if some people found him a touch arrogant, well, that's part of the package.

Mr. Kennedy, 45, has been closely identified with the education issue through most of his time at Queen's Park. In opposition, he was the education critic from 1999 and he assiduously cultivated the school trustees, teachers and parents who were outraged at the policies of the Mike Harris government.

Along with Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty, he formulated the policy that he has been implementing as Education Minister since 2003. In that period, he has restored peace and stability to a school system where strikes and withdrawal of extracurricular services had become commonplace.

His performance has garnered him widespread praise. "Gerard Kennedy did a great job," said Donna Marie Kennedy, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association. "His door was always open, he always took phone calls."

"He's done a tremendous amount on the literacy program and in keeping education in the forefront of this government," said Rick Johnson, president of the Ontario Public School Boards Association.

Mr. Kennedy took a meandering path to his job running Canada's largest school system with two million students, 4,800 schools and a $17-billion budget. In some ways, however, it seems destined.

Born in The Pas, Man., to a teacher mother and a father who was a school trustee, he was steeped in education matters. At 14, he left home to attend (on scholarship) St. John Ravenscourt, a Winnipeg private school.

He attended Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., after being recruited to play on the hockey team but transferred to the University of Alberta when Trent cancelled its hockey program.

After studying political science and economics, he graduated and worked as a government researcher and volunteered at the city's food bank. In 1986, he moved to Toronto and spent the next decade running the Daily Bread Food Bank. A good communicator and media-wise, he used his position to turn the spotlight on the city's growing hunger problem.

In 1996, he won a by-election in a seat vacated by Bob Rae, expected to be one of his opponents for the federal Liberal leadership. Within months, he contested the Ontario Liberal leadership, only to lose to Mr. McGuinty on the fifth ballot.

The two men became close during that race, and Mr. Kennedy was rewarded with the critic's post closest to the leader's heart -- education -- after the disastrous 1999 election. Conservative education ministers came and went, but he stayed put and used his immense knowledge to skewer them. Some of his fans called him "St. Gerard."

As minister, he continued to operate as if he still had the skeleton staff of an opposition MPP. He quickly gained a reputation for micro-management -- crunching the numbers on school board grants on his own and sometimes even writing his own news releases.

"Hands-on hardly begins to describe the kind of minister he was," said Annie Kidder of the parents' group People for Education.

But a glimpse of his warts did not diminish the respect he was given. "Gerard did bring an enormous amount of vision, passion and drive to the job," Ms. Kidder added.

Mr. Kennedy is married to Jeanette Arsenault-Kennedy from Wellington, PEI, and has two young children.

- Globe and Mail

Kennedy's Toronto Star Love-in

2006-04-06T00:52:00.000-07:00

Kennedy: Charismatic and complicated
Ontario minister has learned `a few things' on road to federal politics
Apr. 6, 2006. 01:00 AM
ROBERT BENZIE
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF

RON BULL/TORONTO STAR

Premier Dalton McGuinty, with former education minister Gerard Kennedy at his side, tells a press conference that Kennedy is jumping into federal politics.

At a Vancouver cocktail party two weeks ago, a little known Ontario politician testing the waters for a federal Liberal leadership bid broached a subject seldom heard at such fashionable gatherings.

Gerard Kennedy, 45, then the provincial education minister, engaged the blue-chip crowd of prominent British Columbia Liberals over canapés and Chardonnay with an anecdote about his days as director of food banks in Toronto and Edmonton.

Once, Kennedy told his spellbound audience, a food bank "client" invited him home for dinner, where he saw firsthand what it was like to be poor in one of the richest countries in the world.

The supper of starchy food bank fare was, he said, memorable, humbling and inspirational.

To hear such a story from a son of privilege like Kennedy — who attended the private St. John's-Ravenscourt School in Winnipeg on a hockey scholarship when his Liberal businessman father was mayor of The Pas, Man. — was a revelation to the B.C. Grits.

Here was a progressive Liberal comfortable in any milieu, expressing empathy for the disenfranchised without sounding condescending, disingenuous, or elitist.

Kennedy, who finally confirmed his candidacy for the federal Liberal leadership yesterday when he resigned as Premier Dalton McGuinty's education minister, is not unaccustomed to winning over strangers.

The French-speaking Manitoban parlayed making the Daily Bread Food Bank a $30 million-a-year operation into Ontario electoral success.

He was the front-running golden boy of the 1996 provincial Liberal leadership race — the Michael Ignatieff of the time, some Grits joke today, a reference to the Etobicoke-Lakeshore MP who will officially enter the federal contest tomorrow.

But Kennedy lost to McGuinty on the sixth ballot. Yet, instead of sulking, he became one of his former rival's closest political allies.

"You learn a few things," the Parkdale-High Park MPP quipped yesterday when asked why he thought he could win a leadership in 2006 when he could not in 1996.

The two men made education a top priority for the party, promising — and delivering — smaller class sizes, labour peace with teachers' unions, and happier parents and students in most of Ontario.

Since McGuinty took power in 2003, Kennedy has been one of his most accomplished ministers, thanks largely to a 20 per cent increase in per capita education funding.

He masterfully convinced Ontario's fractious teacher unions, who had bedevilled premiers as disparate as New Democrat Bob Rae and Progressive Conservative Mike Harris, to accept longer, four-year contracts, which has curbed school strikes.

His bigger budget, now about $18 billion a year, has ensured music and art are again being taught and there is a major push to improve literacy and numeracy.

While McGuinty tacitly endorsed Kennedy's candidacy by appearing on stage with him yesterday, the premier insisted he would be neutral.

