Opposition demands Gerard Kennedy resign

Opposition demands Gerard Kennedy resign

Canadian Press

Date: Tuesday May. 9, 2006 5:45 PM ET

TORONTO — The opposition parties stepped up the pressure Tuesday on Premier Dalton McGuinty to demand the resignation of federal Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy, who they accused of shirking his duties to his constituents while he tries to raise his profile outside Ontario.

Both the Conservatives and New Democrats complained that Kennedy is not serving his Toronto constituents by travelling across Canada to boost his leadership bid.

But McGuinty defended Kennedy, telling the legislature he'll leave it up to the former education minister to decide exactly when to resign his seat.

"Mr. Kennedy remains very much devoted to his responsibilities,'' McGuinty said. "He remains very much committed to his constituents. Eventually, Mr. Kennedy and his constituents will come to an arrangement regarding his departure.''

The premier noted Kennedy is still active in his Parkdale-High Park riding in Toronto's west end.

"Just last week, a project which he's been working on actively for some time now came to fruition,'' McGuinty said. "He announced the redevelopment of St. Joseph's Hospital here in Toronto.''

"I expect he'll continue to work in an active way for his constituents.''

Kennedy said Tuesday he will eventually resign but not until he feels the time is right.

"I have been working to complete several projects that might suffer if there was a prolonged interruption, and I want to ensure service to area residents,'' he said in a statement.

"While I cannot yet determine how long this transition will take, I want to be clear that as long as I am an MPP, I will ensure that I can fulfil responsibilities during that time.''

But the opposition said it's not possible for Kennedy to be in two places at once, and demanded that McGuinty put his foot down.

"It is your responsibility to say to him that you can't do two things at once,'' said Conservative Leader John Tory. "The time has come ... to step down from his seat.''

Tory said it lowers the public's confidence in all politicians to see Kennedy campaigning across Canada instead of representing his constituents in the legislature.

"We are doing damage to the process and the confidence that people have in all of us by trying to pretend that it is possible for someone, when they're gone from this place for weeks at a time, to also serve their constituents,'' he said.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton said Kennedy should not be drawing a $1,600 weekly salary from Ontario taxpayers while he's running to become the next federal Liberal leader.

"Over just the last two week ... he's criss-crossed the Rockies of British Columbia, he's wandered the Atlantic coast of New Brunswick, and on Saturday he announced he was house hunting in Quebec,'' Hampton said.

Kennedy, who has said he wants to spend part of the summer in Quebec to better understand that province's issues, is one of 11 Liberal leadership contenders.