By Ryan O’Dowd: Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
August 26th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Emily Brown is running a unique platform as the first Burlington candidate to bring gun rights and crime to the forefront of her concerns.
Brown has been unable to make the time to speak to the Gazette; we will be profiling the candidate and her campaign as comprehensively as we can with the resources available until we have the opportunity to actually interview the candidate.
As the Conservative candidate for Burlington she has appeared on conservative-centric youth shows and repeatedly hit out at the Trudeau administration for failing to be tough on crime and “attacking” law-abiding gun owners.
Emily Brown has won awards at numerous levels – a respected member of the gun community.
Brown, a long-time sport shooter, sits on the Board of the Ontario Provincial Sharpshooting Association, the Ontario Council of Shooters, the Canadian Trapshooting Association, as well as the Canadian University Shooting Federation, and has been endorsed by the National Firearms Associations as an advocate for the gun owning community.
Brown has lived in Burlington for the eight years and teaches mathematics at the Pilon school where her focus is on Business Math, Business Calculus and algebra.
In Twitter exchanges, Brown claimed “she is the gun lobby” and unequivocally stated gun control does not impact criminals.
“I have been a sport shooter for over 47 years. I AM the gun lobby. I know how ineffective gun control, bans, more legislation will be. Stand down.” Brown tweeted in a dispute on November 13th, 2020.
“The Liberal government and particularly this ‘public safety’ Minister have left Canadians unsafe in their homes and communities. Gun control does NOT impact criminals. Time to get tough on crime!” Brown tweeted on December 16th, 2020.
The Halton Regional Police Service announced recently that Halton region has maintained its position of having the lowest Crime Severity Index (CSI) of all Canadian municipalities with a population of 100,000 or more.
Brown stands with Conservative leader Erin O’Toole on repealing Bill C-21 and the OIC firearm bans, both have been bashed as punishing law-abiding gun owners by the Conservative representatives.
O’Toole objected to Trudeau’s proposed gun legislation as an attack on the rights and freedoms of Canadians saying it was a fact that the legislation would not save a single life. O’Toole proposed steering the conversation around guns to those illegally purchased and used this as an example of Trudeau being divisive, Brown has done the same.
Dismissing any effectiveness of gun owner legislation Brown instead has raised concerns about 3D printed firearms and firearms smuggled across the border. While Canadians share Brown’s concerns about smuggling most don’t have qualms with the banning of “assault-style weapons,”( a term O’Toole dismissed as “misleading” and “loaded,” but the one used for the available polling data) in a Global News poll from 2020. 9% of Canadians disagreed with the ban and an equal number strongly disagreed with the ban while over half strongly agreed with the ban and a total of about 80% agreed with the ban on some level.
Passionate about guns, Brown describes herself as the gun lobbyist in Ontario
Brown is passionate about gun owner rights but it remains to be seen how interested voters will be in this as a primary concern of their potential representative.
Brown speaks as well to a rise of crime in Burlington as well as human trafficking, calling it “rampant.”
“Human trafficking is rampant in Burlington, and happens right under citizens’ noses. I will be addressing it as the federal Conservative candidate here, and am happy to see your focus on it too. Conservatives at work for Canadians!” tweeted Brown on May 20, 2021.
The question of how important Burlington citizens see Brown’s focus on guns will likely extend to her safety concerns for the city. In a city often ranked among Canada’s safest citizens surely want to keep it that way but may have trouble identifying with Brown’s concerns, crime is increasing in Burlington at a moderate level. The Halton Regional Police Service achieved an all-time high Weighted Clearance Rate of 56.41 per cent. This score is tops among Ontario’s ‘Big 12’ police services.
Brown’s claims about rampant child trafficking in Burlington could not be verified.
Brown wants to restore Canada’s international reputation.
Brown says she decided to run because she is really concerned about the state of Canada.
Among her other biggest issues are the economy on which she has reiterated O’Toole’s party message to balance the budget within ten years and championed the need for well-paying and reliable jobs for Canadians while supporting small businesses. Brown says when people earn good money they will be willing to spend which promotes activity and growth in the economy.
Divisiveness is a key concern, Brown says this is because she has friends who talk about separation as an option.
Brown also wants to restore Canada’s international reputation. She has hit out at Canada taking vaccines from third world countries through COVAX, a program in which her Burlington opponent, Liberal representative and Minister for International Development, Karina Gould is directly involved.
Emily Brown is a professor of Mathematics at the Pilon School of Business, Sheridan College, and obtained her Master’s degree in Calgary.
We hope to speak with the candidate soon and hear her expand on her platform so we can provide a more comprehensive picture.
Rob N might I suggest that you don’t jump to conclusions
Maybe you should interpret the word “attractive” in Alfred’s commentary as being “engaging one’s thought” just as if I called Trudeau “ugly” I would mean “morally revolting”, I don’t necessarily think “attractive” implies physical characteristics as you suggest!