Still, McGuinty told the Toronto Star "there's no doubt about it," he is a huge Kennedy fan.

"The reason I asked him to look after my special child (the ministry of education) and care for it and nurture it is because he's had the capacity to do that and he performed."

Kennedy, by many counts the most successful Ontario education minister since Bill Davis in the 1960s, knows the leap to federal politics is a big one.

"I'm not running simply because I think I can win, although I do believe that. I'm running because I think I have an obligation to offer something that I think is needed," he said.

Toronto District School Board trustee Bruce Davis, a key supporter of Kennedy's 1996 campaign and possible candidate for his soon-to-be vacated Parkdale-High Park seat, said "the other leadership contenders underestimate Gerard at their peril."

"He is smart. And he turns people on. He is definitely in the top tier of candidates in the federal race," said Davis, noting the telegenic Kennedy's appeal to young voters.

While Kennedy, who has two young children with his Acadian wife Jeanette Arsenault-Kennedy, is left leaning, he is not an ideologue. He has tapped veteran Bay Street Liberal David MacNaughton, chair of Strategy Corp., to head his campaign and is fond of reminding people that his food banks did not run deficits.

A complicated character, Kennedy's friends (and even some foes) say he reminds them of two Canadian prime ministers.

Like Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, he can be a prickly, standoffish lone wolf with a penchant for micromanaging.

But, also like Harper, he is often the smartest person in the room with more knowledge about a subject and where he wants to take a discussion than anyone else present.

Like the late Liberal prime minister Pierre Trudeau, he inspires almost fanatical devotion from his followers, yet can have difficulty connecting with them on a one-on-one level.

A consummate outsider, he — along with Harper and Trudeau — finds the glad-handing and schmoozing of retail politics to be tedious.

One prominent Liberal, who was friends with Trudeau and is close to Kennedy, sees strong similarities between the two.

"They have very similar personalities. They don't suffer fools gladly and they're very private people, but very sincere and very straight shooters," said the insider, notingKennedy has a great sense of humour seldom seen publicly.

"Both have a deep understanding of who they are and a sense of right and wrong."

With files from Rob Ferguson

Kennedy supported by TDH Strategies

2006-04-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

Click the logo for the Full text

Now here is a shortened version of what the people at TDH had to say.

April 5, 2006 - There is no need to be long-winded about our preference for Gerard Kennedy. Here are the most attractive points about his candidacy:

â€¢ Youth -This is a fresh face that could really inspire new people to join the Liberal party, as opposed to dipping from the already existing well.

â€¢ Baggage (or lack theeof) - Former Ontario premier David Peterson was quoted as stating that "Everybody in this race has some baggage." Kennedy really doesn't fit into this category, particularly when it comes to the federal scene.

â€¢ Ideology - Kennedy would make the Liberal party as a viable place for disgruntled dippers who are looking for an alternative to the disappointment that is Jack Layton.

â€¢ Likeability - This man, in full flight, gives a great speech. He is well informed, speaks eloquently, and has a personable quality that makes him a little more accessible than your average politician.

[Passion] Finally, he has a passion for public life and policy, and is fully capable of drawing people in because of it.

â€¢ Liberal Ties - Kennedy has been involved in Liberal politics for close to 25 years.

[Canada Ties]The same thing could be argued when it comes to residency in Canada.

Kennedy's "Mysterious" Leadership Bid

2006-04-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

Few details of Kennedy's 'difficult' decision
Apr. 5, 2006. 11:08 AM
FROM CANADIAN PRESS

Feeling duty-bound to prepare to seek the helm of the federal Liberals, Gerard Kennedy resigned Wednesday as Ontario's education minister, forcing Premier Dalton McGuinty to re-arrange the chairs around the provincial cabinet table.

Kennedy refused to discuss the details of his bid, confirming only that he was surrendering the only cabinet job he's ever held to "organize" his effort to succeed former federal Liberal leader Paul Martin.

"My reason for resigning such a valuable post is to organize my candidacy for leader of the Liberal Party of Canada," Kennedy told a packed news conference at the Ontario legislature.

"While I did not seek it, I now see the need for that kind of enabling leadership in the renewal of the Liberal Party of Canada. While on many levels this has been an extremely difficult decision for me, I know that this is the right thing for me to be doing at this time."

McGuinty was effusive in his praise for Kennedy, who was considered the front-runner to succeed Lyn McLeod as the leader of the provincial party in 1996 until McGuinty pulled off a surprising upset victory.

"He's come to an important decision about his future and the role he wants to play in that future and I accept that decision and wish him nothing less than the very best," McGuinty said.

The premier noted that he wanted Kennedy to stay in cabinet, but also sympathized with the minister's divided loyalties in recent weeks as supporters have pushed him to seek the federal job.

"He's come to an important decision about his future and the role he wants to play in that future and I accept that decision and wish him nothing less than the very best," McGuinty said.

"He clearly feels called in this regard and clearly feels responsibility to respond to this call. It's not an easy thing to do and I admire him for taking on that responsibility."

