This week, Mayor Mike Bradley is back in the headlines, not for progress on any local project, but for joining a national push to save duty-free stores. He co-authored a letter to the Prime Minister, is attending a press conference on Parliament Hill, and is raising alarms about declining border traffic and the economic impact on communities like ours.
Meanwhile, back here, the police budget just jumped by $9 million.
And instead of sticking around to deal with it, he walked out of the room.
Last year, Mike Bradley stepped away from the Sarnia Police Services Board after more than three decades, saying he was frustrated by “secrecy and spending.” He warned Sarnia City Council that police spending could derail our financial progress, then exited before the next meeting. Since then, the new chief has overhauled the administration, added management positions, and dramatically increased costs. The board keeps moving. The mayor stays gone.
Except when there’s a national story to comment on.
This has become the pattern: he disappears when the work gets messy, but shows up the moment a microphone is pointed somewhere else. Week after week, we see more attention given to Ottawa than to our own council table, more effort put into letters to federal ministers than into the basics of city-building.
And every time something happens like the end of ArriveCan, he’s already positioned himself as the reason. He knows how to work the media. He knows how to stay visible. But visibility isn’t leadership.
Sarnia needs a mayor who sticks around when the decisions get hard. Who doesn’t just raise concerns about spending, but helps fix it. Who doesn’t step away from the police board, and then turn up to save a border business.
We’ve got a rec centre to build. A waterfront to fix. Neighbourhoods to invest in. We’ve got youth who need housing, services that need funding, and a city that’s ready to move forward.
Imagine if the urgency he shows for duty-free stores was directed here toward the people who actually live in this city and vote for him.
We don’t need someone representing Sarnia to the rest of the country. We need someone representing Sarnia to itself, reminding us what this place could be if we put half as much energy into our future as we do into border shops and press releases.