Thomas Laird Kennedy (August 15,1878 –February 13,1959) was a politician in Ontario,Canada,and served briefly as the 15th premier of Ontario,from 1948 to 1949. He was first elected as the Conservative member for Peel in the 1919 provincial election. He had been a longtime resident of Streetsville (now part of Mississauga),Ontario,where he was master of River Park Masonic Lodge in 1908 and 1909.
Kennedy was first appointed Minister of Agriculture in 1930 by Premier Howard Ferguson and continued in the position under Premier George S. Henry until the Conservative government's defeat in the 1934 provincial election. Kennedy was a casualty in the election losing his seat to the landslide that elected the government of LiberalMitchell Hepburn. Kennedy returned to the legislature in the 1937 election and returned to government when the newly renamed Progressive Conservatives won the 1943 election.
The new premier,George Drew,returned Kennedy to the position of Minister of Agriculture he had held a decade previously. Drew moved to federal politics in 1948 after losing his own seat in the 1948 provincial election which,nevertheless,re-elected the Tory government.
Following Drew's departure,Kennedy was named interim leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party,and thus also Premier of Ontario. He remained so for seven months until the party could hold its April 27,1949 leadership convention. The convention elected Leslie Frost as the new party leader,who succeeded Kennedy as Premier on May 4,1949. Kennedy remained as Agriculture Minister until 1953,when he stepped down from Cabinet at the age of 75. He remained a member of the legislature until his death in 1959.
Legacy
Thomas L. Kennedy Secondary School in Mississauga,which first opened to students in 1953,was named in his honour. It is the oldest school of its kind in the city that is still in operation.
Tomken Road is named after him,in the form of a portmanteau. There is no evidence that Kennedy Road in Mississauga,Brampton,and Caledon is named for him. Rather it is believed to be named for a family that lived on the route. Kennedy is related to the Kennedy settlers in Scarborough Township,for whom (namely James Kennedy) Kennedy Road in eastern Toronto and York Region is named.
The Progressive Party of Canada, formally the National Progressive Party, was a federal-level political party in Canada in the 1920s until 1930. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces, and it spawned the Progressive Party of Saskatchewan, and the Progressive Party of Manitoba, which formed the government of that province. The Progressive Party was part of the farmers' political movement that included federal and provincial Progressive and United Farmers' parties.
An interim leader, in Canadian politics, is a party leader appointed by the party's legislative caucus or the party's executive to temporarily act as leader when a gap occurs between the resignation or death of a party leader and the election of their formal successor. Usually a party leader retains the leadership until a successor is formally chosen — however, in some situations this is not possible, and an interim leader is thus appointed by the party's caucus or the party executive. An interim leader may also be appointed while a leader is on a leave of absence due to poor health or some other reason, and then relinquish the position upon the leader's return.
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A leadership election was held by the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario on April 27, 1949 to replace retiring leader and premier George Drew who had resigned after losing his seat in the 1948 provincial election and deciding to enter federal politics. The interim leader of the party was Thomas Laird Kennedy. The party selected Leslie Frost on the first ballot.
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