Steve Kent (politician)

Steve Kent MHA
Member of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly for Mount Pearl North
Incumbent
Assumed office November 1, 2007
Preceded by	Harvey Hodder
Majority	3,727
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister Responsible for the Office of Public Engagement
Incumbent
Assumed office October 24, 2012
Preceded by	Position Established
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister Responsible for the Forestry and Agrifoods Agency
In office October 13, 2010 – September 2011
Preceded by	Harry Harding
Succeeded by	Vaughn Granter
8th Mayor of Mount Pearl
In office October 2003 – October 2007
Preceded by	Dave Denine
Succeeded by	Randy Simms
Councillor/Deputy Mayor of Mount Pearl
In office October 1997 – October 2003
Succeeded by	Randy Simms
Personal details
Born	(1978-05-07) 7 May 1978 Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador
Nationality	Canadian
Political party	Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador
Spouse(s)	Janet Kent
Children	2 (Benjamin, Ciaran)
Residence	Mount Pearl, Newfoundland and Labrador
Alma mater	Memorial University of Newfoundland, McGill University
Signature
Website	Official website

Stephen (Steve) Kent, MHA, (born May 7, 1978) is a Canadian politician in Newfoundland and Labrador. He currently serves as the Minister of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs in the cabinet of Kathy Dunderdale, and is the Member of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly for the District of Mount Pearl North. Kent has also served as the Chief Commissioner and Chair of the Board of Governors for Scouts Canada,^[1] an organization he has been part of since 1986.

Kent has served as Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the City of Mount Pearl and he has worked as Chief Executive Officer for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Newfoundland, as Executive Director at United Way of Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, and as the Manager of Corporate Development at Stirling Communications.

Education

Kent graduated from O'Donel High School in Mount Pearl in 1996, where he had held the position of Student Council President. In 2001, he completed a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and a Certificate in Public Administration, at Memorial University of Newfoundland. In May 2003, he received his Master's Degree in Management from McGill University in Montreal. He earned his degrees while working both as Mayor of the City of Mount Pearl and as the Chief Executive Officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Newfoundland.

Career

From April 1999 to September 2004, Kent held the position of Chief Executive Officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Newfoundland and the organization saw 1000% growth under his leadership. As part of his commitment to Big Brothers Big Sisters, he served as President of the organization's Atlantic Staff Association, and in 2003 was appointed to the Organizational Development Committee.

In 2004, Kent decided to branch out from service agencies and took a position as Manager of Corporate Development, as of August 2005 Acting Station Manager of OZ FM, the top FM station in Newfoundland and Labrador.

He returned to his community service roots and began working as the Executive Director at United Way, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Early in 2006, he launched The FOCUS Group Consulting to provide management and marketing services to private and volunteer sector organizations.

At present, he and his wife Janet, own Focus Driver Training, which operates four Young Drivers of Canada offices in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Politics

Municipal politics in Mount Pearl

Kent began his political career as a teenager, first serving on school councils, in Youth Parliament and on the Youth Council for the City of Mount Pearl. In 1997, at age 19, he ran a successful campaign for city council and was elected Deputy Mayor of Mount Pearl (a position assigned to the Councillor with the most votes), the youngest elected official in the city's history. He became the eighth Mayor of Mount Pearl in 2003 when Dave Denine moved on to provincial politics, and he was elected Mayor by acclamation in 2005.

During his time on city council, Kent was Chair of various committees including the Parks and Recreation Committee, the Human Resources and Finance Committee and the Planning and Use Committee. He also sat on the Economic Development Committee, the Technical Services Committee and the Regional Fire Services Committee. He was also Co-Chair of the Mount Pearl Drug Strategy Committee. Kent was also the Avalon Director on the Board of Directors for Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador, and an active member of the Atlantic Mayors Congress.

In 2002, Kent was appointed to a three year term on the Minister's Advisory Committee to review the province's new Child, Youth and Family Services Act. From January 2003 to October 2004, Kent was part of the Premier's Council on Social Development.

