Taras Kozyra (born September 26, 1941) is a former politician in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada. He was a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1987 to 1990.

Background

Kozrya moved to Canada at a young age, and was educated at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

and

Lakehead University Lakehead University is a public research university with campuses in Thunder Bay and Orillia, Ontario, Canada. Lakehead University, shortened to 'Lakehead U', is non-denominational and provincially supported. It has undergraduate programs, gradua ...

. He worked in Thunder Bay as a teacher.

Politics

He served as a councillor in the

Thunder Bay City Council The Thunder Bay City Council is the governing body of the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It consists of a mayor and twelve councillors. The mayor and five of the councillors are elected at large, with one councillor being elected for each ...

from 1972 to 1978 and from 1982 to 1987. He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1987 provincial election, defeating

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...

candidate Chris Southcott by just under 2,000 votes in the riding of Port Arthur. He served as a backbench supporter of

David Peterson David Robert Peterson (born December 28, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th premier of Ontario from 1985 to 1990. He was the first Liberal officeholder in 42 years, ending the so-called Tory dynasty. Backgr ...

's government for the next three years, and was

parliamentary assistant In UK politics, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan member of staff employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work at the House of Commons in the ...

to the Minister of Northern Development on two occasions. The Liberals lost to the NDP in the 1990 provincial election, and Kozyra lost his seat to NDP candidate Shelley Wark-Martyn by 1,034 votes.

Later life

Kozyra was the principal of the English section of the

Korean International School of Hong Kong The Korean International School of Hong Kong ( ko, 홍콩한국국제학교; ) is an international school located in Lei King Wan, Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong. It is located near the Tai Koo Shing area, which is home to a large number of Hong Kong ...

(KIS) between 2004 and 2006.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kozyra, Taras 1941 births Lakehead University alumni Living people Ontario Liberal Party MPPs Thunder Bay city councillors University of Western Ontario alumni