Peter Kent

For the German singer, see Peter Kent (singer).

The Honourable Peter Kent PC
Minister of the Environment
In office January 4, 2011 – July 15, 2013
Prime Minister	Stephen Harper
Preceded by	John Baird
Succeeded by	Leona Aglukkaq
Chair of the Standing Committee on National Defence
In office October 29, 2013 – February 4, 2016
Minister	Rob Nicholson Jason Kenney Harjit Sajjan
Preceded by	James Bezan
Succeeded by	Robert Nault
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Americas)
In office November 4, 2008 – January 4, 2011
Prime Minister	Stephen Harper
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Member of Parliament for Thornhill
In office October 14, 2008 – September 20, 2021
Preceded by	Susan Kadis
Succeeded by	Melissa Lantsman
Personal details
Born	James Peter Kent[1] (1943-07-27) July 27, 1943 (age 81) Sussex, United Kingdom[2]
Political party	Canadian Future[3]
Other political affiliations	Conservative Party of Canada
Spouse	Cilla Kent
Children	Trilby Kent
Residence(s)	Thornhill, Ontario, Canada
Profession	News editor

James Peter Kent PC (born July 27, 1943) is a former Canadian journalist and former politician who served as the Conservative Member of Parliament for the riding of Thornhill from 2008 to 2021. He served as Minister of the Environment in the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Before entering politics, he was Deputy Editor of the Global Television Network, a Canadian TV network. He has worked as a news editor, producer, foreign correspondent, and news anchorman on Canadian and American television networks.

Background

Kent was born in Sussex, England in a Canadian Army hospital. Both his parents were serving with the Canadian Army. The family moved to Canada and, after a period in Ottawa, settled in Medicine Hat, Alberta. His parents were Aileen Marie (née Fears) and Arthur Parker Kent, both now deceased.^[1] The elder Kent was a long-time employee of the Southam Newspaper Group who retired as associate editor of the Calgary Herald. Peter Kent's younger brother, Arthur, is also a journalist, known in the first Gulf War as the "scud stud".^[4] Kent has three sisters: Adele, Norma and Susan. Norma was a local news anchor at CBC Windsor for a number of years before becoming co-host of the CBC consumer affairs programme Marketplace. She continues to work as a journalist. Susan Kent Davidson died of cancer in 2014. She was a writer and book editor, a committed member of the New Democratic Party, and the widow of the UTP editor Rik Davidson.^[5]

Peter Kent is married to Cilla, a former print journalist with South Africa's Argus newspaper group (a Cape Town paper now part of the Irish-based Independent News & Media) for over 26 years. They have a daughter, Trilby, who published her first novel, Medina Hill, in October 2009.^[6]

Kent was a member of the board of Canadian Coalition for Democracies^[7] and has represented them at public events such as a demonstration supporting publication of the controversial Muhammed cartoons.^[8]

Kent is a member of the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame and a past member of the Board of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. He is also a Founding Supporter of Canadians for Defence and Security and was a member of the board of the revitalized ParticipACTION. He was a board member of the pro-Israel media advocacy group Honest Reporting Canada, and co-Chair of Ontario Cabinet for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.^[9]

Journalism

Kent at the 2000 Gemini Awards.

Kent began his career as a radio journalist in the early 1960s. He then moved to television, joining Calgary station CFCN-TV in 1965 and subsequently worked for CBC Television, CTV, Global, NBC and The Christian Science Monitor's television newscast.

In 1966, he went to South East Asia to cover the Vietnam War as a freelance foreign correspondent. He stayed on to cover the final withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam in 1973 and covered the fall of Cambodia to the Khmer Rouge in 1975.^[10] Kent returned to Canada and worked as a producer for CBC's The National and, in 1976, he became the broadcast's anchorman after Lloyd Robertson moved to CTV News.

In 1978 Kent agreed to step down as anchorman of The National after he submitted an intervention to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) recommending that the corporation's licence not be renewed until management created procedures and protocols to prevent political interference in the CBC's editorial decision-making. Kent's complaint involved messages conveyed through the then CBC President Al Johnson from the Prime Minister's Office that resulted in cancellation of a speech by Premier René Lévesque and coverage of a speech by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. As a result of his intervention and descent from The National anchor desk, Kent accepted assignment to the newly created African Bureau of the CBC, located in Johannesburg.

The CBC subsequently created protocols to govern Prime Ministerial access to the public broadcaster. They remain in effect today, and the most recent example was the speech made to the country by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien on the eve of the 1995 Quebec referendum. Kent returned briefly in 1978 to testify at a grievance hearing initiated by an unsuccessful anchor candidate who complained that Knowlton Nash, the vice-president of CBC News, had appointed himself to succeed Kent. In that testimony Kent—the first journalist to anchor The National—supported Nash's credentials.

