Gerard Michael Kennedy (born July 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. Kennedy previously ran for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party, losing to future premier Dalton McGuinty on the final ballot. He lost the 2013 Ontario Liberal leadership race. While attending the University of Alberta in Edmonton, he became involved in the local food bank, eventually becoming its first executive director in 1983. In 1986, he moved to Toronto to run the Daily Bread Food Bank and did so until he entered politics, in 1996. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as an Ontario Liberal Party Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in a 1996 by-election to replace former premier Bob Rae in the York South constituency. In the 1999 and 2003 general elections, he was elected to represent the new Parkdale—High Park constituency. He became the province's Minister of Education in 2003, serving in McGuinty's first government. In 2006, he resigned his cabinet post and then his legislative seat to seek the federal Liberal Party's leadership. He finished third in delegate selection meetings, but at the leadership convention, he placed fourth on both the first and second ballot before withdrawing to support eventual winner Stéphane Dion. In the 2008 federal election he ran for the Liberal Party of Canada in the Parkdale—High Park electoral district and was elected as its Member of Parliament (MP). He ran for re-election in the 2011 federal election, but lost to former MP, Peggy Nash. Background Kennedy is one of six children born to Jack and Caroline Kennedy (née Shemanski). Kennedy's father, descendant from Scottish ancestry originating in Cape Breton Island and the Ottawa Valley, ran a gas supply business in The Pas, Manitoba, eventually becoming that town's mayor. His mother's ancestry was Ukrainian, and her family lived in Canada's Prairie region. At age 14, Kennedy moved to Winnipeg to attend St. John's-Ravenscourt School on a hockey scholarship. After high school, he attended Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, also on a hockey scholarship. When Trent's hockey program was cancelled, Kennedy switched education institutions and attended the University of Alberta to continue his undergraduate studies, but left in his fourth year, without completing his degree. He then worked as a historical