Larry O'Connor (politician)

Larry O'Connor (born May 4, 1956) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was the mayor of the township of Brock, Ontario from 2006 to 2011.[1] He was also a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995.[2]

Larry O'Connor
Mayor of Brock, Ontario
In office 2006–2011
Succeeded by	Terry Clayton
Ontario MPP
In office 1990–1995
Preceded by	Bill Ballinger
Succeeded by	Julia Munro
Constituency	Durham—York
Personal details
Born	(1956-05-04) May 4, 1956 Oshawa, Ontario
Political party	New Democrat
Spouse(s)	Christina
Children	1
Residence	Minden, Ontario
Occupation	Auto plant worker

Background

O'Connor was born in Oshawa, Ontario. He worked at General Motors plant as an assembly worker.[3] He was a member of the political action committee of the Canadian Auto Workers Local 222 in Oshawa. He is married to Christina with whom he has one son.[3]

Politics

Provincial, 1990–1995

O'Connor ran as the New Democratic Party candidate in the 1990 provincial election in the riding of Durham—York. He wasn't nominated until two weeks after the start of the election.[2] During the campaign he said the major issues were lack of approvals for expanding schools and rising property taxes.[4] He defeated Liberal incumbent Bill Ballinger by 1,230 votes.[2] After the election he promised to clean up pollution in Lake Simcoe and Musselman Lake.[5] He was appointed as Parliamentary assistant to the Minister of the Environment, Ruth Grier.[6]

In 1991, he argued against a proposal to create a garbage dump in the Durham region. He suggested that York region was the only viable option.[7] Later in the year, he defended the NDP's legislation called the Waste Management Act saying that it was a reasonable compromise to handle the problem of finding a place for Toronto's garbage.

The NDP were defeated in the 1995 provincial election, having lost much of their support base in the Greater Toronto Area. O'Connor finished second in his re-election bid, with 8,048 votes, almost 17,000 votes behind Progressive Conservative Julia Munro.

He planned to run for the federal New Democratic Party in Oshawa in the 2004 federal election, but lost the NDP nomination to Sid Ryan.

In 2002–03, O'Connor supported Bill Blaikie for the leadership of the federal NDP.

Electoral record

1990 Ontario general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Larry O'Connor	12,297	34.1
	Liberal	Bill Ballinger	11,067	30.5
	Progressive Conservative	Jack Hauseman	10,904	29.8
	Family Coalition	Jerry Young	2,016	5.6
Total valid votes			36,790	100.0
Source: Toronto Star.[5]

Durham municipal, 2006-2011

O'Connor was elected as a Durham regional councillor in 1997, later becoming chair of the region's Health and Social Services committee and president of the Association of Public Health Agencies (alPHa) in the Durham region.

O'Connor was first elected mayor of Brock Township in the 2006 municipal elections. He was re-elected in the 2010 municipal elections, but his 13-vote margin of victory over former mayor Terry Clayton led to a recount battle.[8] The township used a mail-in voting system in 2010, and when ballots which were postmarked before election day but arrived late were counted, O'Connor's margin of victory was reduced to just three votes.[8] O'Connor voluntarily resigned as mayor on March 28, 2011,[1] and the township council subsequently appointed Clayton as the new mayor.[9]

Federal, 2012

Following the resignation of Bev Oda, the riding of Durham became vacant as of July 31, 2012. On October 23, O'Connor was selected as the federal New Democratic Party candidate in the resulting by-election to be held on November 26.[10]

Canadian federal by-election, November 26, 2012: Durham Resignation of Bev Oda
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Erin O'Toole	17,280	50.72	−3.83	$95,331
	New Democratic	Larry O'Connor	8,946	26.26	+5.16	$96,257
	Liberal	Grant Humes	5,887	17.28	−0.57	$91,946
	Green	Virginia Ervin	1,386	4.07	−1.32	$742
	Christian Heritage	Andrew Moriarity	437	1.28	+0.49	$4,379
	Online	Michael Nicula	132	0.39	–	$1,080
Total valid votes			34,068	100.00
Total rejected ballots			115
Turnout			34,183	35.87
Eligible voters			95,296
	Conservative hold		Swing		−8.99
Source: "November 26, 2012 By-elections". Elections Canada. November 27, 2012. Retrieved 27 November 2012.

References

1. "Mayor Larry O'Connor resigns". mykawartha.com, March 29, 2011.
2. Brian Dexter (13 September 1990). "The Liberals managed to buck the NDP tide in York Region last week, hanging on to two of three Liberal-held seats after the provincial election, although a recount has been requested in one of them". Toronto Star. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
3. Dexter, Brian (August 30, 1990). "Liberal incumbent faces tough election race Durham-York". Toronto Star. p. N10.
4. Dexter, Brian (August 30, 1990). "Liberal incumbent in tough race Durham-York". Toronto Star. p. E7.
5. Irish, Paul (September 13, 1990). "Durham voters await 'green' solutions". Toronto Star. p. E1.
6. Gorrie, Peter (September 16, 1992). "Grier's aide quits to join dump debate". Toronto Star. p. A7.
7. Dexter, Brian (April 18, 1991). "York region sends protest to premier over dump plans". Toronto Star. p. N2.
8. Carola Vyhnak (15 February 2011). "Political soap opera ripping Brock apart". Toronto Star. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
9. "Clayton appointed mayor". mykawartha.com, May 2, 2011.
10. "Larry O'Connor gets nod for Durham NDP election candidate". DurhamRegion.com, October 24, 2012.

External links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history (archived)