Involvement with the Liberal Party

In March 2000, Kent announced he was seeking the Liberal Party of Canada nomination for a provincial by-election to be held in the riding of St. John's West. After his announcement The Telegram revealed that a string of emails obtained by their paper showed that Kent had been considering seeking the Canadian Alliance nomination in the riding. Kent told The Telegram he thought the Canadian Alliance were to right-wing, but the emails showed that Kent thought it would be useful if the party conducted a poll to find out people's thoughts on him running. When announcing his candidacy for the Liberal nomination he said; "I support the work that the Liberal governments are doing. And it only made sense for me to seek the Liberal nomination at this time."^[2] Kent was supported in his nomination campaign by fellow Mount Pearl City Councillor Lucy Stoyles.^[3] Anthony Sparrow went on to win the Liberal Party nomination for the by-election. Kent, who reportedly came a close second in the nomination, said; "I'll be working for Mr. Sparrow first thing in the morning".^[4]

Kent was a delegate from St. John's South-Mount Pearl at the 2006 federal Liberal leadership convention in Montreal.^[5] On December 5, 2006, Kent donated $425 to the Liberal Party of Canada.^[6]

Provincial politics

Progressive Conservative MHA Harvey Hodder opted to not to run for re-election in the 2007 Newfoundland and Labrador general election. Kent announced his intentions to seek the PC nomination in the new district of Mount Pearl North.^[7] On June 19, 2007, he was selected as the PC candidate for the provincial election, taking 1,151 of 1,352 votes, over the only other contestant, Keith Cassell.^[8] In the subsequent general election, he was elected MHA for the electoral district of Mount Pearl North with 85%^[9] of the popular vote on October 9, 2007, in the provincial election. Only after the election did he resign as Mayor, on October 30, 2007, in order to be sworn in as the representative for Mount Pearl North in the House of Assembly.

Kent was the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minster Responsible for the Forestry and Agrifoods Agency and is presently the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister Responsible for the Office of Public Engagement.^[10][11] in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Awards and achievements

In the course of his extensive community service, both volunteer and professional, Kent has been recognized with a variety of awards.

• In 2003, he was awarded both the Memorial University of Newfoundland Alumni Association's Alumni Horizon Award and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, an honour awarded to Canadians who have made outstanding and exemplary contributions to their communities or to Canada as a whole.
• In 2000, he received the Mount Pearl Chamber of Commerce Best in Business Government Award.
• In 1999, he was named one of Maclean's Magazine's Top 100 Canadians to Watch in the Next Century.
• In 1996, he received a YTV Achievement Award for Public Service.
• From 1992-1996, he was named the Mount Pearl Male Youth of the Year, and during that time he also received the Youth Volunteer of the Year award twice.

Community involvement

Since he was very young, Kent has been heavily involved in his community, volunteering his time and energy to improve various aspects of his schools, his city and his province. Some of his more extensive volunteer positions are listed below.

Kent volunteering with Scouts Canada

• Chief Commissioner and Chair of the Board of Governors for Scouts Canada, which is a volunteer position
• Founder and Leader of the 1st Royal Newfoundland Constabulary-Mount Pearl Scouting Group
• Member of the Rotary Club of Waterford Valley
• Big Brother with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Newfoundland
• Former Assistant Provincial Commissioner for Scouts in Newfoundland and Labrador
• Founding Chair of National Youth Committee for Scouts Canada
• Member of National Volunteer Services Committee
• Vice-Chair of the 2000 Newfoundland and Labrador Summer Games
• Founding Chair of the Mount Pearl Anti-Vandalism Campaign
• Past President of the Mount Pearl Youth Advisory Council

The original appointment to the position as Chief Commissioner and Chair of the Board of Governors for Scouts Canada made in November 2008 was a viceregal appointment by Her Excellency, Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada. He was appointed again in November 2009 by her Excellency and appointed again in 2010 by His Excellency, David Johnston, Governal General of Canada.

Electoral history

Nomination Results

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Steve Kent.

• Official website
• Steve Kent - PC Party biography
• Steve Kent - Like Page on Facebook
• Steve Kent (politician) on Twitter
• Steve Kent (politician) on Facebook

v t e Current members of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly Progressive Conservative Marshall Brazil F. Collins S. Collins Cornect Cross Crummell Dalley Davis Dinn Dunderdale Forsey French Granter Hedderson Hunter Hutchings Jackman Johnson Kent King Little Littlejohn McGrath O'Brien K. Parsons Peach Perry Pollard Russell Shea Sullivan Verge Wiseman Liberal Ball Bennett Dempster Edmunds Joyce Kirby Lane Mitchelmore Osborne A. Parsons Slade New Democrat Michael Murphy Rogers