Bradley Richard Ward (born November 23, 1956) is a former

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. He served in the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

from 1990 to 1995 as a

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...

and was a

junior minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

Bob Rae Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...

's government from 1993 to 1995.

Background

Ward was a

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...

employee before entering political life. Active in the labour movement, he served on the

Brantford and District Labour Council The Brantford and District Labour Council is a labour council in Brantford, Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically ...

and was named Labour Citizen of the Year in 1989.

Municipal politics

He ran for the

Brantford City Council The Brantford City Council is the governing body of Brantford, Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politica ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

on a Labour Council/New Democratic Party ticket and finished third in the second ward. Ward was elected to city council on his second attempt in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, the only successful candidate to be endorsed by the labour council. He was re-elected without opposition in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

. While on council, he served as chair of Brantford's Riverfest.

Electoral record

See the 1985 Brantford election page for information on Potter and Mellor. See the 1982 Brantford election page for information on O'Regan and Sywyk. Municipal results are taken from the ''

Brantford Expositor The ''Brantford Expositor'' is an English language newspaper based in Brantford, Ontario and owned by Postmedia. It provides the readers with coverage of local news, sports and events to the community as well as coverage of provincial, national a ...

''.

Provincial politics

Ward was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1990 provincial election, defeating

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

incumbent

Dave Neumann David Emil Neumann (born October 5, 1941) is a politician in the Canadian province of Ontario. He was the mayor of Brantford from 1980 to 1987 and served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal from 1987 to 1990. After several year ...

in the

Brantford Brantford (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River (Ontario), Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by County of Brant, Brant County, but is politically separate with ...

riding. The New Democratic Party won a

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...

in this election under Bob Rae's leadership, and Ward entered the legislature as a government

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

er. He was

parliamentary assistant In UK politics, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan member of staff employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work at the House of Commons in the U ...

to the Minister of Skills Development from 1990 to 1991 and then to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Technology from 1991 to 1993. On February 3, 1993, he was promoted to

minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

in the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Eco ...

, where he worked under

Finance Minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

Floyd Laughren. He did not have formal ministerial responsibilities, and his duties included represented the Rae government at events such as pre-budgetary consultations. Ward was credited with helping to bring a

women's shelter A women's shelter, also known as a women's refuge and battered women's shelter, is a place of temporary protection and support for women escaping domestic violence and intimate partner violence of all forms. The term is also frequently used to ...

to Brantford during his time in government. In May 1993, the Rae government cancelled a plan to move the computer and telecommunications division of the Ministry of Government Services from

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

to Brantford, citing financial concerns. Three days earlier, Ward had told a local reporter that Brantford residents should not be worried about changes to the plan. Some criticized him as being unaware of shifts in government policy. Ward later confronted protesters who opposed the policy change and defended what he described as a "tough expenditures decision." The New Democratic Party was defeated in the 1995 provincial election, and Ward finished third against Progressive Conservative candidate

Ron Johnson Ronald Harold Johnson (born April 8, 1955) is an American accountant, businessman, and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Wisconsin, a seat he has held since 2011. A Republican, Johnson was first elected to the U.S. Se ...

in Brantford.

Cabinet positions

Electoral record

Provincial election information is taken from

Elections Ontario Elections Ontario (french: Élections Ontario) is an independent office of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario responsible for the administration of provincial elections and referendums. It is charged with the implementation and enforcement of t ...

After politics

Ward returned to private life after 1995, working for Bell Canada in business technology. At one time, he served as president of the

Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, abbreviated CEP in English and SCEP in French, was a largely private sector labour union with 150,000 members, active from 1992 to 2013. It was created in 1992 through the merger of three u ...

, Local 45. The Brant New Democratic Party honoured him for his involvement in public life in September 2000.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Brad 1956 births Brantford city councillors Living people Ontario New Democratic Party MPPs