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 byTerry Clayton
Ontario MPP
In office
1990–1995
Preceded byBill Ballinger
Succeeded byJulia Munro
ConstituencyDurham—York
Personal details
Born (1956-05-04) May 4, 1956
Oshawa, Ontario
Political partyNew Democrat
Spouse(s)Christina
Children1
ResidenceMinden, Ontario
OccupationAuto 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 DemocraticLarry O'Connor12,29734.1
LiberalBill Ballinger11,06730.5
Progressive ConservativeJack Hauseman10,90429.8
Family CoalitionJerry Young2,0165.6
Total valid votes 36,790100.0
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
ConservativeErin O'Toole17,28050.72−3.83$95,331
New DemocraticLarry O'Connor8,94626.26+5.16$96,257
LiberalGrant Humes5,88717.28−0.57$91,946
GreenVirginia Ervin1,3864.07−1.32$742
Christian HeritageAndrew Moriarity4371.28+0.49$4,379
OnlineMichael Nicula1320.39–$1,080
Total valid votes 34,068 100.00
Total rejected ballots 115
Turnout 34,18335.87
Eligible voters 95,296
Conservative hold Swing −8.99
Source: "November 26, 2012 By-elections". Elections Canada. November 27, 2012. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
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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.
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