Kennedy Stewart (Canadian politician)

Early life and career

Stewart was born in Halifax in 1966 and raised in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where he earned his bachelor's degree in history from Acadia University.

After moving to Burnaby in 1988, Stewart played bass guitar for the pop music band State of Mind, which won three West Coast Music Awards in 1991.

In 1995, Stewart received his master's degree in political science from Simon Fraser University, and a PhD in government from the London School of Economics in 2003.

As an academic, Stewart published research on citizen participation, democratic reform, and municipal governance. His books include Local Government in Canada.

He is currently on leave from Simon Fraser University’s School of Public Policy. Stewart’s wife Jeanette Ashe also teaches politics at Douglas College.

Federal politics

On March 28, 2004, Stewart won the NDP nomination for the federal riding of Vancouver Centre in a close three-way race. Although he lost in the 2004 general election by 4,230 votes, he increased the NDP's vote share in Vancouver Centre by 20 percentage points compared to the 2000 election.

On February 25, 2011, Stewart secured the NDP nomination for the federal riding of Burnaby—Douglas in a first ballot victory. He won the riding in the 2011 general election with 44 percent of the vote and was re-elected with 35 percent of the vote in 2015.

41st Parliament

In 2012, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair appointed Stewart as official opposition critic for science and technology and as a member of the standing committee on industry, science and technology. In Parliament, he opposed the Conservative government’s elimination of the long-form census and funding cuts for basic scientific research. He tabled legislation (Motion 453) to protect scientific integrity in government departments and end the muzzling of federal scientists.

In 2013, Stewart introduced Bill C-558, The Parliamentary Science Officer Act. Following the elimination of Canada’s National Science Advisor in 2008, the bill aimed to create an independent science watchdog tasked with providing Parliament with sound scientific information and ensuring decisions are informed by the best available evidence. Bill C-558 was endorsed by Evidence for Democracy, the Canadian Association of University Teachers, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, and the Centre for Science in the Public Interest.

Stewart put forward a proposal (Motion 428) for the House of Commons to begin accepting petitions electronically as a means to engage more Canadians in the democratic process. It further proposed that short debates be triggered in Parliament if an online petition receives a significant number of signatures and is sponsored by at least five MPs. Stewart’s proposal was endorsed by Ed Broadbent, Preston Manning, and a number of civil society groups. Being opposed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative cabinet, Motion 428 passed the House of Commons by only two votes (142-140) on January 29, 2014. It was widely viewed as a “surprise win” for the official opposition.

Stewart held public consultations with Burnaby residents on Kinder Morgan’s proposal to build a new export-only, bitumen-based crude oil pipeline through his riding. He became a vocal opponent of the project, citing community concerns over property expropriation, decreasing housing values, increased tanker traffic in the Burrard Inlet, the use of temporary foreign workers, and the lack of benefits for British Columbia. His constituency office helped local residents sign-up to participate in the National Energy Board’s review of the project. In 2013, the Burnaby Newsleader named Stewart their “Newsmaker of the Year” for his community work on the Kinder Morgan pipeline.

Stewart is an advocate for social housing and federal action to address BC’s housing crisis. In 2014, he put forward a BC-specific affordable housing strategy (Motion 547) to recognize housing as a fundamental right, expand public investments in housing co-ops, maintain rent subsidies for low-income families, set targets for reducing and ending homelessness, and study the impact of investor speculation and housing vacancies on real estate prices. His motion was endorsed by the City of Burnaby.

42nd Parliament

He was re-elected in the new riding of Burnaby South in the 2015 election.

Following the election, Stewart was re-appointed by Tom Mulcair as NDP critic for science.

On December 4, 2015, Parliament launched its new website for accepting electronic petitions from Canadians. Under the new system, initiated by Stewart’s motion that passed before the election, the federal government has to respond within 45 days to online petitions if they are sponsored by one Member of Parliament and receive at least 500 signatures. Stewart sponsored the first official e-petition in Canada on behalf of two local constituents.

On December 9, 2015, Stewart was elected by his caucus colleagues as chair of the NDP’s British Columbia caucus. In a statement, he vowed to support the NDP’s newly elected MPs getting established in Parliament, strengthen engagement with stakeholders and constituents across the province, and hold the new Liberal government accountable for its election promises on affordable housing and pipeline reviews.