Kathy Dunderdale: Difference between revisions

Kathleen Mary Margaret "Kathy" Dunderdale MHA (born February 1952 in Burin, Newfoundland and Labrador) is a Canadian politician and the tenth Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.^[1] She was sworn in as Premier on December 3, 2010 and will serve in this role until her party chooses a new leader to replace former Premier Danny Williams.^[2] Dunderdale is the first female Premier in the province's history and the sixth woman to serve as a premier in the history of Canada.^[3]

In the 2003 general election, Dunderdale was elected as Member of the House of Assembly (MHA) for Virginia Waters.^[4] A Progressive Conservative, she served in the cabinets of Danny Williams—at various times holding the portfolios of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development and Natural Resources—where she developed a reputation as one of the most high profile members of Wiliams' cabinets.^[5][6] When Williams resigned as Premier of the province Dunderdale was sworn in as his successor.^[7]

Kathleen Dunderdale was born and raised in the town of Burin, Newfoundland and Labrador, and is one of 12 children. Her late husband, Captain Peter Dunderdale, was a master mariner whome she met in 1972 while she was home from university for the summer.^[8] The couple had a son and daughter together and Dunderdale was a stay-at-home mom during their formative years while her husband sailed the world. When her children grew older she decided to get involved outside the home where she worked and volunteered in many different roles.^[9]

In the early 1980s, Dunderdale was on an action committee that successfully lobbied Fishery Products International to reverse a decision to shut down its Burin fish plant. The committee was successful and the plant remains in operation. She worked as a social worker with the provincial Department of Social Services, and accepted an offer to be part an appeals board for inshore fishers after the cod moritorium.^[9]

Dunderdale served on the Burin town council and worked with an array of organizations, including the local school board and the Status of Women. She was president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador and after her husband retired from the sea and her children moved away for university, she became heavily involved in the consulting company her husband had started.^[9]

In 1995, she and her husband moved to St. John's, where she lives today within her district of Virginia Waters. Her husband passed away in 2006 at the age 56.^[8][9]

Dunderdale was elected to the Burin town council and served as deputy mayor. She got involved in the provincial Federation of Municipalities, where she served as their first female president and is the organization's only honorary member, and with the national municipalities organization .^[10]

Dunderdale was a Progressive Conservative Candidate in the 1993 provincial election. Although Dunderdale said she new she would not win the seat still felt she had to send Liberal Premier Clyde Wells a message about the way he was treating municipalities.^[9]

Dunderdale was elected to the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly in the 2003 general election defeating Liberal cabinet minister Walter Noel by 1,835 votes, taking 58% of the popular vote.^[11] Following the election she was brought into cabinet as Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, and Minister Responsible for the Rural Secretariat.

In a July 5, 2006 cabinet shuffle Williams appointed Dunderdale as the Minister of Natural Resources and the Minister Responsible for the Forestry and Agrifoods Agency.^[12] She was re-elected in the 2007 general election taking 73% of the popular vote against 3 other candidates.^[13] Dunderdale remained as Natural Resources Minister following the 2007 election and on October 31, 2008, Williams appointed her to serve as Deputy Premier and Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, while continuing to serve in her previous portfolios.^[14][15]

From February 1 to March 15, 2010, Dunderdale assumed the duties as acting Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, while Williams took a leave of absence to undergo heart surgery in Florida.^[16]

During her time as the Minister of Natural Resources she negotiate and signed several major development deals.

