Oakville News
Oakville Liberal Provincial Candidate Kevin Flynn in his campaign office
Local Ontario Liberal candidate Kevin Flynn is running for reelection in June after the NDP voted down the Liberal budget this month, forcing an early election. Flynn said he was surprised by the decision and feels the vote may not have been in the NDP's best political interest.
“What the premier had done, I think, was crafted a budget that the people of Ontario wanted to see us work together on. There was something in their for business, there was some smart economic stuff. There were programs that would help the disadvantaged and people dealing with intellectual disabilities,” said Flynn.
“They’re traditionally issues that the NDP has supported in the past. But I really believe they put their own political fortunes ahead of the people of Ontario’s.”
Flynn said Oakville would see obvious benefits from the budget in its GO services, as well as more jobs at the new hospital. For the GO services they want to put in a 10-year plan that would involve an all day 15-minute service instead of the present 30-minute service. They also want to electrify the trains and take them off diesel fuel. Because Oakville is a commuter town, he feels these changes are important.
He also said if the Liberals were reelected with a majority, 1200 jobs would become available at the new hospital. Jobs would include everyone from janitors and nurses to doctors and specialists. Flynn says if the PCs get voted in, these jobs will likely be lost.
“If Tim Hudak is put into place I’m sure those 1200 will be part of the 100,000 that he wants to put on the unemployment line.”
As for his campaign, Flynn has a focus on youth unemployment and access to post secondary education. While the general unemployment rates of Oakville are around four per cent, he says the youth unemployment rate is about 17 per cent.
“In the past six months we’ve had a very ambitious program to get young people into the work force and that’s been through subsidizing employers or entrepreneurship funding, that type of thing. That’s been really successful so that’s something I want to see a continuation of.”
What they’ve done to make post secondary more affordable is offer middle class earners 30 per cent off college and university tuition, which is a savings of $800 to $1500 depending on the institution. This is also something he wants to see move forward. “We’re proud of our education system here so that’s something I’ve been campaigning on.”
Flynn was first elected in 2003 and hopes to regain his seat as well as his position as Ontario’s Minister of Labor, a job he enjoys and feels well suited for. He’s confident the people of Oakville are going to respond well to the balanced platform being put forward.
“Always my first responsibility is to represent the people of the town. They’re the people who sent me to Queen's Park so they’re the people I look after.”
