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James J. Bradley (born February 19, 1945) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a long-serving Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, sitting as an MPP from 1977 until 2018. He represented the riding of St. Catharines and served in the provincial cabinets of David Peterson, Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne. He was elected as a regional councillor in the St. Catharines municipal election of 2018. He is currently the Chair of the Regional Municipality of Niagara.

His 41-year term as an MPP is the second longest tenure in Ontario history, behind only Harry Nixon.

Background

Before entering politics, Bradley was a teacher with the Lincoln County Board of Education. He was elected as a city councillor to the St. Catharines City Council in 1970, but also remained in the classroom until 1977.

Politics

After failed bids in the elections of 1967 and 1971, Bradley was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1977 election in the riding of St. Catharines, and served as MPP for that riding until the 2018 election. He fended off strong challenges from the New Democratic Party in the 1990 election and the Progressive Conservative Party in 1995 election. On all other occasions until 2018, he was re-elected easily.

Peterson government

When the Liberals came to power under David Peterson following the 1985 election, Bradley became Minister of the Environment and held that position until the Liberals were defeated in the 1990 election. He is generally regarded as Ontario's most effective Environment Minister, although some believe that his ambitions for the portfolio were undermined by Peterson and Finance Minister Robert Nixon. As Environment Minister, Bradley expanded Blue Box Recycling, making it a province-wide initiative, as well as instituting tough new penalties for polluters, enforced by a strengthened investigation and enforcement branch.

In opposition

Bradley was a vocal opponent of Peterson's plans to call an election in 1990, preferring that the party wait until 1992 before going to the polls. While the Liberals were defeated, Bradley was personally re-elected and had a prominent position in the Opposition benches.

When Nixon, the interim leader of the Liberals, left Queen's Park to accept an appointment, he was replaced by Murray Elston. Elston resigned as interim leader to run in the 1992 leadership convention, and Bradley became interim leader of the party and interim Leader of the Opposition from November 1991 until the election of Lyn McLeod in February 1992. He remained an opposition stalwart until the Liberals won the 2003 election under Dalton McGuinty.

McGuinty government

There was some speculation that Bradley would be re-appointed Minister of the Environment in McGuinty's government, but this did not occur. Instead, he was named Minister of Tourism and Recreation on October 23, 2003. He was also given ministerial responsibility for Seniors on June 29, 2005. On October 11, 2005, Bradley was also appointed to replace Dwight Duncan as Government House Leader, following Duncan's appointment as Minister of Finance. Bradley is also the province's wine secretary, as well as the minister responsible for the Greenbelt.

On October 30, 2007, Bradley was sworn in as Minister of Transportation in McGuinty's new cabinet. As Transportation Minister, Bradley supervised the introduction of an Ontario Enhanced driver's licenses to be used at Canada/US border crossings. He introduced legislation to merge GO Transit and Metrolinx. Enacted tougher penalties for drivers who have a BAC of .05 or higher. Mandated that all commercial trucks that operate in Ontario be equipped with speed limiters to ensure heavy trucks don't exceed 105 km/h. And in April 2009, it was announced that GO Transit would be expanded to the Niagara region, with bus service to Burlington in September and with weekend rail service to Toronto starting at the end of June.

On January 18, 2010, Bradley moved to the position of Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. In August he was moved to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.

On October 20, 2011, Bradley moved to become Minister of Environment once again in the wake of the 2011 election that saw the previous Minister of Environment, John Wilkinson, defeated.

Wynne government

Bradley continued as Environment Minister in Kathleen Wynne's first cabinet after she won the leadership of the Liberal Party. Following the 2014 provincial election, the 69-year-old Bradley became a minister without portfolio with the title of Chair of Cabinet and was also appointed Deputy Government House Leader. He left cabinet in June 2016 as part of a cabinet shuffle, and later served as Chief Government Whip and Deputy Government House Leader.

In the 2018 election, Bradley lost his seat as the Liberal Party was defeated, losing official party status and suffering the greatest loss for any governing party in provincial history. He had served as St. Catharines MPP for 41 years.

Municipal politics

On July 27, 2018, the last day registration was open, Bradley registered to run for Niagara Regional Council.

Bradley was elected on October 22, 2018, finishing first out of 23 candidates with 18,954 votes.

On December 6, 2018, Bradley was selected as the Niagara Regional Chair, being elected on the first ballot receiving 19 out of 31 votes against two other candidates.

Electoral record

Source:

The 1999, 2003 and 2007 expenditure entries are taken from official candidate reports as listed by Elections Ontario. The figures cited are the Total Candidate's Campaign Expenses Subject to Limitation, and include transfers from constituency associations. The 1995 expenditures are taken from an official listing of election expenses published by Elections Ontario.

