Kevin Flynn (politician)

Kevin Flynn (politician)

Kevin Daniel Flynn is a politician in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Oakville for the Ontario Liberal Party.

Flynn initially 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. Later in the year, he was elected as an Oakville Town Councillor and a Halton Regional Councillor, and would remain in these positions for 18 years until his election to the Legislative Assembly in 2003.

He developed a reputation for both fiscal conservatism and social responsibility while in municipal government where he served for 18 years as a Town and Regional Councillor. Flynn has also served as Chair of the Financial Department for the Royal Botanical Gardens, and owned and operated several small businesses.

He ran for election to the Legislative Assembly again, this time as a Liberal, in the provincial election of 1999, this time finishing second to incumbent Progressive Conservative Gary Carr.

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 (and fellow Town and Regional Councillor) Kurt Franklin by about 3500 votes. The Premier first appointed Flynn as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour in 2004. Subsequently, Flynn served as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister Energy, the Minister of the Environment and the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. Flynn has most recently been appointed Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Education.

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. The NDP finished fourth for the first time that election, eclipsed by the Ontario Green Party candidate, Marion Schaffer.

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.

On November 18, 2010, Flynn was nominated as the Liberal party candidate in Oakville for the 2011 provincial election.

In the 2011 election, which saw the Liberals reduced to a minority government, Flynn ran for re-election and increased his percentage of victory, although his margin of victory was reduced to 4580 votes over the Progressive Conservative challenger, Larry Scott. Following the election, Flynn unsuccessfully ran to become Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, losing to fellow Liberal Dave Levac, MPP for Brant.