On August 20, 2008, Dunderdale, Premier Williams and a consortium of oil companies led by Chevron Canada signed a deal to develop the Hebron oil field.^[17] The Hebron oil field is the second largest oil field off the coast of the province with an estimated 700 million barrels of oil reserves.^[18] The province expects to gain at least $20 billion in royalties and up to 3,500 jobs from the project.^[19]

On June 16, 2009, the government announced they had negotiated an agreement with oil companies to expand the Hibernia oil field.^[20] The "Hibernia South" extension is projected to add $13 billion to the province's coffers.^[21]

On November 18, 2010, Dunderdale and Premier Williams were joined by Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter in announcing a $6.2 billion agreement to develop the first phase of the Lower Churchill Project.^[22] Nalcor Energy, a Newfoundland and Labrador Crown corporation, signed a partnership agreement with Emera Inc. of Nova Scotia to develop the 824 megawatts Muskrat Falls.^[23] The hydro development would see power from the falls transferred from Labrador to the island of Newfoundland via an underwater transmission link through the Strait of Belle Isle. Another underwater transmission link across the Gulf of St. Lawrence would bring power to Nova Scotia.^[24] Newfoundland and Labrador will use 40% of the hydro power itself and will be able to shutdown the oil burning Holyrood Thermal Generating Station. Emera Inc. will get 20% of the power for $1.2 billion to sell to customers in Nova Scotia. The remaining 40% will be sold by Nalcor Energy to markets in Atlantic Canada and the Northeastern United States.^[25]

On December 3, 2010, Dunderdale was sworn in as Newfoundland and Labrador's 10th Premier, taking over for Williams who retired from politics the same day.^[26] Dunderdale is the first female Premier in the province's history and only the sixth female in Canada to lead a province or territory.^[27]

On December 6, 2010, Dunderdale shuffled her cabinet to replace herself as the Minister of Natural Resources, she appointed Minister Shawn Skinner as her successor and appointed Human Resources, Labour and Employment Minister Susan Sullivan as Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, Skinner's former Ministry.^[28] Child, Youth and Family Services Minister Joan Burke took on Sullivan's former portfolio's on a temporary basis till a larger cabinet shuffle is held after Chritmas to replace those ministers who decide to seek the party leadership.^[29]

After being sworn in as premier, Dunderdale announced that she would not be seeking the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party and therefore would only serve in the role of Premier till a leadership election was held in the Spring of 2011.^[30]

However on December 17, 2010, Dunderdale announced that she was reconsidering running for the leadership of the party and that she would make a final decision after Christmas.^[31] On December 22, 2010, cabinet ministers Jerome Kennedy and Darin King, who were both seen as likely leadership candidates, announced they would not seek the leadership of the party. Both men said they were encouraging Dunderdale to run and that they would endorse her campaign if she entered the race.^[32] On December 23, 2010, Dunderdale garnered support from two other cabinet minister when Finance Minister Tom Marshall and Municipal Affairs Minister Kevin O'Brien opted out of running for the leadership and threw their support behind her entering the race.^[33]

Upon entering the Premier's chair Dunderdale was faced with an ongoing dispute between the province's doctors and government over contract negotiations.^[34] In November, 14 doctors announced their resignations over the government's lastest offer of a 31% wage increase that they felt was not enough.^[35] At her swearing in as Premier Dunderdale stated that earlier that week she had asked Health Minister Jerome Kennedy and Finance Minister Tom Marshall to meet with the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (NLMA) later that day to work out a resolution to the dispute.^[36] After the meeting Dunderdale announced she hoped to have a deal signed with the province's doctors before Christmas.^[37]

Dunderdale also announced soon after being sworn in that she wanted to end a year long strike on the Burin Peninsula that involved 15 home care workers.^[38] The government had been called on to settle the dispute but had refused to get involved seeing the workers are not direct employees of provincial government.^[39] Within 5 days of taking office Dunderdale's government reached an agreement with the workers which they unanimously accepted ending the 377 day strike.^[40]

On December 15, 2010, Dunderdale along with Ministers Kennedy and Marshall joined the NLMA president to announce that a tentative agreement between the provincial government and doctors had been reached.^[41] The offer included 100 per cent Atlantic Canadain parity within the first two years of the agreement, pay equity for salaried specialists, and retention bonuses for fee-for-service rural physicians, as a result of the new deal the 13 doctors who tendered their resignations en masse in November all rescinded their resignations.^[42]

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• Kathy Dunderdale
• Office of the Premier

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