Kennedy Stewart

Edward Charles Kennedy Stewart (born November 8, 1966) is a Canadian academic administrator and politician who served as the 40th mayor of Vancouver from 2018 to 2022. He previously was the member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Burnaby—Douglas (2011–2015) and Burnaby South (2015–2018), serving in the House of Commons as a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP) caucus. In May 2018, Stewart announced his pending resignation from Parliament, in order to seek election as mayor of Vancouver as an independent candidate. In August 2018, he publicly released his letter to the Speaker of House, Geoff Regan, confirming his resignation, effective September 14, 2018. During the 2018 Vancouver municipal election, Stewart was declared the winner of the mayoral race by a margin of fewer than 1,000 votes over Ken Sim, the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) candidate. In his bid for re-election in 2022, Stewart was defeated by Sim by more than 35,000 votes. Stewart is the first incumbent mayor to be defeated since 1980, when mayor Jack Volrich was upset by challenger Mike Harcourt. Early life and career Stewart was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1966 and raised in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. He earned his bachelor's degree in history from Acadia University. After moving to Burnaby, British Columbia, in 1988, Stewart played bass guitar for the pop music band State of Mind. In 1991, his band won three West Coast Music Awards.