Kennedy's Statement to the Media

2006-04-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

QUEEN'S PARK, April 5 /CNW/ - I have come here with the Premier to
announce my decision today to step down as Minister of Education.
   Over the past two and a half years, I have had the tremendous privilege
as Ontario Minister of Education, to serve students and help develop our
society's future. I am very grateful to Premier Dalton McGuinty for the
opportunity to have done so.
   My reason for resigning such a valuable post is to organize my candidacy
for Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. However, that effort is not my
focus for today.
   Today, my concern is to ensure that the many important policies and
projects for students through the Ministry of Education and its education
partners are not adversely affected by this decision. Far more than an
$18 billion Ministry, education is a cause to this Premier and this
government.
   I want every one of our students, too many of whom went through difficult
learning conditions before we came to government, to know that an entire
province wants them to reach their full potential.
   I want parents to know that we are on track to deliver the improved
education excellence that they are expecting: smaller class sizes, improved
reading, writing and math, massive building renewal, increased speciality
learning in phys ed and the arts, new student success options in high school,
and a declining drop out rate are but some of the measures fully underway. I
thank them for their patience and their increasing participation in their
children's education.
   I want educators, support staff and school boards to know that while I am
leaving, the same attitude of respect and problem resolution, which I believe
has marked all of my relations with them, is held by the entire government.
Your efforts and sacrifice and the success you are achieving with students are
starting to be noticed by the public at large and, I believe, a new
appreciation of publicly funded education has begun.
   I know that this revitalization of education is still in process and much
more needs to be done. At the same time, I firmly believe that the groundwork
for a long lasting education partnership is in place and I know that the
entire government is committed to see it go forward, no one more so than
Premier McGuinty who has been intimately involved every step of the way.
   I believe in this so strongly, I have arranged to continue to contribute
as a Special Transition Advisor to the Premier and the new Minister, even as I
set off in a new direction.
   Similarly I believe strongly in this Premier and this government as a
whole, whose accomplishments in health care, economic development, the
environment and education are now becoming evident.
   While the momentum for education in Ontario is still growing, I view my
contribution as a catalyst for bringing people and ideas together to get
results. I am confident this turnaround will continue to grow in my absence,
thanks to the new positive outlook of the sector and the tremendous strength
of our Liberal caucus.
   While I did not seek it, I now see the need for that kind of enabling
leadership in the renewal of the Liberal party of Canada. While on many levels
this has been an extremely difficult decision for me, I know that this is the
right thing for me to be doing at this time.
   I will have much more to say about my reasons for choosing this new
direction in the days ahead. Today, I simply want to assure all concerned that
the students in Ontario are headed in the right direction and their 'education
advantage' will continue.

Kennedy pursues dream

2006-04-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

From The Globe and Mail: Full Article

KAREN HOWLETT AND MURRAY CAMPBELL

TORONTO -- Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty will shuffle his cabinet today to replace Education Minister Gerard Kennedy, who resigned so that he can enter the federal Liberal leadership race.

Last night, Mr. McGuinty would not reveal who Mr. Kennedy's replacement would be, but said he would be making "a few adjustments" to his cabinet this morning.

He did not directly confirm that Mr. Kennedy was resigning, but acknowledged that it was tough to find someone to fill the Education Minister's job.

Mr. Kennedy will add his name to a growing list of Liberal leadership hopefuls who are poised to formally declare their candidacies.

Mr. Kennedy was coy yesterday about his federal ambitions but conceded he is under pressure to decide.

"The Premier and I both agree that this has to be done sooner rather than later," he told reporters.

A government source said that both Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Kennedy agreed that it would be unrealistic for him to attempt to juggle the leadership bid and one of the most important jobs at Queen's Park.

"I like the job that I'm doing and therefore it's a tough decision for me, but I'm going to make it very shortly," Mr. Kennedy said.

He said he is honoured that his supporters are urging him to enter the race. He said he has to satisfy himself that he is not just a plausible candidate, but that "I am the person needed to do that job."

Senator Terry Mercer, who is playing a key role in drumming up support for Mr. Kennedy, said he has several things going for him. He's young at 45, bilingual, and enjoys widespread support among Liberals in Western Canada. Mr. Kennedy was born in The Pas, Man., and has lived in Edmonton, where he ran the city's food bank.

Mr. McGuinty told reporters yesterday that he recognizes that his popular minister has a difficult decision to make.

Mr. Kennedy's bid for the federal leadership could make for some awkward moments around Queen's Park.

Kennedy to quit Cabinet Wednesday

2006-04-04T18:40:00.000-07:00

Tuesday » April 4 » 2006

Gerard Kennedy to quit cabinet to clear way for Grit leadership bid: sources


Steve Erwin And Keith Leslie
Canadian Press

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Ontario Minister of Education, Gerard Kennedy. (CPimages '03/ Tobin Grimshaw)

TORONTO (CP) - Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy is expected to resign his cabinet seat Wednesday to clear the way for a run at the federal Liberal leadership, government sources say.

Sources said Kennedy will step down from Premier Dalton McGuinty's cabinet when he makes his announcement Wednesday, but is expected to wait a while longer - possibly weeks - before officially entering the leadership contest.

Kennedy himself continued to be coy about his plans Tuesday as speculation about his potential candidacy continued to swirl.

"It really is quite soon that I'll make a decision - within a matter of days," Kennedy said before the Ontario government's weekly caucus meeting.

No deadline on his decision has been set, he added.

"There's no firm date, there's simply an agreement by myself and the premier that we had to give this sort of a limited scope," Kennedy said.

"I think we're coming to the end of that, and I'll make a decision publicly quite shortly."

Kennedy, 45, has acknowledged for weeks that he's mulling whether to run to succeed Paul Martin, who stepped down as Liberal leader shortly after the January election. Bill Graham has been acting as interim leader.

A close ally of Premier Dalton McGuinty's, Kennedy's departure would be a blow to the premier's cabinet, which lost former finance minister Greg Sorbara last year amid a police probe of his previous business dealings.

