By Pepper Parr
April 26th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
On Friday there was a noisy demonstration outside the Burlington Centre, the location of the Gould offices.
Gould was hosting former Prime Minister Jean Chretien
Foul language, foul signs and a bullhorn blaring away were reported to us by an individual who was at the site.
We reported what we learned.
Several hours later, we received a phone call from a trusted individual who was working as a volunteer on the Emily Brown campaign, saying that the demonstrators were not from the Brown campaign.
The Brown campaign was in the area doing their typical campaign work at the intersection of Guelph Line and Fairview at 5:30 pm
The Chretien event took place earlier in the day.
We reached out to the Brown campaign and did not get a response until much later in the day. The news cycle is a 24/7 operation.
Emily Brown, Conservative candidate for the Burlington seat in the House of Commons.
We are delighted to learn that the Brown campaign was not involved, and would have liked to have seen a statement from the Brown campaign expressing their concern that there are people abusing the election campaign process.
Emily Brown has worked hard as a candidate in two elections. Were she to be elected she would represent the interests of the city very well.
Reader Observation:
Have to wonder if the 50% of BG readership who lean right, would agree with the Editior’s note.
Rumour has it Chretien was in town and no coverage?
I am very sure that any party involved in the Federal Election right now, are very busy doing other more important things!! You should have waited for confirmation before posting your original article on this!!!
Must be a slow news day!
You should apologize to the Emily Brown Campaign for jumping the gun.
Ahh, this feels like an apology for your past post on the same subject where you implicated, however subtly, Emily Brown. Innocent until proven guilty, right? Bottom line: Mark Carney didn’t pick Karina Gould for his cabinet, presumably for being a too far left (ala Justin Trudeau) Liberal. so why should Burlington? Vote for Conservative, Emily Brown on Monday (in spite of whether you like Pierre Poilievre or not).
Campaign offices are typically manned by Volunteers and chronically short staffed.
A simple phone call to the campaign office rather than an email would have provided the answer to your question. A quick google search would have provided the phone number.
Before assuming that it was Emily Brown and the Conservatives you might have remembered that it was the PPC that forced the cancellation of the debate that was to be held at the Port Nelson Church.
Did you check with the PPC to see if they were responsible for this demonstration?
If not, WHY not?
Editor’s note: Calls were made to the campaign office – several people refused to make any comment. One did make a comment – that they were not allowed to make comments.
Reader Observation:
I tried to connects the dots on this so called report. If this is investigative reporting it missed the mark.
You reported what you learned without verifying the source. There was no protest.
Editor’s note: There was a protest and the source was verified
About face or what ? Damage done Pepper. The Gazette brings new meaning to term “Yellow Rag.”
Editor’s note: The damage was the failure on the part of the Conservatives to respond to a request for clarification. There was a demonstration; it was noisy – when we asked for comment and clarification – we got nothing. Five hours later we got a call with an explanation that made sense and we revised the content.
The Conservatives at this point should know that the news cycle is a 24/7 business now – someone should been assigned to A) answering the email and B) monitoring social media and accredited media