He attended Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) in St. John's where he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a major in political science and a minor in history.
Hutchings also has a Certificate in Public Administration from MUN, and has completed an Occupational Health and Safety Program from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, Ontario.
From 1996 to 1998 he served as Chief of Staff and Executive Assistant to Loyola Sullivan, then the Leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Assembly.
[4] In the by-election held on 8 February 2007, Hutchings took 75 per cent of the vote to hold the seat for the governing Progressive Conservatives, defeating candidates from both the Liberals and New Democrats.
[14] In March 2012, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) revealed that in an eight-year period the government, through the now defunct Department of Business, had funnelled more than $20 million into grants, loans and the direct costs of business-attraction initiatives, with only moderate returns.
[16] Hutchings' department was also responsible for representing the provincial government during negotiations on the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
[17] The agreement would eliminate minimum processing requirements (MPRs) for the European Union three years after the ratification of the deal, which is expected to occur in 2015.
Letters between Hutchings and the federal Minister of International Trade, Ed Fast, mainly dealt with minimum processing requirements and the negotiations that led to a $400 million fund for the provincial fishery.
Fast would not agree to these proposals and countered with a $400 million fund to help fish plant workers who could possibly be affected by eliminating MPRs.
[20][21][22] In a cabinet shuffle held on 19 October 2012, Hutchings was appointed Deputy House Leader and Minister responsible for the Office of Public Engagement, while also retaining the Innovation, Business and Rural Development portfolio.
[25] One of the first major initiatives by the Office of Public Engagement, in partnership with the Department of Service NL, was to post restaurant health and sanitation inspection reports online.
[27] At the news conference Hutchings said that the government would look at routinely disclosing all contracts, grants and contributions above a certain dollar amount, but had no time frame to do so.
[30] On 30 October 2013, Hutchings joined Premier Dunderdale at The Rooms in St. John's to announce the $400 million fund for the fishery, which he had negotiated as Minister of Innovation, Business and Rural Development.
The meeting was to discuss the province's concerns over the $400 million fisheries fund that Hutchings had helped negotiate as part of Canada's free trade agreement with the European Union.