researcher for the Government of Alberta in the early 1980s. He began his social activism career when he directed the volunteer program at an Edmonton Food Bank in 1983. After moving to Ontario, Kennedy was the executive director of Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank from 1986 to 1996. The food bank distributed $30 million worth of food each year without government funding; 150,000 people are estimated to have used its services every month. Kennedy was named in Toronto Life Magazine's list of fifty influential people in 1992, and was named newsmaker of the year by the Toronto Star in 1993. Kennedy was also given an honourable mention in the Financial Post Magazine'''s C.E.O. awards in 1995. Kennedy is married to Jeanette Arsenault-Kennedy, a day care professional and Acadian (Francophone) from Prince Edward Island. They have two children, daughter Théria and son John-Julien. Provincial politics York South Kennedy entered political life in May 1996, running in a by-election for the Ontario legislature in Toronto's York South constituency, which was vacated by former Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Bob Rae. On May 23, Kennedy was the first candidate not from the NDP or its predecessor, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, to win the seat since 1955. He received 7774 votes; his nearest opponent was the NDP's David Miller, at the time, a Toronto city councillor, who received 6656 votes. Despite being a newcomer to politics, Kennedy became the front-runner to replace Lyn McLeod as leader of the Ontario Liberal Party in late 1996. Although popular on the left-wing, he encountered a strong "anyone-but-Kennedy" movement from the party's establishment and right-wing which was divided among several candidates on the leadership convention floor. Kennedy finished first on the first, second, third and fourth ballots, but was defeated on the fifth ballot by Dalton McGuinty. Although McGuinty finished in fourth place on the first ballot, he was able to increase his support in the subsequent ballots, gaining delegates from the candidates that dropped off. The results of the leadership contest did not prove divisive within the party and both rivals eventually became strong allies. Kennedy served as the party's Health Critic during McGuinty's first opposition term. Parkdale–High Park Kennedy wanted to run in the redistributed York South—Weston constituency in the 1999 Ontario provincial election, because it contained most of his old York South constituency. However, he was persuaded to step aside for former leadership rival