Gerald Gordon Keddy (born February 15, 1953) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician. Keddy is a former Christmas tree grower, and offshore drill operator and was a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015, first sitting with the

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; ) was a Centrism, centre to centre-right List of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 unti ...

and latterly with its successor the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

. Keddy was chair of The Standing Committee on Fisheries, and later long time Parliamentary Secretary for International Trade, Atlantic Canada Opportunities, and then National Revenue and Agriculture. His wife, Judy Streatch, is a former Nova Scotia MLA and cabinet minister.

Early life and education

Keddy was born in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. He graduated from

Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly Undergraduate education, undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some Postgraduate education, graduate programs at the master's level and one at the Doctorate, doctor ...

in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts in History.

Political career

He was a member of the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

, representing the riding of South Shore from 1997 to 2004, and South Shore—St. Margaret's from 2004 to 2015. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party before 2004, and then joined the

. He served as the Whip and the Deputy Whip of the Progressive Conservative Party, and as critic of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Natural Resources, Fisheries and Oceans, Public Accounts, Parliamentary Affairs, and Library of Parliament. As a member of

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

's caucus, he served as the Chairman of the Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. On October 10, 2007, Keddy was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and has subsequently also served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and to the Minister of National Revenue. He also served as a school board trustee in New Ross, Nova Scotia. Keddy did not stand for re-election in 2015 and retired from parliament.

Same sex marriage

He was one of only a handful of Conservative MPs to support same-sex marriage. His stance on this issue cost him votes in the western portion of his riding in the

2006 Canadian federal election The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 39th Canadian Parliament, 39th Parliament of Canada. New details of the sponsorship scandal were released through the Jo ...

, including some to Christian Heritage Party candidate Jim Hnatiuk who ran specifically to protest Keddy's stance on this issue. However, an evenly split opposition (Liberal and New Democrat rivals came within 60 votes of each other) and rising Green Party also split his opposition's vote, and Keddy won re-election.

Lighthouses

Keddy's riding included many historic lighthouses and is in fact known as the "Lighthouse Route". In 2006, he sponsored in the House of Commons a bill which had emerged from the Senate, the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act, until Parliament was prorogued in 2007. Keddy supported the Act when it was re-introduced by MP Larry Miller in 2008, which led to Royal Assent on May 29, 2008.

Government Cheques with Conservative Party ethics probe

In 2009, Keddy used a ceremonial cheque at a funding announcement which contained a large Conservative party logo and was in the blue colour scheme associated with the party. Usually such cheques carry the Government of Canada logo. The use of the partisan cheque was found to be "inappropriate" but not "illegal" by the Ethics Commissioner

November 2009 "no-good bastards" comment

On November 23, 2009, Keddy sparked a controversy when he was discussing the use of immigrant labour in the industry when he remarked that "Nova Scotians won’t do it — all those no-good bastards sitting on the sidewalk in Halifax that can’t get work." Keddy apologized for the remark the following day, saying, "In no way did I mean to offend those who have lost their job due to the global recession, nor did I mean to suggest that anyone who is unemployed is not actively looking for employment."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keddy, Gerald 1953 births Acadia University alumni Conservative Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia People from Bridgewater, Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada