Let’s make Mike Bradley our honorary mayor and finally get a real one

At this point, maybe we just make Mike Bradley the honorary mayor. He can keep the office. Keep the parking spot. Keep the red scarf he loves to wear. Keep […]

At this point, maybe we just make Mike Bradley the honorary mayor.

He can keep the office. Keep the parking spot. Keep the red scarf he loves to wear. Keep the title even—people can still call him “Mayor Bradley” forever, like they do with past presidents. But can we please stop pretending he’s actually leading this city?

Because the real cost of keeping him in that seat isn’t just the $116,000 salary we pay him every year. It’s the slow erosion of initiative, ambition, and direction that keeps Sarnia frozen in time.

I served on city council for four years. I asked for a coffee with Mike at the beginning of my term. We met. He made a few jokes. Then he basically never spoke to me again unless it was during a break between meetings, throwing out quips and one-liners. No check-ins. No attempts to build alignment. No leadership.

And I’m not special in that regard. Ask most councillors. He’s famously allergic to collaboration. He prefers being a one-man show—quietly controlling the flow of power without having to work through the mess of disagreement, visioning, or long-term planning.

But here’s the problem: Sarnia needs those things now more than ever. It needs someone willing to fight for it. Someone to set the tone, cast a vision, and help council actually move toward something together.

What we’re getting instead is a placeholder. A ceremonial ribbon-cutter in a city that’s falling behind.

Did you see what just happened with Mark Carney and the provincial premiers? Whether you like the guy or not, it was a rare moment of coordinated political will—leaders from across the country pulling in the same direction. That’s the kind of energy municipalities need. That’s the kind of leadership a mayor is supposed to model.

Instead, we’ve got a guy who’s been in the seat for over three decades and seems to have no interest in steering. And the result is that we drift.

We’ve got a police service demanding tens of millions for a new building, council chambers that feel more like group therapy sessions than strategy tables, and a shrinking sense of what’s even possible. Every department is just trying to keep the lights on. Every year, we settle for maintenance over momentum.

So here’s a thought experiment: what if we gave Mike everything he wants—the title, the honour, the legacy—and then moved the actual job of mayor somewhere else? Let someone else run the meetings. Let someone else build the coalitions. Let someone else be accountable for driving the city forward.

Honorary mayor. It’s dignified. It’s symbolic. And it frees us from being held hostage by an ego that clearly doesn’t want to do the work anymore.

I mean, what are we even holding onto here?

If we love him so much, let him retire into myth. That way we can finally get to work.