But McGuinty said he appreciates that the decision for Kennedy - who lost to McGuinty at a 1996 provincial Liberal leadership convention - is a difficult and risky one.

"Having gone through the machinations connected with making decisions as to whether or not you want to run for the leadership of a party, it's not an easy decision to make, so I recognize that and I respect that," McGuinty said.

"But at the same time, obviously I'm concerned about the future of the ministry and the work that we're doing."

Former cabinet minister Stephane Dion and Michael Ignatieff, an acclaimed scholar and rookie MP, are poised to formally declare their intentions to run by week's end.

Kennedy said that both he and McGuinty have agreed that questions surrounding a possible bid need to be answered soon to ensure the province's education agenda doesn't fall off track.

"It is obviously only a limited window for which the (provincial) government and education matters aren't going to be interfered with," Kennedy said.

Kennedy's departure could set in motion a mini-cabinet shuffle at the Ontario legislature, and given the prominence the education portfolio has in McGuinty's government, the job is expected to fall to someone with substantial experience.

Potential successors to the portfolio who are frequently mentioned include Chris Bentley, who is currently Ontario's minister of training, colleges and universities.

Another potential candidate is Liz Sandals, former head of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association. She is currently parliamentary assistant to Ontario's government services minister, Gerry Phillips.

"Just because you're busy speculating, that doesn't have to be my business," Sandals joked before the Liberal caucus meeting. "I am always delighted to do whatever job the premier gives me."

Kennedy departure may spark shuffle

2006-04-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

Kennedy departure may spark shuffle
Apr. 4, 2006. 01:00 AM
ROBERT BENZIE
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF

Education Minister Gerard Kennedy's official announcement he is entering the federal Liberal leadership race — expected as early as tomorrow — will send a jolt through Ontario politics.

It will force Premier Dalton McGuinty, who spoke privately with Kennedy on Sunday about his looming resignation, to shuffle his cabinet and appoint a new minister to the key portfolio.

As well, sources say potential candidates for the minister's soon-to-be-vacated Parkdale-High Park seat are already jockeying for a by-election expected by August.

Kennedy, 45, was not available for comment yesterday because of an illness in his family, but insiders say he will make the jump from provincial politics this week.

It is expected he will attend his final cabinet meeting tomorrow and then formally announce his intentions to run for the helm of the federal Liberal party, which will select a new leader on Dec. 2-3 in Montreal.

While Kennedy would have to quit cabinet if he ran for the leadership, he is not bound by any convention to resign as an MPP.

At least four prominent Liberals are being mentioned as possible candidates in Parkdale-High Park: Toronto District School Board trustee Bruce Davis; party activist Elaine Flis; Connie Dejak, vice-president of the Runnymede Chronic Care Hospital, and Grit stalwart Ted Lojko.

There could be other shockwaves in the aftermath of Kennedy's departure. Sources say some Liberal MPPs are intrigued by the possibility of running as federal Grits if he wins the leadership.

"He will take some MPPs with him, trust me," one Liberal said yesterday.

Officially entering the race this week frees Kennedy to attend the general convention of the Liberal Party of Canada's Alberta wing this weekend in Edmonton.

Rookie MP Michael Ignatieff (Etobicoke-Lakeshore) is expected to announce his candidacy Friday. Former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae is also considering the timing of his entrance into the contest. Newmarket lawyer Martha Hall Findlay and former minister John Godfrey have already launched their campaigns.

With Files From Susan Delacourt

Kennedy to decide on federal Grit leadership run in 'matter of days'

2006-04-04T10:55:00.000-07:00

Steve Erwin Canadian Press

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Ontario Minister of Education, Gerard Kennedy. (CPimages '03/ Tobin Grimshaw)

TORONTO (CP) - Gerard Kennedy is days away from deciding whether to run for the federal Liberal leadership, the Ontario education minister said Tuesday as speculation about his candidacy continued to swirl.

"It really is quite soon that I'll make a decision - within a matter of days," Kennedy said before the Ontario government's weekly caucus meeting. No deadline on his decision has been set, he added.

"There's no firm date, there's simply an agreement by myself and the premier that we had to give this sort of a limited scope," Kennedy said.

"I think we're coming to the end of that, and I'll make a decision publicly quite shortly."

A close ally of McGuinty's, Kennedy's departure would be a blow to the premier's cabinet, which lost former finance minister Greg Sorbara last year amid a police probe of his previous business dealings.

But McGuinty said he appreciates that the decision for Kennedy - who lost to McGuinty at a 1996 provincial Liberal leadership convention - is a difficult and risky one.

"But at the same time, obviously I'm concerned about the future of the ministry and the work that we're doing."

Former cabinet minister Stephane Dion and Michael Ignatieff, an acclaimed scholar and rookie MP, are poised to formally declare their intentions to run by week's end.

Kennedy said that both he and McGuinty have agreed that questions surrounding whether Kennedy will mount a bid need to be answered soon to ensure the province's education agenda doesn't fall off track.

"It is obviously only a limited window for which the (provincial) government and education matters aren't going to be interfered with," Kennedy said.

Kennedy to announce run , Ontario rules set

2006-04-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

Excerpt of story from the hill times

[Full Story]

The Hill Times, April 3rd, 2006
NEWS STORY
By F. Abbas Rana

Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy is expected to announce his candidacy this week and the Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario) says federal Liberal leadership candidates across the country will get at least 15,900 membership forms for Ontario. Things are starting to heat up in the Liberal leadership race this week.

Mike Crawley told The Hill Times last week that leadership candidates can get membership forms from the LPCO once they officially register their candidacies and after paying the initial fee of $25,000 with the Liberal headquarters in Ottawa.

