Well, that was short-lived.
Heralded as “a pretty good standout” among over 70 applicants, Michael Bradley assumed the city manager post at city hall on May 15.
Exactly five months later, a media release from Mayor Joe Preston announced, “City to begin recruitment for new city manager.”
Bradley has accepted the position of CAO with the City of Brantford – his hometown – and will depart his office at city hall in mid-November.
Before accepting the post in St. Thomas, Bradley had been the Commissioner of Community Development with the City of Brantford.
He also served for 11 years with the County of Brant, including a stint as CAO from 2018 to 2023.
Tag Archives: Doug Ford
Will back-door deals determine the Conservative candidate for Elgin-St. Thomas-London South in the next federal election?
With MP Karen Vecchio announcing earlier in August she will not seek re-election, we are following up on a credible email dealing with the potential nomination process for Elgin-St. Thomas-London South.
According to the correspondence, party officials intend to parachute a candidate into the riding instead of following the usual nomination process.
The writer suggests party insiders will nominate Andrew Lawton, who declared his intention to run the day after Vecchio told myFM she would step away after this term.
So, it is 2018 all over again.
In the provincial election that year, Premier Doug Ford announced he would appoint candidates in 11 ridings, including London West, where three individuals had already declared their intention to seek the PC nomination.
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‘It all comes down to giving back to the community’ – MP Karen Vecchio in announcing she will not seek re-election
MP Karen Vecchio called a week ago yesterday (Friday) wanting to talk.
It seems it had something to do with expiration dates, which caught my attention.
So, we agreed to meet in the myFM studio at which point she laid this one on us.
“I made my decision and that is to not run in the next election.
That would be the 45th election that we are expecting in October of 2025.
“And unfortunately, my name will not be on the ballot. And, next year when the federal election occurs, I will have been at it (sitting as an MP) for 10 years.
“I believe everybody has an expiry date and I know it’s time for me to be home.”
Now, there’s a world of difference between an expiry date and a best-before date and Vecchio has many productive years in front of her before reaching the latter time stamp.
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Going from trying to get houses built to helping farmers produce food for those who will live in those houses, the impact of a cabinet shuffle on MPP Rob Flack
Editor’s note: City Scope has a new Facebook page at http://facebook.com/St.ThomasCityScope
You could say Rob Flack is going back to his roots.
His agricultural roots, that is.
Late Thursday afternoon in the Doug Ford cabinet shuffle, the Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP found himself part of the major shake-up, becoming Minister of Farming, Agriculture and Agribusiness.
He had been Associate Minister of Housing as a member of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, a posting that was part of a cabinet shuffle last fall.
Flack was given a specific mandate on attainable housing and modular homes reporting to Paul Calandra, the new Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
It’s a return of sorts to his early days following his election in 2022.
Flack had been appointed one of two parliamentary assistants to Lisa Thompson, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in July of that year.
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Southwestern Public Health raises a red flag over the province’s move to expand alcohol sales, a step it calls ‘an all-encompassing community health concern’
Southwestern Public Health is airing its concerns as the province moves to expand alcohol sales.
The health unit wants to ensure “the province takes a stronger commitment to the health and well-being” of Ontario residents.
In a conversation this week with SWPH board chair Bernia Martin, she explained, “We originally received a report from staff on alcohol-related harms on our community back in October (of last year).
“And at that time, the board took the recommendations and one of those recommendations was to reply to the province outlining our concerns.”
Other recommendations included a request for the provincial and federal governments to beef up advertising regulations, increase taxes and improve access to treatment.
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Project Tiny Hope in St. Thomas “is the beacon of hope for all in Ontario.” – Associate Minister of Housing Rob Flack
A couple of weeks ago we had a lengthy chat with the province’s new Associate Minister of Housing.
That would be Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Rob Flack and the interview was prior to Premier Doug Ford pulling a 180 on his plan to open up Greenbelt lands for residential development.
So we arranged with Flack to update us on what led up to the policy reversal and what lies ahead for Flack.
We opened the conversation by asking him to recall what preceeded Ford’s announcement on Sept. 21.
“It was an interesting week,” conceded Flack, “a learning week, a growing week and I think a good week for all people in Ontario.
“As the Premier said, the intention was right. We made a mistake. But you know, I’m a great believer that changing your mind for the right decision is not a vice, it’s a virtue.
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MPP Rob Flack asserts his ‘experience and leadership’ earned him associate housing minister post
At the beginning of the month, Premier Doug Ford announced changes to his cabinet, precipitated by the resignation of Steve Clark who had served as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
Paul Calandra was installed as the new Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Rob Flack was promoted to Associate Minister of Housing with a mandate on attainable housing and modular homes.
Clark had been at the heart of the Greenbelt development scandal, in which it was found he had violated ethics outlines included in the Members’ Integrity Act.
We caught up with Flack a week after his appointment to discuss his new role, however, there have been substantial developments since then.
Specifically on Thursday, Ford pulled off a complete turnaround on his plan to open up protected Greenbelt lands for residential development.
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A $13+ billion VW investment means “the future is going to be strong and bright for people in St. Thomas and right across the country.” – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
It’s been many decades since St. Thomas could hoist the banner, Railway Capital of Canada. Before the end of the decade, however, could the city become the EV Battery Capital of Canada?
The numbers bandied about Friday (April 21) sure point in that direction.
Hosted appropriately enough at the Elgin County Railway Museum, politicians from all levels of government plus officials from Volkswagen and its battery operation, PowerCo, along with city staff were on hand to provide further details on the gigafactory to be located in the new industrial park on the eastern limits of the city.
Technically the EV battery announcement was made last month at city hall, yesterday’s event was an opportunity to fill in the many blanks in order to shed more light on just how massive this facility will be, not to mention the financial gigaincentives dangled by the feds and the province.
In his address to the gathering, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called St. Thomas the place to build the future together.
And he wasted no time addressing the elephant in the room.
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‘To whom much is given, much is expected’ – Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP-elect Rob Flack
Less than an hour after the polls closed in Thursday’s provincial election, the takeaway from the campaign in Elgin-Middlesex-London presented itself.
For the most part, the eight candidates ran a clean race with no mud-slinging, vitriol and finger-pointing evident.
Around 10 that evening at the Knights of Columbus Hall, as Flack was bathing in the adoration of his supporters, word was relayed to him Liberal candidate Heather Jackson was waiting outside the room to offer congratulations.
You could tell Flack was truly moved by the gesture of the city’s former mayor.
A classy moment all around in a world dominated by raging rhetoric and damning divisiveness.
After the brief exchange, Flack continued with his words of thanks, which included a fitting tip of the hat to the riding’s previous MPP, who stepped aside at the end of February.
