Brad Bradford is a Canadian

urban planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, town ...

and politician. He was elected to the

Toronto City Council Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The current term began on November 15, 2022. Structure The cur ...

following the

2018 Toronto municipal election The 2018 Toronto municipal election was held on October 22, 2018, to elect a mayor and city councillors in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Registration for candidates for the office of mayor, councillor, and school board trustee opened on May 1, 20 ...

, and represents Ward 19 Beaches—East York. Bradford was appointed a commissioner of the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...

Board by city council on December 13, 2018. He also sits on several council committees, including the Budget Committee, and the Planning and Housing Committee, and the

Toronto Parking Authority The Toronto Parking Authority (TPA), commonly known as Green P for its green-colour branding, is a municipal parking services company owned by the Municipal government of Toronto, City of Toronto. The TPA was established in 1998 with the merger of ...

Board.

Background

Prior to his election, Bradford worked as an urban planner for the

City of Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

."Brad Bradford wins Ward 19, Beaches—East York, in close race"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', October 22, 2018. He holds a Bachelor of

Environmental Studies Environmental studies is a multidisciplinary academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment. Environmental studies connects principles from the physical sciences, commerce/economics, the humanities, and social ...

(BES), in urban and regional environments from

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

, and a Master of Arts (MA) in urban planning from the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

Family

Bradford's mother,

Valerie Bradford Valerie Bradford is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Kitchener South—Hespeler in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2021 Canadian federal election. Background Prior to her election, Bradford was an economic ...

, was elected as the

member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Kitchener South—Hespeler Kitchener South—Hespeler (french: Kitchener-Sud—Hespeler) is a federal electoral district in the Waterloo Region of Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since the 2015 election. History Kitchener ...

in the 2021 federal election. He has one daughter, Briar, with his wife Kathryn.

Political career

During the 2018 municipal election campaign, Bradford received endorsements from Mayor

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 2003 ...

, Deputy Mayor

Ana Bailão Ana Bailão (, ; born August 10, 1976) is a Canadian politician who served as the deputy mayor of Toronto representing Toronto and East York from 2017 to 2022. She has also represented Ward 9 Davenport on the Toronto City Council from 2010 until ...

, former Liberal member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Arthur Potts, Councillor

Mary-Margaret McMahon Mary-Margaret McMahon (born July 6, 1966) is a Canadian politician. She was elected MPP for the Ontario Liberal Party in Beaches—East York in the June 2022 provincial election. Previously, McMahon served on the Toronto City Council from 2010 to ...

(the previous incumbent of ward 32, which made up a part of the current ward boundaries), and former Toronto chief planner and mayoral candidate

Jennifer Keesmaat Jennifer Keesmaat (born 1970) is a Canadian urban planner who served as Chief City Planner of Toronto from 2012 to 2017. On August 28, 2017, she announced that she would resign from her position as Chief Planner, effective September 29 of the same ...

. Bradford defeated candidate

Matthew Kellway Matthew Kellway (born December 10, 1964) is a Canadian economist and former politician. He was a New Democratic Member of Parliament for the Toronto riding of Beaches—East York from 2011 to 2015. In the 2018 municipal election he came in seco ...

, who represented

Beaches—East York Beaches—East York (formerly Beaches—Woodbine) is a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1988. This riding is situated east of ...

federally from 2011 to 2015 as the New Democratic MP.

Work on council

2019 budget

Bradford's first budget was contentious as councillors

Shelley Carroll Shelley Carroll is a Canadian politician who has represented Ward 17 Don Valley North on Toronto City Council since 2018. She previously sat as the councillor for Ward 33 Don Valley East from 2003 to 2018. Background Carroll worked in the bank ...

and

Mike Layton Michael Layton (born November 26, 1980) is a Canadian politician who served on Toronto City Council from 2010 until 2022. Layton most recently represented Ward 11 University—Rosedale. He was first elected in the 2010 municipal election in W ...

presented last minute motions intended to gather information beyond the budget process. He voted against all of these motions which distressed concerned parties.

Term limits

Bradford brought a motion to the city council to explore implementing

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

, which was seconded by Ana Bailão and referred to the Special Committee on Governance. Bradford campaigned on supporting a two term limit during the 2018 election, with his motion citing examples where term limits facilitated a more representative council makeup by eliminating incumbent advantage. He was opposed by Councillor

Gord Perks Gordon Perks (born October 7, 1963) is a Canadian politician and environmental activist who has served on Toronto City Council since 2006. Perks currently represents Ward 4 Parkdale—High Park. Career Perks has worked for a number of environ ...

, who commented that the "last thing a government should do is tell people who they are allowed to vote for" and Councillor

Jim Karygiannis James Karygiannis ( ; el, Δημήτρης Καρύγιαννης, Dimítris Karýgiannis, ; born May 2, 1955) is a Canadian former politician. He formerly served in the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal MP from 1988 to 2014, and as memb ...

, who believes if "constituents don’t want us they can kick us out". The motion was deferred indefinitely, but if successful it would have required a ''

City of Toronto Act The ''City of Toronto Act'' is the name of a series of different acts of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario that have governed the organization and political powers of the city since Toronto's original incorporation as a city in 1834. ''Incorp ...

'' amendment, which must be passed by the provincial government.

Hansard transcripts

Bradford also introduced a motion at council to explore the use of

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official print ...

(transcripts of meetings) to increase transparency and engagement at City Hall.

Election results

References

External links

City of Toronto webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradford, Brad Canadian urban planners Toronto city councillors University of Waterloo alumni York University alumni Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 1986 births