The Liberal leadership race is starting officially on April 7 when the candidates can file their candidacy papers. To enter the race, leadership candidates must pay a first installment of $25,000, followed by another $25,000 payment due one week prior to the first candidates' debate expected in June. The leadership convention will take place in December 2006 in Montreal.

Prior to the new rules that were decided upon at the recent LPCO executive meeting two weeks ago in Collingwood, Ont., attended by a number of declared and potential leadership candidates, individuals were able to get only five forms at a time. But with the new rules in place, leadership candidates can also get 150 forms per riding association in Ontario. Moreover, an individual member of the LPCO can also pick up 25 forms. The party's membership fees vary in each riding association across the province and range from $1 to $25.

The availability of membership forms plays a key and critical role in the success or failure of a leadership campaign because candidates and supporters try to sign up as many of supporters as they can.

Restrictive rules over Liberal membership forms was a major source of contention in the 2003 Liberal leadership contest in which some of leadership candidates such as Brian Tobin, John Manley, Sheila Copps and Allan Rock complained publicly and some bitterly that the provincial wings of the Liberal Party were controlled by supporters of Liberal MP Paul Martin (LaSalle-Émard, Que.) and were not giving equal access to other leadership campaigns to the membership forms.

In addition to the new rules set by the LPCO, the Liberal headquarters also announced recently that any Canadian interested in joining the Liberal Party would be able to do so online. For the online membership to be implemented, all the provincial and territorial wings of the party have to approve this proposal.

The LPCO approved it in its last meeting while other provincial wings are likely to approve it in the coming weeks when they update membership rules in their provinces.

Arana@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times

Who's supporting who in the Liberal leadership

Gerard Kennedy Top Supporter: Liberal Sen. Terry Mercer

Kennedy: Harper's strategy of cynicism will backfire

2006-03-28T09:02:00.000-08:00

Star Columnists

Liberals need to reach out to the West Kennedy
The Toronto Star
Tue 28 Mar 2006
Page: A6
Section: News
Byline: Robert Benzie
Source: Toronto Star

The federal Liberal party is adrift after years of unchallenged power and needs to reach out to the West if it is to become relevant again, says Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy.

While Kennedy, 45, is still not an official candidate for the party leadership, he issued yesterday a call to arms for Liberals.

"Either the Liberal party is going to be able to present a very clear, progressive view of where the country is headed, or it's going to be in some significant difficulty," he said after an editorial board meeting with the Toronto Star.

The Manitoba-born Kennedy, who lived in Western Canada for 26 years, spent last weekend meeting with Liberal organizers in Alberta and British Columbia.

"There isn't any reason why we can't have a Liberal proposition that comes out of Alberta and comes out of B.C.," he said, warning against abandoning the West to Prime Minister Stephan Harper's Conservatives.

"They feel alienated and in some ways they should because they haven't been part of the base. They're not regions to be added on to, they are Canada - just like Ontario is."

Kennedy, who speaks French, was also pointed in his criticism of a federal party that squandered power on Jan. 23 after more than 12 years in office.

"From my standpoint, yes, some of it could have been inevitable in the sense of a government that was successful managing, but I think there is a hidden liability that is now fairly clear. You've got to be able to give people a sense ... where is the country going," he said.

Kennedy, who is expected to launch his campaign next month, insisted that Harper's Tories do not have a monopoly on fresh ideas for Canada.

"My feeling is, as savvy as Mr. Harper is seeming to be following the marketing route and so on, there's a cynical part about that that leaves a very big opening for the Liberal party if it can get its act together," he said.

"While Kennedy will have to step down from cabinet if he enters the federal race, he hinted for the first time that he would also resign as Liberal MPP for Parkdale-High Park.

The Liberal leader will be chosen in Montreal on the Dec. 2-3 weekend. So far, candidates include lawyer Martha Hall Findlay and former federal cabinet minister John Godfrey.

Others rumoured to enter the race are MP Michael Ignatieff (Etobicoke-Lakeshore) former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae, former ministers Joe Volpe, Carolyn Bennett, Belinda Stronach and Scott Brison, among others. Two-time Tory leadership hopeful David Orchard is thinking about joining the race.

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Kennedy's Departure Large Loss to Provincial Liberals

2006-03-27T10:04:00.000-08:00

McGuinty cabinet shuffle likely if Kennedy goes
IAN URQUHART

With Gerard Kennedy seemingly poised to enter the federal Liberal leadership race, the attention of Queen's Park is already turning to who will replace him as education minister.

Kennedy remained coy last week about his decision.

In various interviews, he insisted he has yet to make up his mind and portrayed himself as a passive actor in the unfolding events.

But signs of an active campaign are everywhere. A "Draft Kennedy" website has been launched, and various movers and shakers in the party are frantically making calls on his behalf.

This is being done with Kennedy's knowledge and apparent consent.

And Kennedy himself spent this past weekend in Alberta and Vancouver meeting potential delegates and doing media interviews.

At Queen's Park, it is now generally assumed he is going, with a formal announcement expected early next month.

His departure will be a huge loss to the government, both in education and more generally as the unofficial spokesperson for the progressive wing of the provincial Liberal party.

In education, Kennedy has dramatically lowered the workplace tensions in our schools and significantly increased funding to begin reclaiming what was lost during the belt-tightening Harris years.

While Kennedy is often accused of micromanaging the portfolio, he has undeniably won the confidence and support of the major stakeholders in education by convincing them that he has their best interests at heart.

