Young MPs Support Kennedy’s Leadership Bid

Former Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy’s bid to become leader of the federal Liberal Party got a boost when a group of young MPs recently announced that they would be supporting him.

Among the MPs named in a Globe and Mail report on April 20 as being in the pro-Kennedy camp is Ukrainian-Canadian MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj, aged 45.  Other MPS in the group are Scott Simms, 35, of Newfoundland, Mississauga MPs Navdepp Bains, 28, and Omar Alghabra, 36, and Mario Silva, 39, of Toronto.

Kennedy, 45, was born in The Pas, a northern Manitoba community, to a family of Scottish and Ukrainian ancestry.

His father is a retired small business owner, former mayor and school board chairman who ran as a Liberal in the 1984 federal election; his mother is a retired elementary school teacher. Kennedy is the second-oldest of six children.

Kennedy’s Scottish side is from Quebec, Ontario, Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. The Ukrainian side is from the Dauphin and surrounding farming area in Manitoba.

Kennedy was first elected as an MPP for York South in a 1996 by-election. While in opposition, Kennedy served as critic for consumer affairs and housing, health and education.

He ran for the Ontario Liberal leadership in 1996 and finished second.

In 1999 and 2003, he was elected as the MPP for the riding of Parkdale-High Park.

He stepped down from his most recent post as Education Minister in order to focus on the federal leadership campaign, although as of April 23, he had not officially declared his candidacy.

Candidates who have already announced their intentions officially include Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett, former Ontario Premier Bob Rae, academic and first-time MP Michael Ignatieff, former federal environment minister Stephane Dion and Liberal MPs Scott Brison, Joe Volpe and Maurizio Bevilacqua and Toronto lawyer Martha Hall Findlay.