It’s not often you find someone who devoted most of their natural life to public service. Longtime Ontario Liberal MPP and cabinet minister Jim Bradley, who passed away on Sept. 26 at age 80, was one of those rare examples.
Bradley had the second-longest political tenure in Ontario history. He held the provincial seat in St. Catharines, Ont. from June 9, 1977 to June 7, 2018, which was nearly 41 years. The only politician ahead of him? Harry Nixon, whose 42-year career included a stint as a United Farmers of Ontario cabinet minister and a brief three-month tenure as Premier of Ontario as a Liberal.
He would serve as a cabinet minister for three Liberal Premiers, David Peterson, Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne. This included stints as Minister of Environment for all three leaders, along with Community Safety and Correctional Services, Municipal Affairs and Housing, Transportation and Tourism. He even served as interim party leader and Leader of the Opposition between 1991-1992.
Bradley lost his seat in the June 2018 provincial election. He finished third behind the NDP’s Jennie Stevens (who still holds the seat) and PC candidate Sandie Bellows (who came close to beating him in 2011). His political career could have ended with that difficult defeat, but decided to continue in a different fashion.
Bradley registered to run for Niagara Regional Council on July 27, 2018. It was the last possible day to throw his hat in the ring, as it happened. He finished first out of 23 candidates running in St. Catharines on Oct. 22, 2018, which wasn’t terribly surprising. He was then selected on the first ballot as Niagara Regional Chair on Dec. 6, 2018, a position that he held until his death.
When you put it all together, including a short tenure on St. Catharines City Council in the early 1970s, he had a “remarkable 55-year career in elected office,” according to a Niagara Region news release. That’s as long as I’ve been alive on this earth.
Interestingly, I have no personal memories of Bradley. We never met, spoke or crossed paths. That’s unusual for me, since I’ve been writing columns and opeds for almost 30 years. There have been a tiny number of instances where it’s happened, of course.
Equally bizarre? When I decided to look up how many times I’d ever written about the “Dean of the Legislature,” as he was often called, I figured there were probably a couple of instances. Total number of times? Once, and it only happened last year. This was during the overreaction (in my view) to the eclipse in Niagara and the declaration of a state of emergency. Bradley had been interviewed by the Niagara Falls Review about this decision. I plucked one solitary line for my April 2, 2024 Troy Media syndicated column, and that was it.
Regardless, there have been some wonderful tributes to Bradley the past couple of weeks. From across the political aisle, and all the way into the wonderful world of media. One of them was Steve Paikin, who hosted TVO’s The Agenda during its entire 19-year run. In his weekly column that he continues to write for the public broadcaster, among other duties, he’s recently written twice about his old friend.
Paikin described Bradley as the “Cal Ripken Jr. of Queen’s Park” on Sept. 26, suggesting that “like the great Baltimore Orioles shortstop, Bradley just kept showing up for work, day after day.” The Sudbury native, who became a teacher in the Niagara Peninsula and never left, was “born to do politics.” As environment minister, “if you ask around, people from all parties will tell you he was the best one we’ve ever had.” Bradley developed Countdown Acid Rain, which forced businesses to reduce their amount of pollution or face the possibility of fines or a shutdown, and was the driving force behind the blue box program in Ontario.
Paikin also mentioned a few personal details about the intensely private Bradley.
He loved sports, including the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and the Kentucky Derby. He never married or had children, which he said was “my decision and I have to live with it” and “I knew politics would consume all my time, and at times I regret that.” He always carried $200 in his wallet because, according to his friend James Williamson, “if I get mugged, the last thing I want people to read in the St. Catharines Standard was that I only had $10 on me.” He was a “proud Luddite who refused to give up his flip-phone until 2019,” telling Paikin that he read all of his messages but “I just can’t respond.” In their final phone call together, he revealed the final song to be played at his funeral, Vera Lynn’s ‘We’ll Meet Again’ – which was exactly what happened.
Let’s close this column with part of the eulogy of his friend, Mary Ann Edwards. “You have had our backs and we owe you huge. Jim Bradley’s tracks will never fade or diminish, and they’ll continue to inspire us.” His was a life well lived, indeed.
Rest in peace.