"I've watched him walk into a room where they are ready to lynch him and afterward they are all lining up to pose for pictures with him," says one such stakeholder.

But Kennedy's influence has also been felt in other areas, such as the new City of Toronto Act, where he successfully campaigned for a broad rather than a narrow approach, and tenant protection, where he has pushed, unsuccessfully to date, for reintroduction of full rent controls.

Who will fill his shoes?

For a new education minister, Premier Dalton McGuinty could promote someone from the backbenches.

Two obvious choices would be Liz Sandals, a former president of the Ontario Public School Boards Association, and Kathleen Wynne, a former Toronto school trustee and Kennedy's parliamentary assistant.

Both would hit the ground running because they are up to date on both the issues and the players in education.

Giving cabinet posts to people with recent backgrounds in the field can be problematic, however, because they can be at odds with some of the stakeholders.

Also, McGuinty may prefer an experienced minister to handle the government's second biggest portfolio (after health).

Among existing members of cabinet who might be candidates for the education portfolio are: Colleges and Universities Minister Chris Bentley, who is well regarded inside government; Infrastructure Minister David Caplan, himself a former trustee; and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Marie Bountrogianni, a former chief psychologist at the Hamilton public school board. Picking a current minister would start a domino effect, however, and lead to a much bigger cabinet shuffle.

With an election looming next year, it is widely assumed that McGuinty will engineer such a shuffle, bringing in new blood and dropping ministers who do not intend to stand for re-election.

But the logical time for such a shuffle would be in late June, after the Legislature has recessed for the summer.

Until then, McGuinty might choose to appoint an "interim" education minister such as the widely respected Gerry Phillips, minister of government services, who could double up on his responsibilities for a couple of months to buy time.

Or McGuinty could appoint himself as interim education minister.

As for the role of unofficial voice of the party's progressive wing, Kennedy's natural successor is Health Minister George Smitherman. The two men think alike on most issues.

Interestingly, however, Smitherman is backing Bob Rae, not Kennedy, for the federal Liberal leadership.

Ian Urquhart's provincial affairs column appears Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. iurquha@thestar.ca.

-The Star

Kennedy remarks about Sheila Copps Lovein

2006-03-24T17:22:00.000-08:00

The event doubled as a coming-out party for Liberal leadership candidates.

Several members of Paul Martin's last cabinet, including MPs Ken Dryden and Stephane Dion, showed up. Bob Rae, the former NDP premier who is toying with a run at the leadership, appeared, plus Toronto Liberal MPs Carolyn Bennett and Michael Ignatieff.

But one of the loudest buzzes in the room last night was reserved for Gerard Kennedy, the former food bank worker who is Minister of Education in Ontario.

"He's young, he represents renewal," said Sean McDonald, a former Liberal staffer who runs the blog http://liberalleadershipodds.com/

Mr. Kennedy "came from Alberta," Mr. McDonald said. "He's perfectly bilingual. He's brown-haired, not grey-haired."

Mr. Kennedy promised last night to decide soon whether to jump into the race. If he does run, he plans to call for major change in the party.

"There has to be a fundamental reform of the party," he said. "It needs to be a much more open party.

"The success of the party caused it to be cloistered. It missed the beat in terms of connecting to people. We need to roll up our sleeves and look at the way the party works."

Mr. Kennedy praised the event as, "another non-linear event by Dennis Mills. There is nothing particularly logical about it," he said.

But he called it a good chance to heal old wounds. "People are here from every one of the former factions," he said.

-From the National Post/Edmonton Journal

Kennedy Struts his stuff at Copps's farewell fete

2006-03-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

Hon. Gerard Kennedy, the Minister of Education for Ontario, made the rounds at an event planned to heal rifts in the federal Liberal Party. The event was first planned as a way to bring together Liberals to turn the page on previous leadership feuds, when some in the party felt Ms. Copps was pushed out by supporters of Mr. Martin.

But it was heavily attended by potential leadership candidates who weren't even in the party for the Turner-ChrÃÂ©tien, ChrÃÂ©tien-Martin, and Martin-Copps feuds. Many potential leadership candidates were not even ideologically, or partisan aligned with the Liberals during the previous contests.

Kennedy, in the leadership race for the Ontario Liberal Party, lost on the fifth ballot after winning on all other previous ballots. Mr. Kennedy was able to build a successful working relationship with his colleague Dalton McGuinty, first in opposition, then in government as Education Minister.

Kennedy to add some 'pizzazz' to leadership race

2006-03-23T09:12:00.000-08:00

A Letter to the Editor in the Toronto Star

Kennedy expected in Liberal contest

Gerard Kennedy is young, personable and politically savvy and would, no doubt, put some pizzazz in a Liberal leadership race that's top heavy with old men plus the inexperienced Belinda Stronach. However, Kennedy, when he was running the Toronto food banks, said the more successful the food banks were, the more it allowed the government to shirk its responsibility. When Kennedy became a provincial Liberal cabinet minister, his supporters expected him to address the homeless problem head-on. They are still waiting.

William Bedford, Toronto

Response: Being the Minister of Education, homelessness and poverty were not part of Mr. Kennedy's portfolio. Minister Kennedy, represented the issues he felt passionate about around the caucus and cabinet table, went to bat to defend the rights of the less advantaged while focusing his efforts within his department.

Within the department of education, Kennedy did do what was in his pervue, ensuring a program gutted by the Conversatives, the at school meal program was able to survive. Ontario, and the City of Toronto have one of the more extensive breakfast and lunch programs in the country to provide meals to hungry children, simply kids do not learn well, when their stomachs are empty.

