[8] The town's early economy was based on lumber, as the area was heavily forested and the soils too moist for good agriculture.

In the 1870s, however, with deforestation and the advent of land drainage technologies, agriculture replaced lumber as Embrun's main industry.

[10] In the period from 1985 to 1995 Embrun's population doubled and an indoor shopping mall and business park opened.

This railway, which travelled between Tupper Lake, New York, and Ottawa, stopped at Embrun six times every day except for Sunday.

The last trains ran in February 1957,[9] and in April CN purchased the railway track and proceeded to demolish it.

A few decades later, the municipal government constructed a rail trail on the right of way, which remains in use to the present day.

[9] Embrun is a bedroom community: a majority of the population works in nearby Ottawa and commutes into the city on a daily basis.

These farms also include hundreds of sheep, corn (sold to local grocery stores and markets) and numerous other products.

Primarily owned and operated by local French Canadian families, their produce is sold in the village and as far away as Ottawa's Byward Market area and Westboro neighbourhood.

It is a low power (40 watts) bilingual community non-profit FM community radio station that promotes local and regional events, provides important information and news to residents and the public in south-east rural Ottawa and the Russell Municipality.

The station's broadcast facility is situated inside the Carlsbad Springs Community Centre (6020 Piperville Rd).

Embrun students in the English Public stream are served by Upper Canada District School Board.

Those in the French Catholic stream are served by the Conseil scolaire du district catholique de l'Est ontarien school board.

The smaller community of Brisson may be considered part of Embrun, as it is no longer recognized by any municipal entity.

The rest of the population growth will be done by building housing units in the open spaces between existing neighbourhoods, and by eventually replacing single-family homes on some busier streets with apartments and condos.

In this area is the Place d'Embrun Shopping Centre as well as some of the town's chain restaurants (e.g., Tim Hortons and Dairy Queen) and large businesses such as renovators, grocery stores and automobile garages.

Some infill has occurred in recent years, and more is planned along the western and northern fringes of the neighbourhood.

[11] The small neighbourhood of Maplevale, located to the immediate south of the Lapointe Development, is a more affluent area with a higher land values and larger homes.

Ethnicity and immigration: The racial makeup of Embrun is 95.8% White, 2.5% Aboriginal, 0.6% Black, 0.6% Arab, 0.3% Chinese, and 0.2% other.

According to the census, there are no people in Embrun who belong to the Japanese, Southeast Asian, Filipino, or South Asian racial categories, however, Statistics Canada rounds low data values to the nearest value ending in 5 or 0, so there may be 0, 1, or 2 people in these four categories.

[15] The candidates that ran for councillor, but didn't get into council were Charlie Harland, Jean-Serge Brisson, Pierre Brulotte, and Marthe Lepine.

The newly elected mayor was tested when a major blackout (caused by a freezing rain storm which was part of the Early Winter 2006 North American Storm Complex) affected the town from December 1–2, 2006, which left virtually the entire town without electricity.

Embrun's rapid growth in recent years as well as an increased trend of commuting to Ottawa for work has led to congestion on St-Guillaume Road.

A privately operated airfield, the Ottawa/Embrun Aerodrome is located to the southwest of the urban area of Embrun.

The municipal government, through a contract with Trillium Coach Lines, runs three peak-hour express routes to downtown Ottawa from Embrun.

This is considerably cheaper (Route #232 costs $119 for a monthly pass and $4.65 for one-way), but less convenient, as OC Transpo does not service the community itself, meaning Embrun residents have to drive 8 km to the park and ride lot to ride OC Transpo.

Embrun has a continental climate with cool winters, humid summers, and short autumns and springs.

The first snowfalls of the year usually occur in mid-to-late November, but snow doesn't actually cover the ground until December.

In the spring, the snow usually starts melting in March, although occasional "warm breaks" with temperatures as high as 10°C (50°F) usually occur once or twice in January and February.

This makes driving very hazardous and often cancels school buses, with the roads very icy for a few days.