Just finished reading both candidates stories that you did in the Gazette and it is blatantly clear the Liberal candidate is the favoured one whereas the Conservative is the “big bad wolf” because she participates in “gasp” legal sharp shooting . Please do better in reporting and stop playing favourites or did Trudeau buyout the Gazette as well
https://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/10019321–it-s-not-going-away-human-trafficking-in-halton-increasing-with-hot-spots-in-oakville-and-burlington/
Wasn’t that hard to find news reports of human trafficking.
Halton police have a dedicated team.
Maybe Rayan should have consulted with them.
I don’t know if it is “rampant” but it is certainly a problem.
She may be hard to interview. (?) But the headline seems to be a commentary to me.
Thank you Phillip for providing the link. I had no idea that Elections Canada do not require COVID shots. They approached me to help. I have declined.
Emily Brown is a dedicated, hard working and committed representative. Her career has been dedicated to service, and as a Math Professor she is committed to her craft and her students. She has multiple concerns and is by no means a single issue candidate. As a sports person she has a commitment to safety, and high achievement. She has competed internationally to great success, and brings the same dedication to her representation of Burlington. Public safety is a concern to everyone, and particularly vulnerable women. Emily is a champion of human rights, and safety for those who are at risk. Burlington would be very wise to have her represent them in Ottawa.
Emily Brown is an unabashed conservative who stands up for our Burlington community. Regardless of weather or not Burlingtonians can relate to her background as a sport shooter, it is clear that this candidate is multidimensional. She cares deeply for the well being of our community, and I have seen her devote her time to our neighbours day in and day out. She will stand at the door for as long as it takes to hear people out, and does not fill the air with empty promises and tired platitudes unlike her opponent. She is a real, every-day person that will take our concerns to Ottawa and fight for what this great country ultimately needs. Emily will help us secure the future.
I’m sorry I missed her when she came by. She is obviously well educated. I’m sure gun pictures is a way to start dialogue, which it has done LOL. The bottom line is do we want more of the same or a change… Trudeau calling an election in the middle of a pandemic, just to suit himself, is costing us more in the long run. Try hiring people to sit in the voting stations amidst COVID.
I agree but to get to your last point, are you aware that Elections Canada people at the polling booths don’t have to be vaccinated? https://www.660citynews.com/2021/08/22/elections-canada-poll-workers-vaccinated-not/?fbclid=IwAR1E-Z8v4khleEptXBn3VMnnom_kCJyXYG2V_qJr4DbHkYkSxgjWst0G-PQ
What a ridiculous heading for an article.
I thought a news source would do its research and its writers would educate themselves on the issues they are reporting on for its citizens rather than spew out utter garbage to simply increase readership. I wouldn’t line the bottom of a birdcage with this rag.
One only needs to listen to Ms. Gould non answers and platitudes yesterday and today and review their respective resumes Ms. Brown is the clear first choice for Burlington.
Wow – talk about a partisan hit piece. Not surprising coming from this progressive rag that is infamous for publishing biased Liberal propaganda, misinformation and not reporting the real news that Burlingtonians expect from mass media. The truth is that the disgraced Liberal candidate Karina Gould’s election campaign is loosing and Ryan is misusing his position to gaslight Emily to undermine her increasing popularity. No wonder nobody talks to the Gazette.
Ryan is a young, inexperienced journalist. He probably fell for Karina’s charm offensive, hence the softball article. In the same vein, in reading this hit piece, I sense that Ryan may have felt slighted that Emily–extremely busy in her campaign, couldn’t spare him the time for an interview and his frustration resulted in a negative article. However, I think the editor should have also spotted this problem and acted with more integrity.
Our conversations with Emily did not include the gun issues which the reporter got from his reseach.. Emily did raise the issue of human trafficking. We were aware of these issues and the efforts by police and community advocates to support the victims of such crimes and help them escape. It is a significant problem the HRPS can probably let you know which officers are working on this.. Emily is well tuned in to what she needs to concentrate on and we are sure the Gazette will focus in on her abiilities and strengths when the interview gets to take place. Our audits sbow an underreporting of crime in Halton particularly as it affects our vulnerable and seniors so it is an important part of this election that Gould will not admit exists.and has been ignored for far too long.
Not sure about the ‘Headline’ But remember this. A vote for Karina Gould is a vote for Trudeau.
Clearly a strong, very well educated, smart and attractive woman. A woman that speaks the truth. She clearly wants to do the right thing not the easy thing. The Liberals worse nightmare.
‘Attractive’?
Alfred, what are you? A male Caucasian in his 70s?
Dude, you can’t say that! You’ll be strung up by your twigs and berries before you know it lad!
Hopefully, this woman stands for more than shooting and advocating for guns. Burlington needs a credible candidate running for the Conservatives.
Is Brown a credible candidate?
Hard to tell.
Gun control and human trafficking don’t seem to be a large concerns for the citizens of Burlington.
Infrastructure, transit, climate change are high on many people’s lists.