Kennedy: Whats not to love?

2006-03-22T09:10:00.000-08:00

When it comes to leading the federal Liberals, Gerard Kennedy has just about everything: He's young, fluently bilingual and is regularly named as one of the sexiest politicians around Queen's Park.

The only thing he doesn't have is a seat in the House of Commons. Oh, and there's one more hurdle: His job. Kennedy loves being Ontario's minister of education.

"It's simply something that really caught me by surprise," Kennedy said of the leadership question in an interview yesterday in the plush 22nd-floor boardroom of his Mowat Block office.

"I have had approaches on the federal front before, but I guess the sense that there needs to be a fundamental reform of the federal Liberal party is what has me interested to the extent that I am considering it," he said, although he admitted he's a "dark-horse candidate without even a seat (in Ottawa)."

He said he's been buoyed by the strength of support from people who say he has "a unique contribution to make" to a party badly in need of rebuilding.

"They have at least convinced me that these kind of reforms are quite essential for the progressive, practical outlook that I believe in.

"These renewals don't happen on anybody's timetable, they happen as a result of a larger circumstance.

"I guess that's why these are probably once-in-a-generation chances, particularly this particular circumstance where there is a period of confusion about direction (of the party)," he said.

Kennedy says Premier Dalton McGuinty understands his dilemma. Both agree that his leadership bid, if he makes one, mustn't get in the way of his work in the education ministry.

"He understands I need to look at it, given the way it has been posed to me, but we also agree that it is very important that the ministry move forward without hesitation in the meantime."

He would quit his job as minister if he runs. "I certainly wouldn't be a leadership candidate and a minister of education, that's for sure," he said.

Critics have said he has no national profile. "I think there is some fairness to that criticism and I think it can probably be applied to to a lot of the other candidates."

He points out that was born in Manitoba and lived there for 20 years. He also lived in Alberta for eight years, has a good sense of Quebec from his work as national spokesman for the food bank, and his wife is a Maritimer.

"I've always felt very Canadian in terms of identity."

Kennedy has an impressive political pedigree, including his father Jack Kennedy, his uncle Edward Kennedy, his mother Caroline and his sister Joan. No, not those Kennedys. His father was mayor of The Pas, Manitoba, while his uncle was a priest. He's married to Jeanette Arsenault Kennedy.

The former food bank director is viewed as left-wing. I asked him if that's where he'd take the federal party. "I would be taking the Liberal party to being Liberal. I think it has been Liberal in recent times, but it hasn't necessarily found a competent expression of that."

On policy, he sees Alberta Premier Ralph Klein's proposals to increase privatization of health care as "highly problematic." He supports our troops in Afghanistan, and says now isn't the time to question their deployment.

"There will be a time to decide about their continued deployment and I think about the future of the Canadian military and Canadian resources abroad."

Same-sex marriage? Kennedy's in favour of it. On abortion, he says government has no role to play: "I don't think that is something the state should criminalize or be involved in doing and I wouldn't like to see (PM Stephen) Harper go down the way of some of the American states."

When will we know if his hat's in the ring?

"Soon," he says. Stay tuned.

-CHRISTINA BLIZZARD

Kennedy Expected to Run

2006-03-22T09:08:00.001-08:00

Kennedy expected in Liberal contest
Ontario minister yet to make final decision

Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy is expected to officially enter the federal Liberal leadership contest next month, sources say.

Kennedy, 45, a runner-up to Premier Dalton McGuinty in the 1996 provincial Liberal leadership race, could be one of about a dozen candidates vying for the party helm at a convention scheduled Dec. 2 and 3 in Montreal.

Kennedy insisted yesterday he has not made a final decision.

"I certainly want to do this as soon as possible, I can't put a firm date on it yet," he told the Star, adding: "I'm not ruling anything out."

Provincial party officials, however, have already put out feelers to potential candidates to replace Kennedy in Parkdale-High Park, a riding the Liberals want to hold in the 2007 election.

"They've got to make sure there's a succession plan," said one source.

The Nova Scotia Liberal senator leading the draft-Kennedy movement said he is certain the bilingual education minister, who once headed food banks in Edmonton and Toronto, will run.

"I'm not a guy who likes to waste his time and I'm still making calls" to potential supporters across the country, Terry Mercer said from Ottawa.

"I haven't been this excited about politics in a long, long time."

But Mercer said potential candidates are still sizing up the field.

"Everybody after this past weekend is sitting back and looking at what the (membership) rules mean and the (spending) limits, etc.," he said, referring to the party's announcement Sunday of the framework for the contest, including a $3.4 million spending limit for each candidate.

"It's not something you can do on Canadian Tire money or whatever," acknowledged Kennedy, noting considerations other than the "mechanics" of a campaign would anchor his decision.

-ROB FERGUSON

Kennedy calls for party to re-energize itself as a more open, grassroots organization

2006-03-21T21:28:00.000-08:00

Kennedy mulls bid with preem

Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy has spoken with the premier about the possibility of leaving provincial politics for a run at the federal Liberal leadership.

"He's agreed I need to give this some consideration, and so that's what I'm doing," Kennedy told the Sun Friday.

Speaking in his Queen's Park office, Kennedy said he intends to make a decision "soon" on whether he will join the race to succeed Paul Martin at the party's helm.

"If I'm convinced I'm the best person to do it, not better than the other people, just best for this time and this particular need, then I'm going to go ahead and do it," he said.

Kennedy, 45, the runner-up to Premier Dalton McGuinty in the provincial Grits' 1996 leadership race, said he began receiving calls urging him to consider the federal leadership even before the Liberals lost the Jan. 23 election.