References

1. Canadian Press (October 18, 1967). "Tories win, but..." The Windsor Star. Windsor, Ontario. p. B2. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
2. "Riding-by-riding returns in provincial election". The Globe and Mail. October 23, 1971. p. 10.
3. "Ontario provincial election results riding by riding". The Globe and Mail. June 10, 1977. p. D9.
4. ^ "Ontario election: Riding-by-riding voting results". The Globe and Mail. September 7, 1990. p. A12.
5. "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. June 8, 1995. Archived from the original on March 16, 2014. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
6. "Liberals pledge reform as they take over in Ontario". The Gazette. Montreal, Que. June 27, 1985. p. B1.
7. "Premier Dalton McGuinty and his 22-member cabinet were sworn in Thursday". Canadian Press NewsWire. October 23, 2003. p. 1.
8. "Cabinet shuffle focuses on health care, education; McGuinty to head new Research and Innovation ministry". The Kitchener Record. June 30, 2005. p. A5.
9. "Premier McGuinty announces changes to cabinet". Canada NewsWire. October 11, 2005. p. 1.
10. Ferguson, Rob; Benzie, Robert (October 31, 2007). "Premier goes for new blood; Expanded 28-member cabinet has eight ministers from Toronto, three from 905 area". Toronto Star. p. A13.
11. Kenyon, Wallace (January 19, 2010). "Sweeping changes hit Queen's Park; Liberal Cabinet". National Post. p. A8.
12. Aveling, Nick (August 18, 2010). "McGuinty moves 6, brings in 2 new faces in Ontario cabinet shuffle". Postmedia News.
13. "Ontario's new cabinet". Toronto Star. October 21, 2011. p. A18.
14. "Ontario's new cabinet". Waterloo Region Record. Kitchener, Ont. February 12, 2013. p. A3.
15. Richard Brennan; Robert Benzie; Rob Ferguson (June 24, 2014). "Kathleen Wynne warns financial cupboard is bare". Toronto Star.
16. "Struggling Wynne shuffles cabinet, adds 7 new ministers". June 13, 2016.
17. "Jim Bradley voted out after 41 years as MPP in St. Catharines | CBC News".
18. "Ford creates 11th hour candidate scramble". July 27, 2018.
19. "Bradley aiming to restore trust in Region | StCatharinesStandard.ca". Archived from the original on December 7, 2018.
20. "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 9. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
21. "Certificate of Election Results - Office of Regional Councillor" (PDF). City of St. Catharines. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 28, 2018. Retrieved October 28, 2018.

External links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history

v t e Leaders of the Ontario Liberal Party
Brown McKellar Blake Mowat Hardy Ross Graham MacKay Rowell Proudfoot Dewart Hay Sinclair Hepburn Conant† H. Nixon Hepburn Oliver Thomson Oliver Wintermeyer Oliver† Thompson R. Nixon Smith Peterson R. Nixon† Elston† Bradley† McLeod McGuinty Wynne Fraser† Del Duca Fraser† Crombie
† Interim leader

v t e Cabinet of Premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne (2013–2018)
Kathleen Wynne Laura Albanese Chris Ballard Jim Bradley Laurel Broten Michael Chan Bob Chiarelli Michael Coteau Dipika Damerla Steven Del Duca Nathalie Des Rosiers Brad Duguid Kevin Flynn John Gerretsen Michael Gravelle Eric Hoskins Mitzie Hunter Helena Jaczek Linda Jeffrey Marie-France Lalonde Jeff Leal Tracy MacCharles Harinder Malhi Deb Matthews Bill Mauro Kathryn McGarry Eleanor McMahon Ted McMeekin Madeleine Meilleur Peter Milczyn John Milloy Reza Moridi Glen Murray Indira Naidoo-Harris Yasir Naqvi David Orazietti Teresa Piruzza Liz Sandals Mario Sergio Charles Sousa Harinder Takhar Glenn Thibeault Daiene Vernile David Zimmer

v t e Cabinet of Premier of Ontario Dalton McGuinty (2003–2013)
Dalton McGuinty Rick Bartolucci Chris Bentley Margarett Best Marie Bountrogianni Jim Bradley Laurel Broten Michael Bryant Donna Cansfield David Caplan Aileen Carroll Michael Chan Bob Chiarelli Michael Colle Caroline Di Cocco Brad Duguid Dwight Duncan Peter Fonseca John Gerretsen Michael Gravelle Eric Hoskins Helena Jaczek Linda Jeffrey Gerard Kennedy Monte Kwinter Deb Matthews Ted McMeekin Madeleine Meilleur John Milloy Glen Murray Steve Peters David Ramsay Liz Sandals Monique Smith George Smitherman Greg Sorbara Charles Sousa Harinder Takhar John Wilkinson Kathleen Wynne

v t e Cabinet of Premier of Ontario David Peterson (1985–1990)
David Peterson Charles Beer Jim Bradley Ken Black Elinor Caplan Shirley Collins Sean Conway Alvin Curling John Eakins Murray Elston René Fontaine Ed Fulton Bernard Grandmaître Christine Hart Chaviva Hošek Vince Kerrio Ken Keyes Monte Kwinter Remo Mancini Lyn McLeod Lily Oddie Munro Robert Nixon Hugh O'Neil Steve Offer Richard Patten Gerry Phillips David Ramsay Jack Riddell Tony Ruprecht Ian Scott Joan Smith Greg Sorbara John Sweeney Ron Van Horne Chris Ward Mavis Wilson Bob Wong Bill Wrye

• 1945 births
• Leaders of the Ontario Liberal Party
• Living people
• Members of the Executive Council of Ontario
• Ontario Liberal Party MPPs
• Politicians from Greater Sudbury
• St. Catharines city councillors
• 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
• 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario