Jerry Pickard

Who is Jerry Pickard?

Jerry Pickard, PC, MP is a former Canadian politician. He was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 until his retirement in 2005 representing the riding of Chatham-Kent—Essex for the Liberal Party in his later terms in office.

Pickard has Bachelor of Arts and Master of Education degrees from the University of Windsor, and worked as a teacher in the Kent County and Essex County boards of education following his graduation. He was elected to the Kingsville municipal council in 1974 and remained in municipal politics for the next fourteen years, including tenures as deputy reeve and mayor.

He was first elected to parliament in the federal election of 1988, defeating Progressive Conservative incumbent Jim Caldwell by about 6,500 votes in the riding of Essex—Kent. He was re-elected in the 1993 election, and in the redistributed riding of Kent—Essex in the 1997 election.

Pickard's riding was renamed as Chatham-Kent—Essex in 1998. In the 2000 election, he defeated a candidate of the Canadian Alliance by over 7,000 votes.

He faced his first difficult re-election in 2004, defeating Conservative candidate Dave Van Kesteren by only 407 votes.