Jerome Kennedy

Jerome Kennedy QC, MHA, (born 10 July 1960) is a Canadian lawyer and politician in Newfoundland and Labrador, who served in the cabinets of Premier Kathy Dunderdale and Danny Williams.
Kennedy was elected in 2007, as the Member of the House of Assembly (MHA) for the district of Carbonear-Harbour Grace. During his time he cabinet he held the posts of Minister of Finance, Minister of Natural Resources, Government House Leader, Minister of Health and Community Services, and as Minister of Justice and Attorney General. Before entering politics Kennedy was a high-profile criminal lawyer in St. John's.

Kennedy was born and raised in Carbonear, Newfoundland and Labrador and is the oldest of nine children of Patrick and Flora Kennedy. He graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1981, with a bachelor of arts. He then earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of New Brunswick Law School in 1984.

Kennedy was admitted to the Newfoundland Bar in 1985, and began practising criminal law full-time in 1989. Kennedy became a high profile and outspoken criminal defence lawyer in St. John's. He is well known for representing Randy Druken and Gregory Parsons during the Lamer Inquiry, which examined how the criminal justice system dealt with three discredited murder convictions.

On 1 November 2006, Kennedy was the Progressive Conservative Party candidate in a by-election in the district of Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi, to replace outgoing New Democratic Party (NDP) leader, Jack Harris. Kennedy was unsuccessful in his bid for the seat, losing the election to Harris' successor as NDP leader, Lorraine Michael. After the loss he said that he had not given thought to running again in the future. However Kennedy ran for the Progressive Conservatives in the 2007 general election, this time he was elected to represent the district of Carbonear-Harbour Grace in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly.

Minister of Justice

Following the election Kennedy was appointed Minister of Justice and Attorney General. He served in this position for a year, during this time he tried to secure federal funding for a new prison for the province as well he worked at streamlining the operations of the criminal justice system.

Minister of Finance

Kennedy was appointed Minister of Finance, President of Treasury Board, Minister Responsible for the Public Service Secretariat and Minister Responsible for the Office of the Chief Information Officer on 31 October 2008, taking over for Tom Marshall who moved to Kennedy's old portfolio of Justice. Kennedy became minister just as the economy was seeing a downturn, due to the late-200s recession. In March 2009, he released his first budget titled; Building on Our Strong Foundation. Kennedy announced that the province recorded a $2.4 billion surplus during the 2008-2009 fiscal year and that the province's debt fell below $8 billion, but that they faced a $750 million deficit for the 2009-2010 fiscal year due to the recession. Kennedy's $6.7 billion budget put a significant focus on health and social services as well it included $800 million in infrastructure spending to stimulate the economy. Kennedy was also tasked with negotiating contracts with public sector employees. The government had agreed to giving workers a 21.5 per cent wage increase over four years and easily signed deals with the majority of the unions representing public sector employees. The province's nurses union however asked for a raise of more than 24 per cent over two years, plus an overhaul of starting and top wage scales. Kennedy told the nurses union that if they did not accept the 21.5 per cent wage increase over four years, given to other public sector employees, by 31 December 2008, that the government's offer may shrink due to the worsening economy. He later told nurses that "if forced to" the government would legislate nurses back to work if they chose to strike. After months of volatile negotiations Kennedy and the nurses union reached a tentative agreement on 26 May 2009, roughly two hours before nurses were expected on picket lines throughout the province. The four-year agreement, which was later accepted by nurses, included an across the board compounded pay raise of 21.5 per cent, plus new step increases for new nurses and senior nurses which represented a total pay increase of 31 per cent and 27 per cent respectively for these groups by the end of the contract.

Minister of Health

In October 2009, Kennedy succeeded Paul Oram as the Minister of Health and Community Services, after Oram announced his retirement from provincial politics. Kennedy's appointment coincided with the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic. The province started rolling out their mass H1N1 vaccination toward the end of October, which temporarily suspended attention to other health services. While there was originally much confusion and controversy with the mass vaccination, Newfoundland and Labrador ended up vaccinating more of their residents than any other province in Canada. 69 per cent of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians were vaccinated, well above the national average of 41 per cent.

Minister of Natural Resources

Following his re-election in 2011, Kennedy was sworn in as the Minister of Natural Resources, Minister Responsible for the Forestry and Agrifoods Agency and Government House Leader.

Leadership

Kennedy had been thought of as a likely successor to former Premier Williams since entering politics in 2007. When Williams resigned as premier and PC leader on 25 November 2010, Kennedy was thought to be the frontrunner in the leadership race to succeed him. However, on 23 December 2010, Kennedy announced that he would not be seeking the leadership after discussing it with his family. Kennedy endorsed Dunderdale, who was later acclaimed leader of the party.