 Kennedy served as a village councillor for Perth-Andover and was chairman of the District 31 School Board.A practising physician in his hometown area, he was chief and president of the medical staff at Hotel-Dieu Saint-Joseph, and a director of the New Brunswick Medical Society.He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in 1987 and re-elected in 1991, 1995, a 1997 by-election, 1999, 2003 and 2006.