M. A. Bonnie Brown (born March 2, 1941) is a Canadian former

member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for the riding of Oakville and a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. Politically she is considered to have been on the left wing of her party.

Biography

Brown was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

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. She first sought election to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1988 federal election in the Oakville—Milton riding, where she came second. At the next federal election in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, Brown was elected. After Oakville—Milton was divided into two ridings, Oakville and Halton, she was re-elected in Oakville in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, 2004, and 2006. In the 2006 election, she won by a margin of 744 votes. She lost to Conservative Party of Canada candidate

Terence Young Terence or Terry Young may refer to: *Terence Young (director) (1915–1994), British film director * Terence Young (politician) (born 1952), Canadian Conservative Party politician * Terence Young (writer), Canadian writer * Terry Young (American p ...

in the October 14, 2008 federal election. Prior to entering politics full-time, Brown was employed as a social worker and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

. She was elected as a school trustee in 1987 and was then elected to the

Oakville, Ontario Oakville is a town in Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Lake Ontario between Toronto and Hamilton. At its 2021 census population of 213,759, it is Ontario's largest town. Oakville is part of the Greater Toronto Area, one of the ...

Town Council, and later, the Halton Regional Council. In 1993, she replaced retiring incumbent

Otto Jelinek Otto John Jelinek (Czech: Otakar Jelínek; born May 20, 1940) is a businessman, former figure skater, and Canadian politician. Jelinek's family fled to Switzerland, then to Canada from Czechoslovakia in 1948, following the Communist coup d'é ...

( PC) as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Oakville—Milton. She has served as chair of the Liberal Caucus Committee on Social Policy before being elected chair of the Commons all-party Standing Committee on Health. During her time on the Commons Health Committee, she recommended that

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s on

human genes This article is an index of lists of human genes. By chromosome Below is a list of articles on human chromosomes, each of which contains an incomplete list of genes located on that chromosome. * Chromosome 1 (human) * Chromosome 2 (human) * Chr ...

should not be allowed. Bonnie Brown was the first Liberal MP to publicly speak out against the

2003 Invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

. She also opposed Canada's involvement in a United States-led missile defense program proposal. She was also influential in Canada's ratification of the Kyoto Accord on Climate Change. Brown has advocated a

carbon tax A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions required to produce goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the "hidden" social costs of carbon emissions, which are otherwise felt only in indirect ways like more sev ...

in the past and supported combating health issues. She is involved with the Advancement of Women Halton, a group which advocates for women's issues.

References

External links

*
How'd They Vote?: Bonnie Brown's voting history and quotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Bonnie 1941 births Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Liberal Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario People from Oakville, Ontario Politicians from Toronto Women in Ontario politics 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians