 In 1867, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the provincial legislature, but in 1872, as a Conservative, he was elected to the House of Commons as the first MP for the new riding of Grey East.He served in John A. Macdonald's Opposition, and was re-elected in 1874 before retiring in 1878 to make way for Thomas Simpson Sproule, the man who would marry his daughter Mary Alice in 1881.Flesher and his wife Jane raised five children