Kent returned to Canada and the CBC in 1982 as a founding producer, correspondent and occasional co-host of The Journal, hosted by Barbara Frum and Mary Lou Finlay.

On January 24, 1984, the CBC television program The Journal broadcast a full edition documentary called "The Greenhouse Effect and Planet Earth," hosted, narrated and written by Kent. Broadcast nearly 40 years ago, this may be one of the first major media reports on the subject. Kent concluded with these words: "The greenhouse effect must be considered as the world's greatest environmental concern."^[11]

In 1984 Kent moved to NBC serving in Miami, Washington and New York bureaus and as the US network's senior European correspondent in the late 1980s, winning four Emmy nominations with the network. He then reported for and was back-up anchorman for John Hart and John Palmer at The Christian Science Monitor's World Monitor television news service. One of Kent's feature report series - on challenges in American inner cities - was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Award.

In 1987, Peter Kent was a reporter on the team that produced the documentary “Six Days Plus 20 Years: A Dream Is Dying” which was condemned by both the Israeli left and right, including Premier Yitzhak Shamir, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who were some of several Israeli government officials who refused to engage with NBC for a period of time afterwards.^[12][13][14] Kent returned to Canada to join Global News in 1992, and was the anchorman of its flagship news program First National until 2001. He then anchored the business news show MoneyWise on Global and Prime.

Political career

Early political career

In the 2006 federal election, Kent ran as the Conservative Party of Canada candidate in the Toronto riding of St. Paul's. He placed second with 25.76% of the vote against the incumbent, Carolyn Bennett of the Liberals (50.25%), and ahead of Paul Summerville of the New Democratic Party (19.19%).

Kent ran again for the Conservatives in the 2008 election, this time in the riding of Thornhill, and was elected, defeating incumbent Susan Kadis by 5200 votes.^[15]

Kent was named to the junior cabinet post of Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas) several weeks after the election. In an interview with journalist Steve Paikin on December 7, 2009, Kent acknowledged that as Minister, he is instructed to only use language vetted by the PMO, on occasion lifting Stephen Harper's statements from newspaper reports: "So when we're asked about the Israeli position on settlements, we never criticize Israel publicly. We say those settlements are 'unhelpful' in finding a comprehensive peace settlement. We've put on the record our position on nuclear power and India. We say 'it's no longer the 1970's, it's now 2009.' I saw the prime minister's quote in the newspapers to that effect yesterday, and so I used it today."^[16] Kent's comment that his government does not criticize Israel publicly was contradicted several months later by his senior minister, Lawrence Cannon, who went on record in the House of Commons "condemning" Israel's expansion of illegal settlements.^[17]

Minister of the Environment

In a cabinet shuffle on January 4, 2011, Kent was named Minister of the Environment.^[18]

In November 2011, Kent participated in the Durban Conference and in December of the same year announced that Canada would formally begin the process to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.^[19] Kent stated that “Kyoto, for Canada, is in the past,” predicted that other countries would also abandon Kyoto, and expressed his hope that a new agreement could be forged by 2015 that included the United States and China, the top two polluters.^[19] Kent claimed that the only way for Canada to avoid paying $14 billion of carbon offset penalties for failing to meet its Kyoto commitments was to withdraw, although there is no mechanism for fines in Kyoto, and Canada could have joined countries such as Japan that stayed in Kyoto without accepting new targets.^[19][20]

While defending the withdrawal from Kyoto during the December 14, 2011 session of the Canadian House of Commons, Kent criticized NDP Environment Critic Megan Leslie for not being at the Durban Conference despite his ministry having banned participation from all opposition MPs.^[21] During the heckling from opposition MPs over this statement, Justin Trudeau shouted "You piece of shit!" at Kent, but later apologized for losing his temper over Kent's statements regarding opposition participation in Durban.^[21] In December 2012, Canada became the first country to formally withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol.^[20]

As Minister of the Environment, Kent was a vocal supporter of the development of the oil sands, in line with the Conservative government's stated economic priorities.

In a CBC interview, Kent stated there is no evidence that the oil sands developments are polluting the Athabasca River.^[22][23] His statement was later contrasted by a "secret" Environment Canada presentation released under FOI. The presentation highlights contamination of the Athabasca River as a high-profile concern. Citing elevated levels of pollutants near mining sites including hydrocarbons and heavy metals, possible effects on health of wildlife and downstream communities, and questioning current government data which is unable to generate a "big picture" view of impacts on the ecosystem.^[24][25]

Kent was an advocate of improving the Species At Risk Act, in particular making it apply to whole ecosystems rather than just individual species.^[26]

Legacy

Kent (extreme right) meeting students during a school trip to Parliament Hill in 2018.

