Larry O'Connor (politician) facts for kids

Larry O'Connor was born on May 4, 1956. He is a politician from Ontario, Canada. He served as the mayor of the township of Brock, Ontario from 2006 to 2011. Before that, he was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995. He represented the New Democratic Party.

About Larry O'Connor

Larry O'Connor was born in Oshawa, Ontario. He worked at a General Motors car factory. He was an assembly worker, helping to build cars. He was also part of a group at his workplace that focused on political issues. Larry is married to Christina, and they have one son.

His Time in Politics

Provincial Politics: 1990–1995

Larry O'Connor first ran for a political job in the 1990 provincial election. He was a candidate for the New Democratic Party in an area called Durham—York. He joined the election race just two weeks after it started.

During his campaign, he talked about important issues. These included the need for more approvals to expand schools. He also spoke about property taxes that were getting too high. He won the election, beating the person who held the job before him, Bill Ballinger. Larry won by 1,230 votes.

After he was elected, Larry promised to help clean up pollution. He focused on Lake Simcoe and Musselman Lake. He was also chosen to help the Minister of the Environment, Ruth Grier. This role was called a Parliamentary assistant.

In 1991, Larry spoke out against a plan. This plan was to create a large garbage dump in the Durham region. He thought another area, York region, would be a better choice. Later that year, he supported a new law about waste management. He said it was a fair way to deal with Toronto's garbage problem.

In the 1995 provincial election, Larry's party lost many supporters. Larry tried to get re-elected but came in second place. He received 8,048 votes. Julia Munro, from the Progressive Conservative party, won with almost 17,000 more votes.

Larry later thought about running for a federal political job. This was in the 2004 federal election for the New Democratic Party in Oshawa. However, he did not get the chance to be the party's candidate.

Local Politics in Durham: 2006–2011

In 1997, Larry O'Connor was elected as a regional councillor for Durham. This meant he helped make decisions for the Durham region. He later became the head of the Health and Social Services committee for the region.

Larry was first elected as mayor of Brock Township in the 2006 municipal elections. He was elected again in the 2010 municipal elections. This time, his win was very close. He won by only 13 votes over Terry Clayton, who had been mayor before.

Because the vote was so close, there was a recount. This is when votes are counted again to make sure they are correct. The township used a mail-in voting system. Some ballots arrived late but were postmarked before election day. When these were counted, Larry's lead dropped to just three votes. On March 28, 2011, Larry O'Connor decided to step down as mayor. The township council then chose Terry Clayton to be the new mayor.

Federal Politics: 2012

After another politician, Bev Oda, resigned, the area of Durham needed a new representative. This happened on July 31, 2012. On October 23, Larry O'Connor was chosen to be the candidate for the federal New Democratic Party. He ran in the special election, called a by-election, on November 26.