Kevin Flynn (politician)

Kevin Daniel Flynn (born c. 1955) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2018 who represented the riding of Oakville. He served in the cabinet of the government of Kathleen Wynne.

Kevin Flynn
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Oakville
In office October 2, 2003 – June 7, 2018
Preceded by	Gary Carr
Succeeded by	Stephen Crawford
Personal details
Born	Kevin Daniel Flynn 1955 (age 65–66) Liverpool, England
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Janice
Children	1
Residence	Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Background

Flynn was born in Liverpool, England. He immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of 12.[1] Prior to entering politics he was a small business owner and served as Chair of the Financial Department for the Royal Botanical Gardens.[2] He and his wife Janice live in Oakville, Ontario.[3]

Politics

Flynn ran for the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1985, as a New Democrat. He finished a distant third in Oakville, where the NDP has a limited base of support.[4] Later in the year, he was elected as an Oakville Town Councillor and a Halton Regional Councillor.[5]

He ran for election to the Legislative Assembly in the riding of Oakville, this time as a Liberal, in the provincial election of 1999. He was defeated by incumbent Progressive Conservative Gary Carr.[6]

Carr retired in 2003, and later joined the federal Liberal Party. In 2003, Flynn ran for the seat again and this time defeated Progressive Conservative candidate Kurt Franklin by about 3500 votes.[7] The Premier appointed Flynn as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Labour in 2004. Subsequently, Flynn served as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Energy, the Minister of the Environment, the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, and the Minister of Education.[8]

In the 2007 election, Flynn ran for re-election and increased his margin of victory to 7096 votes over the Progressive Conservative challenger, Rick Byers.[9]

Flynn has worked to ensure the protection of environmentally-sensitive land in his riding and his town, which is larger than his riding. In November 2004, he was applauded by the local media for his work in reserving 1286 acres (5 km²) of land in North Oakville as public greenspace. [10]

On November 18, 2010, Flynn was nominated as the Liberal party candidate in Oakville for the 2011 provincial election.[11] In the 2011 election, which saw the Liberals reduced to a minority government, Flynn increased his percentage of victory, although his margin of victory was reduced to 4580 votes over the Progressive Conservative challenger, Larry Scott.[12]

Following the election, Flynn unsuccessfully ran to become Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, losing to fellow Liberal Dave Levac, MPP for Brant.[13] In June 2013, he was named Chief Government Whip.[8]

He was re-elected in the 2014 election.[14]

On June 24, 2014, Premier Kathleen Wynne appointed him as Minister of Labour.[15]

On June 7, 2018, he was defeated by Progressive Conservative candidate Stephen Crawford in the 42nd Ontario general election.

Cabinet positions

Electoral record

2018 Ontario general election: Oakville
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Stephen Crawford	24,837	43.67	+5.90
	Liberal	Kevin Flynn	20,327	35.74	−13.69
	New Democratic	Lesley Sprague	9,424	16.57	+8.63
	Green	Emily De Sousa	1,986	3.49	−0.31
	Libertarian	Spencer Oklobdzija	297	0.52	−0.27
Total valid votes			56,871	100.0
Source: Elections Ontario[16]

2014 Ontario general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Kevin Flynn	24,729	49.43	+1.34
	Progressive Conservative	Larry Scott	18,895	37.77	-0.18
	New Democratic	Che Marville	3,973	7.94	-2.30
	Green	Andrew Chlobowski	1,902	3.80	+1.86
	Libertarian	David Clement	393	0.79
	Freedom	Silvio Ursomarzo	137	0.27	+0.02
Total valid votes			50,029	100.0
	Liberal hold		Swing		+0.76
Source: Elections Ontario[17]

2011 Ontario general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Kevin Flynn	21,711	48.09	+0.62
	Progressive Conservative	Larry Scott	17,131	37.95	+3.08
	New Democratic	Lesley Sprague	4,625	10.24	+3.59
	Green	Andrew Chlobowski	878	1.94	-6.25
	Independent	Mike Harris	498	1.10
	Family Coalition	Jonathan Banzuela	188	0.42	-0.17
	Freedom	Steve Hunter	115	0.25
Total valid votes			45,146	100.00

2007 Ontario general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Kevin Flynn	23,757	49.71%	-0.10%
	Progressive Conservative	Rick Byers	16,666	34.87%	-7.31%
	Green	Marion Schaffer	3,912	8.19%
	New Democratic	Tony Crawford	3,178	6.65%	+0.30%
	Family Coalition	Michael James Toteda	281	0.59%	-1.08%
Total valid votes			47,794	100.00%

2003 Ontario general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Kevin Flynn	22,428	49.81%	+17.06%
	Progressive Conservative	Kurt Franklin	18,991	42.18%	-19.72%
	New Democratic	Anwar Abbas Naqvi	2,858	6.35%	+2.63%
	Family Coalition	Theresa Tritt	751	1.67%	+0.49%

1999 Ontario general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Gary Carr	27,767	61.90%
	Liberal	Kevin Flynn	14,689	32.75%
	New Democratic	Sean Cain	1,667	3.72%
	Family Coalition	Adrian Ratelle	530	1.18%
	Natural Law	Linda Antonichuk	202	0.45%

References

1. Blackburn, Angela (November 30, 2005). "Oakville's cultural makeup is changing". Oakville Beaver. p. A1.
2. Tait, Eleanor (November 28, 2003). "Halton salutes five councillors, 51 years of service". Hamilton Spectator. p. A6.
3. "Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn gets to work as Minister of Labour". Oakville Beaver. June 24, 2014. p. 1.
4. "Results of vote in Ontario election". The Globe and Mail. May 3, 1985. p. 13.
5. Steen, David (November 13, 1985). "Lawyer Perras, 35, replaces Barrett as Oakville mayor". Toronto Star. p. B8.
6. "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. June 3, 1999. Archived from the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
7. "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. October 2, 2003. Archived from the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
8. "Kevin Daniel Flynn, MPP". Retrieved June 12, 2015.
9. "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. October 10, 2007. p. 10 (xix). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 7, 2009. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
10. Safieddine, Hicham (November 6, 2004). "Halton's green space grows; Province pledges to curb sprawl Environmentalists express caution". Toronto Star. p. B1.
11. Kurek, Dominic (November 19, 2010). "Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn will run again for Liberals". Inside Halton.
12. "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. October 6, 2011. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 30, 2013. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
13. Lea, David (November 21, 2011). "Kevin Flynn not speaker". Inside Halton. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
14. "General Election by District: Oakville". Elections Ontario. June 12, 2014. Archived from the original on June 17, 2014.
15. Richard Brennan; Robert Benzie; Rob Ferguson (June 24, 2014). "Kathleen Wynne warns financial cupboard is bare". Toronto Star.
16. "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 28, 2018. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
17. "General Election Results by District, 060 Oakville". Elections Ontario. 2014. Archived from the original on June 17, 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2014.

External links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history (archived)