Kent was demoted from cabinet in the summer of 2013, shortly after his 70th birthday, in a cabinet shuffle which Prime Minister Harper described “generational change” in order to make room for younger MPs to become ministers.^[27] He has been described by some critics such as environmentalist Rick Smith as “Canada’s Worst Environment Minister Ever” for allegedly being a "green rubber stamp for destructive, ill-considered, industrial behaviour, all while glibly blaming “foreign interests” for meddling with Canada's overwhelmingly foreign-owned oil and gas sector" by restricting the ability of environmental assessment to limit pipeline construction, walking away from the Kyoto Protocol after the country had signed it, reducing protection for lakes and rivers, disbanding the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy on the basis NRTEE had become an anachronistic entity.^[28][29]

Kent has named his accomplishments as being wastewater regulation, changes to the Species at Risk Act and overseeing greenhouse gas regulations for vehicle emissions, regulation of Canada's coal-fired electricity sector and banning the construction of any new coal-fired generating units. He regrets he was unable to convince cabinet colleagues to implement greenhouse gas regulations for the oil and gas industry.^[27]

Backbench

As a backbench MP, Kent has called on the government to fund HPV vaccinations for boys, in addition to current vaccination programs for girls, after he survived a bout with throat and tongue cancer at the end of 2013.^[30] He also criticized the Harper government for drawing up an "enemies list" of uncooperative bureaucrats and hostile stakeholders.^[31]

Prior to his demotion from cabinet, Kent stated his intention of running in the 2015 federal election.^[31][32] During the election campaign, Kent tweeted a photo that falsely shows an ISIS fighter posing as a refugee to bolster his argument for "refugee screening". After the claim was debunked, Kent retracted and deleted the tweet.^[33]

Kent has since been re-elected in both the 2015 and 2019 elections.^[34][35] He announced on November 23, 2020, that he would not be running in the next federal election.^[36] He left office on August 15, 2021, when parliament was dissolved for the 2021 Canadian federal election.

Electoral record

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election: Thornhill
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Peter Kent	29,187	54.56	-4.00	$70,899.51
	Liberal	Gary Gladstone	18,946	35.42	+1.66	$82,017.28
	New Democratic	Sara Petrucci	3,469	6.48	+1.32	$1.38
	Green	Josh Rachlis	1,600	2.99	+1.84	none listed
	Rhinoceros	Nathan Bregman	217	0.41	–	$0.00
	Canada's Fourth Front	Waseem Malik	77	0.14	–	none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			53,496	98.92		111,210.50
Total rejected ballots			583	1.08	+0.49
Turnout			54,079	63.62	-3.50
Eligible voters			85,005	75.4%	–
	Conservative hold		Swing		-2.83
Source: Elections Canada[37][38]

2015 Canadian federal election: Thornhill
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Peter Kent	31,911	58.60	-4.59	–
	Liberal	Nancy Coldham	18,395	33.80	+11.31	–
	New Democratic	Lorne Cherry	2,814	5.20	-6.29	–
	Green	Josh Rachlis	627	1.20	-1.28	–
	Libertarian	Gene Balfour	587	1.10	–	–
	Seniors	Margaret Leigh Fairbairn	157	0.30	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			54,491	100.0		$215,928.93
Total rejected ballots			324	0.59	+0.13
Turnout			54,815	67.20	+6.22
Eligible voters			81,106
	Conservative hold		Swing		-7.95
Source: Elections Canada[39][40]

2011 Canadian federal election: Thornhill
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Peter Kent	36,629	61.38	+12.37
	Liberal	Karen Mock	14,125	23.67	-15.76
	New Democratic	Simon Strelchik	7,141	11.97	+5.35
	Green	Norbert Koehl	1,562	2.62	-2.32
	Animal Alliance	Liz White	215	0.36	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			59,672	100.00
Total rejected ballots			275	0.46	–
Turnout			59,947	60.98	–
Eligible voters			98,312	–	–
	Conservative hold		Swing		+14.07

2008 Canadian federal election: Thornhill
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Peter Kent	26,660	49.01	+15.30	$91,400
	Liberal	Susan Kadis	21,448	39.43	-13.67	$62,484
	New Democratic	Simon Strelchik	3,601	6.62	-1.19	$4,835
	Green	Norbert Koehl	2,686	4.94	+1.51	$7,314
Total valid votes/Expense limit			54,395	100.00	$95,547
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+14.49

