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

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

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; french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada) was a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the ...

and latterly with its successor the Conservative Party of Canada. 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 Judy Streatch (born October 6, 1966) is a Canadian politician, who was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Chester-St. Margaret's in Nova Scotia from 2005 to 2009. A schoolteacher by career, Streatch was educated at Saint Mary's U ...

, is a former Nova Scotia MLA and cabinet minister.

Early life and education

Keddy was born in

Bridgewater, Nova Scotia Bridgewater is a town in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, Canada, at the navigable limit of the LaHave River. With a 2021 population of 8,790, Bridgewater is the largest town in the South Shore region. Priding itself as "The Main Street of the So ...

. He graduated from

Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia ...

in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts in History.

Political career

He was a member of the House of Commons of Canada, 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 Conservative Party of Canada. 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'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, 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.

Lighthouses

Keddy's riding included many historic

lighthouses A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

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 subsequently apologized for the remark the following day , saying that "many of these people are struggling with mental health issues and addictions. They don’t need to be insulted. They need a little bit of assistance," Tory MP apologizes for calling unemployed citizens 'no-good bastards' National post http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2009/11/24/liberals-want-tory-mp-to-apologize-for-calling-unemployed-citizens-no-good-bastards.aspx#ixzz0fYbRNNeb

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 21st-century Canadian politicians