Keith Hutchings , is former 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
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
in
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...
. From 2007 until 2019, he represented the
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...
of
Ferryland
Ferryland is a town in Newfoundland and Labrador on the Avalon Peninsula. According to the 2021 Statistics Canada census, its population is 371.
Seventeenth century settlement
Ferryland was originally established as a station for migratory fis ...
in the
Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly
The Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly is the unicameral deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It meets in the Confederation Building in St. Jo ...
for the
Progressive Conservative Party.
Hutchings served as the Minister of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Minister of
Innovation, Business and Rural Development, the Minister responsible for the Office of Public Engagement and the Deputy House Leader.
Before entering cabinet in 2011, Hutchings had served as a Parliamentary Secretary in several government departments.
Early life and career
Hutchings was born the youngest of six children in
Mobile
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ( ...
, a community on the south coast of the
Avalon Peninsula. He attended
Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) in
St. John's where he completed a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
degree, with a major in
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
and a minor in history. Hutchings also has a Certificate in Public Administration from MUN, and has completed an Occupational Health and Safety Program from
Ryerson Polytechnical Institute
Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, although it also operates facilities elsewhere in Toro ...
in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
, Ontario.
Hutchings spent 11 years working with the Workplace Health Safety and Compensation Commission. From 1996 to 1998 he served as Chief of Staff and Executive Assistant to
Loyola Sullivan
Loyola Sullivan (born April 3, 1949) served as Canada's Ambassador for Fisheries Conservation from 2007 until 2011 and is a former Member of the House of Assembly in Newfoundland and Labrador. Sullivan represented the district of Ferryland from ...
, then the Leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Assembly. Prior to entering politics he worked as a consultant.
He also owned and operated IMPACC Consulting.
Politics
Government backbencher
On December 29, 2006, Sullivan announced his resignation as Minister of Finance and as member of the House of Assembly (MHA) for Ferryland. Hutchings later announced he would seek the Progressive Conservative nomination in the district. He defeated seven other candidates to win the nomination, taking 1,135 votes out of the 2,902 ballots cast.
In the by-election held on February 8, 2007, Hutchings took 75 per cent of the vote to hold the seat for the governing Progressive Conservatives, defeating candidates from both the Liberals and New Democrats.
Eight months later he was re-elected in the
October 9, 2007, provincial election, winning nearly 84 per cent of the popular vote.
Following his re-election Premier
Danny Williams appointed him as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment. Two years later he became Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health and Community Services. Hutchings was challenged by two others for the Progressive Conservative nomination in the lead up to the
October 2011, provincial election. He easily secured the PC nomination for the October vote, taking 1,586 of the 2,367 votes cast. Hutchings was re-elected in the provincial election with 72 per cent of the popular vote.
Minister of Innovation, Business and Rural Development (2011-2013)
Hutchings was appointed as the minister of the newly formed Department of
Innovation, Business and Rural Development on October 28, 2011. The new department was created by merging the Department of Business with the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development.
In March 2012, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) revealed that in an eight-year period the government, through the now defunct Department of Business, had funnelled more than $20 million into grants, loans and the direct costs of business-attraction initiatives, with only moderate returns. A net benefit of fewer than 100 new jobs, a quarter of them seasonal, had been created. In the 2013, provincial budget the government consolidate more than 20 business investment programs under two umbrella funds – a Business Investment Fund and a Regional Development Fund. Hutchings said the move simplified the system for businesses and community groups, with one business advocate agreeing that this would make it easier for companies to get money.
Hutchings' department was also responsible for representing the provincial government during negotiations on the Canada-
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union and its member states. It has been provisionally applied, thus removing 98% of the preexisting tariffs between the two parts.
...
(CETA). The tentative trade agreement was announced on October 18, 2013, nine days after Hutchings became the province's Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture. The fishery was the main issue in the trade negotiations for Newfoundland and Labrador. Hutchings, along with the new minister of IBRD,
Charlene Johnson
Charlene Johnson , is a Canadian former politician in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Johnson represented the district of Trinity-Bay de Verde for the Progressive Conservative Party from 2003 to 2014.
Johnson served as a minister in the cab ...
, and Minister of Natural Resources
Derrick Dalley
Derrick Dalley , (born July 22, 1965) is a former Canadian politician in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. He served as the Minister of Natural Resources in the provincial cabinet. Dalley has represented the district of The Isles of Notre Dam ...
, announced the government's support for CETA on the day the tentative agreement was announced. The ministers said the trade agreement would a game changer for the fishing industry.
The agreement would eliminate minimum processing requirements (MPRs) for the European Union three years after the ratification of the deal, which is expected to occur in 2015. In return for eliminating MPRs, high tariffs and import restrictions on almost all fish would be eliminated on the first day that CETA comes into effect. Currently only 13.1 per cent of seafood is duty-free. But by 2022, all seafood would be 100 per cent duty-free. Minimum process requirements is a policy in the province that requires fish caught off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador to have a minimal level of processing done in provincial fish plants.