2006 Canadian federal election: St. Paul's
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Carolyn Bennett	29,295	50.3	-8.1
	Conservative	Peter Kent	15,021	25.8	+5.4
	New Democratic	Paul Summerville	11,189	19.2	+3.5
	Green	Kevin Farmer	2,785	4.8	-0.7
Total valid votes			58,290	100.0
	Liberal hold		Swing		-6.75

References

1. "AILEEN KENT Obituary (2004) - the Globe and Mail". Legacy.com.
2. Kent aims to expose Liberal 'scaremongering' Archived 2007-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
3. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadian-future-party-candidaites-announced-1.7295739
4. Hilton, Andrew (Spring 1994). "The Scud Stud has Come Home". Ryerson Review of Journalism. Retrieved 2015-10-05.
5. "Obituary: Susan Aileen Kent Davison". Toronto Star. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
6. "Author spotlight". McLelland.com. Retrieved 2015-10-23.
7. Goodard, John, "PM's new recruit urged to clarify views", Toronto Star, January 8, 2007.
8. "Toronto marchers back right to publish Muhammad cartoons". CBC News. March 11, 2006. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
9. "Up close and personal with incumbent, challengers". York Region.com. April 26, 2011. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
10. "Peter Kent biography" (PDF). Toronto.ca. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 22, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
11. "The greenhouse effect and planet Earth". CBC Archives. January 24, 1984. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
12. Corry, John (July 1, 1987). "Six Days Plus 20 Years". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
13. "NBC and Israel Agree". Jewish Telegraph Agency. August 3, 1987. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
14. Schwed, Mark (July 28, 1987). "NBC says Israel bans leaders from talking to network". UPI. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
15. "Thornhill – Canada Votes". CBC News. October 14, 2008. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
16. "Three Questions for Peter Kent". tvo. December 7, 2009. Retrieved October 23, 2009.
17. Ivison, John (September 7, 2010). "Minister defends Canada's support of Israel". National Post. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
18. "Kent, Fantino take cabinet posts". CBC News. January 4, 2011. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
19. Curry, Bill and Shawn McCarthy (6 September 2012). "Canada formally abandons Kyoto Protocol on climate change". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
20. De Souza, Mike (14 December 2012). "It's official: Harper government withdraws from Kyoto climate agreement". Postmedia. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
21. Fitzpatrick, Meagan (14 December 2011). "Justin Trudeau apologizes for swearing at Kent". CBC News. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
22. "More than just ethical oil « Eye on the Hill". Archived from the original on July 7, 2012. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
23. Wherry, Aaron (January 10, 2011). "'It's bait and switch'". Maclean's. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
24. "'Secret' Environment Canada Presentation Warns Of Oilsands' Impact On Habitat". The Huffington Post. 2011-12-22. Archived from the original on 2013-02-16. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
25. De Souza, Mike (December 22, 2011). "'Secret' Environment Canada study warns of oil sands' impact on habitat". Financial Post. Postmedia. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
26. "Kent eyes wildlife protection reform, but not in omnibus budget bill". CBC News. September 15, 2012. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
27. "Shuffled out of cabinet – but hopefully not forgotten". Global News. July 16, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
28. "Is Peter Kent's trail of destruction finally coming to an end?". Toronto Star. July 11, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
29. "Climate change opponent to oil sands promoter: Peter Kent's journey from journalist to Environment Minister". Vancouver Observer. May 25, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
30. "Peter Kent wants Joe Oliver to fund HPV vaccine for boys". CBC News. October 8, 2014. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
31. "Peter Kent criticizes Harper's 'enemy' list, drawing comparison to Nixon era". Vancouver Observer. July 17, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
32. "Peter Kent says he won't be upset to lose cabinet post". CBC News. July 5, 2013. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
33. "Tory hopeful Peter Kent tweets, then retracts, claim that refugee is ISIS fighter".
34. "Conservative Peter Kent wins re-election in Thornhill". Toronto Star. October 20, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
35. "Liberals sweep Brampton, Mississauga". CBC News. October 19, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
36. "Longtime Conservative MP Peter Kent won't run again in key riding for the party". CTV News. Canadian Press. November 23, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
37. "FORTY-THIRD GENERAL ELECTION 2019 — Poll-by-poll results (Thornhill)". elections.ca. Elections Canada. April 6, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
38. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
39. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Thornhill, 30 September 2015
40. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates

External links

• Peter Kent official site
• Profile at Parliament of Canada
• Peter Kent – Parliament of Canada biography
• Speeches, votes and activity at OpenParliament.ca

28th Ministry – Cabinet of Stephen Harper

Media offices
Preceded by Lloyd Robertson	Anchor of The National 1976–1978	Succeeded by Knowlton Nash