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27| O akville B eaver | T hursday,A ugust 23,2018 insidehalton.com lot of wins ... early in my career I had a lot of losses, and I remembered that, and I knew to be prepared for that. Surprisingly Ifor that. Surprisingly If have found other people were more upset about this than I was." On the subject of how the Ontario Liberals came to such a demise, Flynn chalked some of it up to poor communication on their part. He said the opposition parties did a great job of framing several issues,framing several issues,f which he believes made it appear the Liberals had lost control or didn't care about the people of Onta- rio. Flynn said he believes that, although the rhetoric wasn't true, the Liberals failed to take control of thefailed to take control of thef conversation and over- come it. The result was a narra- tive that it was all doom and gloom in Ontario when, in reality, Flynn be- lieves, the province was doing great with a great ed- ucation system and an economy so strong that people from around the world were moving here to be a part of it. When asked his opinion on whether Wynne's June 2 announcement - that she wouldn't be premier after the election - hurt his cam- paign, Flynn was blunt. "That hindered me, for sure. I couldn't understand that. I didn't know what I was watching. I got about as much advance notice as any member of the public," said Flynn. "I think in a place like Oakville, where we didn't lose by a lot, that could have been a deciding factor ... It made it look like she had thrown in the towel a week before the election. That didn't help me, and it didn't help a lot of other people." With his political career behind him (at least for the moment), Flynn took some time to reflect on some of the larger achievements that occurred on his watch. The improvements to GO train service in Oak- ville ranked among the top ones. Flynn said when he first came to office the service was hourly, but now it is al- most like a subway, with 15-minute service. Improvements to Sheri- dan College, local trans- portation improvements, the changing of the Onta- rio Municipal Board to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, the adding of Glenorchy Conservation Area to the Greenbelt and the transfer of the rem- nants of the Merton Lands, including Deerfield Golf Club, from to the province to the Town of Oakville were other achievements Flynn said he was proud of. Other accomplish- ments came during the five years Flynn served as Min- ister of Labour. In this capacity he di- rected updates to employ- ment standards legisla- tion, including a $15 mini- mum wage. But while Flynn said he was proud of many things, the green space preservation and the new Oakville Trafalgar Me- morial Hospital, which opened Dec. 13, 2015, sticks out as the greatest pro- jects he was involved with. "It's very competitive in Ontario to get a new hospi- tal for your community. People always want new hospitals, they always need new hospitals, so you are always competing against a number of oth- ers," said Flynn. "That's a $2.5-billion project." Flynn said his biggest regret is that the commu- nity had to endure a lengthy 2009-10 fight to block a 900-megawatt gas- fired power plant, whichfired power plant, whichf TransCanada proposed to build on the Ford-owned lands of 1500 Royal Wind- sor Dr. He said he believes the process, which allowed the province's Ontario Power Authority to pick that lo- cation, just 400 metres from residential commu-from residential commu-f nities, was deeply flawed and should not have been allowed to take place. "I regret the community had to go through that," said Flynn. "I don't regret taking on my own government and taking on the premier of the day." Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk said in 2013 the can- celling of the Oakville gas- fired power plant and an-fired power plant and an-f other unpopular gas plant project in Mississauga could cost taxpayers $1.1 billion. Flynn disputes this. "I get a sense it didn't cost anywhere near that. I wouldn't have given them a penny. I would have said, 'You guys don't have your approvals from the town. You weren't allowed to ap-You weren't allowed to ap-Y ply without approvals from the town ... We're can-from the town ... We're can-f celling the project. That's it. We'll see you in court.' This deal that was made isn't something that I would have done." Flynn said that, since election night, he has been enjoying the summer and spending plenty of time do- ing various jobs at his Muskoka cottage. He says many people have approached him and asked if he would be run- ning for mayor of Oakville or regional chair of Halton in the coming municipal election, but he is not, stat- ing the timing is not right for him.for him.f However, Flynn says this doesn't mean he won't attempt to return to poli- tics in the future. "That's always a possi- bility. I wouldn't count me out of anything ... Certain- ly Jan's enjoying me not having the schedule I used to have, but that could be a temporary thing. It could just be a little bit of a break," he said. "I've had offers to do other things in business, and there are other jobs I am interested in outside of politics. I've done a lot of work in Kenya, the field of mental health intrigues me as a result of me chair- ing that select committee. So it's a little bit too early to say." Flynn said he does not like what he is seeing from the new PC majority gov- ernment and is warning residents to be vigilant when it comes to the Greenbelt. On April 30 the Ontario Liberals released video from Feb. 12, which showedfrom Feb. 12, which showedf Ford discussing his plans to open up a "big chunk" of the Greenbelt to develop- ment. Ford said he had al- ready spoken to some of the biggest developers in Canada on this subject. A negative response from the public led Ford tofrom the public led Ford tof backtrack on this idea, and on May 1 he stated an Onta- rio PC government would maintain the Greenbelt in its entirety if elected. "The fact that he would say that quietly in a group like that ... I don't think that has gone away. We just have to be really vigilant," said Flynn. While Flynn says he won't miss the commute or the long hours that went with being Oakville's MPP, he says he will miss mak- ing positive change in the lives of the community's residents and in the lives of people across Ontario. "When we changed the laws around post traumat- ic stress disorder to make it easier for our first re- sponders to get coverage, when we were helping the Peterborough workers who were exposed to all sorts of stuff at General Electric ... those types of things you knew were real- ly meaningful to people who often were in a bad way, often very sick or who had gotten used to the fact that no one was going to listen to them, and then all of a sudden someone is lis- tening to them," said Flynn. "Just being able to make that difference is a privi- lege not many people get. That's what I miss." Former MPP Kevin Flynn praised the work of ErinoakKids during the grand opening of its new facility at 2000 Glenorchy Rd. in this April file photo. Metroland file photo NEWS Continued from page 26 "I knew we were in a very tough fight. In fact we did far better than I thought we would and that really is a credit to my campaign team." - Former Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn