Bobby Ann Brady made history during last Thursday's Ontario election, when she became the first woman to be elected as an independent MPP without a past win with a party. .Brady ended a 23-year streak of Progressive Conservatives winning in the rural, southern-Ontario riding of Haldimand-Norfolk. She won 35% of the vote to the Conservatives' 30%.."I think the people decided that it was time to send a message, not only to the PC party, but to all political parties, that you can't treat people with disrespect, take their votes for granted, and continue to be rewarded," Brady said..In an exclusive interview with the Western Standard, Brady said the people of her riding were "not impressed, to say the least" with their candidate for the Progressive Conservatives..The riding of Haldimand-Norfolk was held by Conservative MPP Toby Barrett from 1995 to 2022. Haldimand County Mayor Ken Hewitt, who became the Conservative candidate, brought controversy upon himself by announcing Barrett's retirement before he had a chance to do so himself. .Barrett advocated for Brady, who was his executive assistant since 1999, to be run as the PC candidate. When Barrett heard she had not been chosen, he refused to endorse Hewitt..Brady said she was told to "walk away" by Hewitt's campaign. "They said, 'we could run a monkey, and as long as it has a PC logo on its back, we will win,'" she said.."When I was told that, I was extremely offended. I said to that person 'You will pay the price for that statement.' And I told that story wherever I went, because I believe you can't just disrespect people like that," Brady said..Brady said she was able to win in the riding because people "recognized me as the girl with 23 years of experience." ."I've always taken great pride in the work that I do for the people of Haldimand-Norfolk. I've always treated them with respect and I've always done a good job for them. And I think that is what they remembered.".Brady said her campaign was "severely hampered" because as an independent, they could not spend money until the writ was issued. So they instead focused all their efforts on their ground game.."That's how we won; with old fashioned politics, word of mouth, and a lot of door knocking.".Brady said now her main priority is to ensure a 40,000 person development at the Nanticoke Industrial Park does not go forward. She said that was a large issue during the campaign, with Hewitt supporting the project and Brady and Barret opposing it.."I firmly believe nobody should be living in the Nanticoke Industrial Park for health and safety reasons," she said. "But the other thing is if the steel mill and refinery have to work around 40,000 people, they'll pull out of the area. And that's our biggest tax base and employer.".Brady said she is "impressed and grateful" to the people who showed up at the ballot box to vote for her.."Courage can be contagious, and I think we're going to see a lot more folks stand up and be counted because Haldimand-Norfolk was courageous."
