Spouse Ron Coupland | Preceded by first member Role Member of Parliament Succeeded by riding dissolved Name Bonnie Brown | |
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Profession Executive director, social worker, teacher | ||
M. A. Bonnie Brown (born March 2, 1941) is the former Member of Parliament for the riding of Oakville and a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. She is considered a left-wing Liberal, politically.
Biography
Brown was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She first won a seat in the Canadian House of Commons in the 1993 Federal Election in the Oakville-Milton riding. After Oakville-Milton was divided into two ridings, Oakville and Halton, she was re-elected in Oakville in 1997, 2000, 2004 and 2006. In the 2006 election, she won by a margin of 744 votes. She was defeated by Conservative Party of Canada candidate Terence Young in the October 14, 2008 federal election.
Prior to entering politics full-time, Brown was employed as a social worker and teacher. She was elected as a school trustee in 1987 and was then elected to the Oakville, Ontario Town Council, and later, the Halton Regional Council. In 1993, she replaced retiring incumbent Otto Jelinek (PC) as the Liberal 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 patents on human genes should not be allowed.
Bonnie Brown was the first Liberal MP to publicly speak out against the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. She also opposed Canada's involvement in a U.S.-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 in the past and supported health issues.
She is involved with the Advancement of Women Halton, a group which advocates for women's issues.