On December 5, 2013, Premier Dunderdale tabled 82 pages of correspondents regarding the CETA negotiations. Letters between Hutchings and the federal
Minister of International Trade,
Ed Fast, mainly dealt with minimum processing requirements and the negotiations that led to a $400 million fund for the provincial fishery. In return for eliminating MPRs for the European Union, which the federal government wanted, Hutchings tried to get Fast to agree to a number of proposals in return. These proposals included the federal government selling their equity stake in the
Hibernia oil field
Hibernia is an oil field in the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately east-southeast of St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, in 80 m of water.Hurley, T.J., Kreisa, R.D., Taylor, G.G., and Yates, W.R.L., 1992, The Reservoir Geology and Geophysics ...
to the province, enhancing search and rescue services, and enacting a separate safety regulator for the offshore oil industry. Fast would not agree to these proposals and countered with a $400 million fund to help fish plant workers who could possibly be affected by eliminating MPRs. The $400 million fund would be cost shared by both levels of government, with each contributing half. Hutchings and Fast eventually agreed that Ottawa would cover 70 per cent of the $400 million fund and that the money could be used in all aspects of the fishery.
Deputy House Leader and Office of Public Engagement (2012-2013)
In a cabinet shuffle held on October 19, 2012, Hutchings was appointed Deputy House Leader and Minister responsible for the Office of Public Engagement, while also retaining the Innovation, Business and Rural Development portfolio. The Office of Public Engagement was a newly formed office that would become responsible for the Rural Secretariat, the Voluntary and Non-Profit Secretariat, the Youth Engagement office, the Strategic Partnership Initiative, and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Office. The office was formed after the government faced considerable backlash for changes made to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
One of the first major initiatives by the Office of Public Engagement, in partnership with the Department of Service NL, was to post restaurant health and sanitation inspection reports online. Previously the information was only available upon request to Service NL. At this time Hutchings said that he had directed officials to find other areas whereby there could be routine disclosure of information. At a news conference on April 23, 2013, Hutchings announced that completed access-to-information requests would now be posted online, as well as
orders in council
An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council (''King ...
. Newfoundland and Labrador became one of the last provinces to post orders in council online, and the government had recently been criticized for their lack of disclosure of them. At the news conference Hutchings said that the government would look at routinely disclosing all contracts, grants and contributions above a certain dollar amount, but had no time frame to do so.
Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture (2013-2014)
In a cabinet shuffle held on October 9, 2013, Premier Dunderdale appointed Hutchings to the portfolio of Fisheries and Aquaculture. Hutchings replaced
Derrick Dalley
Derrick Dalley , (born July 22, 1965) is a former Canadian politician in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. He served as the Minister of Natural Resources in the provincial cabinet. Dalley has represented the district of The Isles of Notre Dam ...
who was appointed Minister of Natural Resources, after just one year at Fisheries and Aquaculture. Following his appointment a representative with the Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW), the union representing workers in the fishery, said he hoped to see Hutchings stay in the portfolio longer than his predecessors. Hutchings was the seventh minister appointed to the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture in ten years.
On October 30, 2013, Hutchings joined Premier Dunderdale at
The Rooms
The Rooms is a cultural facility in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The facility opened in 2005 and houses the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Provincial Muse ...
in St. John's to announce the $400 million fund for the fishery, which he had negotiated as Minister of Innovation, Business and Rural Development. $280 million of the fund would be covered by the federal government while the province would provide the additional $120 million. The money would not be in place till after the trade agreement was finalized, which would likely be in 2015. The government did not have a specific plan on how they would spend the money, and planned on using the next two years on figuring that out.
Minister of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs
On September 30, 2014, Hutchings was appointed Minister of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs by Premier
Paul Davis . As Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Hucthings travelled to Ottawa with Premier Davis to meet Prime Minister
Stephen Harper on December 12, 2014. The meeting was to discuss the province's concerns over the $400 million fisheries fund that Hutchings had helped negotiate as part of Canada's free trade agreement with the European Union. The province was concerned that the federal government was placing new stipulations on their portion of the fund which would make it nearly impossible for the province to access. After their meeting Premier Davis stated "we cannot trust Stephen Harper, cannot trust this government."
Opposition (2015-2019)
The Davis government was defeated in the 2015 provincial election, although Hutchings was re-elected in Ferryland. He was subsequently appointed by the PC Caucus as Opposition House Leader in the House of Assembly. He did not run for re-election in the 2019 election.
Electoral history
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* Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language
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NDP may stand for:
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* Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol
* Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP
* Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language
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* Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol
* Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP
* Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language
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References
External links
Keith Hutchings' PC Party biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchings, Keith
Living people
Members of the Executive Council of Newfoundland and Labrador
Memorial University of Newfoundland alumni
Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador MHAs
Toronto Metropolitan University alumni
21st-century Canadian politicians
Year of birth missing (living people)