Misplaced Honor
October 11, 2025
As is the case across the country and around the globe, so many of the problems in our part of the world, particularly over the last five-plus years, are caused by politicians. Whether they’re at the federal, provincial or municipal level, they seem to thrive on our misery and go out of their way to cause it. They are not heroes, they are villains. Of course, as they work their magic, they say they’re helping us. I’m from the government and I’m here to help you. But one universal truth is that everything government touches turns to shit. The Midas touch in reverse.
Which is why I find it so distasteful when politicians are showered with accolades or honored by having something named after them. Such as the case with the recently deceased Jim Bradley, the former long-tenured MPP and regional chair. One loyal reader used the term “regional chesterfield” to describe him. Quite apt, I thought. During my time in this part of the world, Bradley had become an embarrassment to this community and a walking endorsement for term limits. He was the classic career politician. St. Catharines did more for him than he did for St. Catharines. I never met him personally. Maybe he really was a nice guy, as so many say. But I never understood the attraction to him. Is it something in the water around these parts? I have a filtration system, so maybe it removes the chemical which stimulates the urge to blindly vote for Bradley.
Please don’t get me wrong. I’m sorry for his passing and I offer my condolences to his family and friends. But I’m equally sorry that it took his death to get him out of public office. His expiration date passed a couple of decades ago.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Bradley’s ashes were still warm when politicians all over the region began falling over themselves to heap praise on him. And with lightning speed, they renamed a local park after him. Using our money of course. No politician would even think of digging into his or her own pocket for such a thing.
It will always be Grantham Avenue Park to me.
If only they acted with such vim and vigor on behalf of the community and taxpayers who fattened the portfolios of politicians like Bradley, I thought. Just once. But when there’s a choice between serving the people paying their salaries and honoring one of their own, you know which one wins out. Each and every time.
And as everyone and their dog keeps talking about what a great man and dedicated public servant he was, let us also remember that, as regional chair, Bradley was fully on board with forcing regional employees to take multiple shots of gene-altering poison under threat of losing their jobs. The same gene-altering poison that has caused millions of deaths worldwide and so many other serious health problems. There is no one among us who doesn’t know at least one victim.
It would be so much more appropriate to honor the victims of such cruel, inhuman and illegal policies along with those who stood tall to fight them than one of the men responsible for implementing them.
Tamara Lich Park has a nice ring to it.
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