The more serious phone calls, letters and e-mails began pouring in the following day -- many suggesting the party needed someone from outside the federal level to lead the renewal.

Kennedy said the federal party must re-energize itself as a more open, grassroots organization where members have a greater say in policy.

"There has to be a complete reform of the party, and the part that I haven't answered yet is am I the guy to do it, or am I the only one who can do it in the way that it needs to be done?" he said.

-ALAN FINDLAY

Kennedy on the fence over running

2006-03-21T21:25:00.000-08:00

Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy says he'll soon announce his plans regarding the leadership of the federal Liberal party.

"I have said that I have been approached by people, I am having those private conversations," he said yesterday.

Kennedy said he will make his intentions known in a "short amount of time."

However, the provincial cabinet minister stressed that even amid the speculation of his possible leadership run, he's not shirking his existing duties.

-LAURA CZEKAJ

Kennedy says Lobbyists need to back off

2006-03-21T20:45:00.000-08:00

Education lobbyists `unnecessary expense'
Communication lines open, says Kennedy
Catholic and public boards spent $100,000

Education Minister Gerard Kennedy says there was no need for the Toronto public and Catholic school boards to spend $100,000 to lobby him for more money.

After a speech to the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, he reiterated that school boards don't need to hire lobby firms to communicate with the province.

Kennedy said he will be meeting with both boards but "lobbyists won't be in the room."

Last week, the two boards agreed to split the cost of hiring well-known lobby firm Navigator Ltd. to help make their case about funding shortfalls in teacher salaries and utilities.

"We don't believe any school board needs outside help to solve problems with the provincial government," Kennedy said yesterday in response to a reporter's question.

- TESS KALINOWSKI

Gerard Kennedy Newsdesk

Kennedy is 'the one to watch'

Kennedy - Eloquent, Intense, Impressive

Gerard Kennedy and Scott Brison - leaders on the Afghanistan file

Kennedy to Nova Scotia: I understand

Kennedy - A man of Action

Kennedy - A man of Bold New Ideas

Gerard on the ball on attack on Harper

Many Mistakenly Misjudge Kennedy

Jimmy K. see's writing on the wall

What do you think of Gerard Kennedy?

I endorse Kerard Kennedy for Leader

Kennedy proposes tax on gas guzzlers, GST break on hybrid vehicles

Kennedy - to his roots

Kennedy - I am a healer

Kennedy: It's Iggy and Me prognosticators continue to prognosticate

Kennedy - Lauded in London

Improving Immigrants experience Imperative

Improve immigrants' lot, Kennedy says

It's the way to make Canada competitive in global economy, Liberal hopeful says

Kennedy Brings Hope

Entrepreneurs Eagerly await Enterprise Economics

Kennedy - I like risks

Kennedy says funding overhaul needed

April Lindgren, CanWest News Service

Kennedy welcomed to federal fold

Gerard Kennedy

Kennedy - Queen's Park, I bid you adieu

Gerard continues encounters with Canada - New Brunswick Edition - handles french interview with ease

G&M flip flops on Kennedy flair for french

Kennedy - Quebec's the place for me

Kennedy Connects in Kamloops

Kennedy's a natural: Brabant Newspapers

Kennedy: Harper Failed Aboriginals

Kennedy - The way for the West to be in is with the Liberal Party

Western heritage played up

Kennedy - Early Leader?

Kennedy: I feel the party's pain

'I don't have to worry about the past'

THE LIBERAL LEADERSHIP: Ontario MPP Gerard Kennedy enters race to heal party rifts from Martin, Chrétien camps

Gerard Kennedy

Kennedy: Harper's Lazy/With great power comes great responsibility

Kennedy - One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.

Kennedy comes to Ottawa

Liberal leadership hopeful Gerard Kennedy visits Ottawa

Kennedy: It's Iggy and Me prognosticators prognosticate

Kennedy - Mississauga hear me roar!

Kennedy - I see a gander of young MPs to support me?

Young MPs set to back Kennedy

Kennedy still crisscrossing our great nation

Kennedy :Good in '96, Great in '06!

Kennedy Attracts NDP Organizer

Kennedy "Interesting" says Shelia Copps

Our Sheila's not running

Columnist won't be contender for Grit leadership

Kennedy's apprenticeship

Kennedy: the buzz continues

Great Welcome to Kennedy

Kennedy gains from Stronach decision - Star

Kennedy's Globe and Mail Love in

Liberals queue up for their day at the races

Maverick Kennedy regrooming himself for a federal sortie from Queen's Park

Kennedy's Toronto Star Love-in

Kennedy supported by TDH Strategies

Kennedy's "Mysterious" Leadership Bid

Kennedy's Statement to the Media

Kennedy pursues dream

Kennedy to quit Cabinet Wednesday

Kennedy departure may spark shuffle

Kennedy to decide on federal Grit leadership run in 'matter of days'

Kennedy to announce run , Ontario rules set

Excerpt of story from the hill times

The Hill Times, April 3rd, 2006NEWS STORYBy F. Abbas Rana

Kennedy: Harper's strategy of cynicism will backfire

Kennedy's Departure Large Loss to Provincial Liberals

Kennedy remarks about Sheila Copps Lovein

Kennedy Struts his stuff at Copps's farewell fete

Kennedy to add some 'pizzazz' to leadership race

Kennedy: Whats not to love?

Kennedy Expected to Run

The Hill Times, April 3rd, 2006
NEWS STORY
By F. Abbas Rana