HAGERSVILLE—Brad Adams has spent most of his life in Haldimand, growing up the son of a general contractor, working on his family dairy farm and around the community, and taking home a Chief Scouting Award from the First Caledonia Scouts, not to mention his brief stint as a third-string goalie with the Junior C Caledonia Corvairs.
Adams has a history of giving back, from being a founding member of the Steven Young Trust Fund Committee and serving on its original board of directors (Steven and Brad played hockey together), to being one of the organizers that first brought the Terry Fox Run to Caledonia as a way to fundraise for Steven at just 14 years old, to fundraising for cancer research by riding his horse across the county while his late wife Shannon struggled with the disease at home.
He was one of the youngest officers to be hired by the Hamilton Police Services at just 21, spending over two decades in various positions, including investigating organized crime and corruption, to starting his own unit training officers, to working directly with Hamilton City Council as a crime manager.
So, why is Adams interested in the Ward 4 seat?
“I’ve always been interested in the political realm, understanding politics and what makes things work,” said Adams, who noted he decided to act on this interest after attending Council meetings last June with his partner, Haldimand Norfolk MPP Bobbi Ann Brady, as councillors voted to deny her access to their formal delegations at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference.
“I thought, ‘how can councillors at the municipal level interfere with our MPP at the provincial level?’ And I was hearing the outcry from people across the community saying, ‘this isn’t what we want, this isn’t democratic’,” said Adams. “The voices of the people aren’t being heard. I’m prepared to be the voice of those people.”
Now campaigning, one issue Adams is hearing about is drainage, citing both the Harrop Drain and the recent culvert project at Highway 3 and Haldimand Road 56. Adams disagrees with the high bills some property owners in the area must foot for a problem he says “wasn’t their fault in the first place.”
But the most common topic he has heard loud and clear from voters are concerns over development.
“People out in the rural areas of Oneida, Canfield, Hagersville, we don’t want more for the sake of being more. We don’t want more people taxing our resources here. We’ve already got a lot of traffic congestion down Highway 6,” he said.
Adams is against the proposed Empire Communities development in Nanticoke, but does support the proposed provincial energy project under consideration for the Lake Erie Works site.
As for Hagersville, slated as Haldimand’s second-fastest growing community with three current development projects in various stages of review, Adams rejects the idea that municipal governments can do nothing to stop or slow down provincially mandated growth targets.
“I think it should be slowing down. Highway 6 is chaos. To have one route through Hagersville is not practical. We need infrastructure first before we get into these big developments,” he said. “If there’s absolutely a need, that infrastructure will happen, but until then, we hold off.”
He added, “We need to slow down in a lot of ways right now…. We’re so used to living beyond our means with our current federal government. It’s trickled its way down to public thinking. We can’t keep getting more and more.”
On job growth, Adams said his priority would be advocating for the Nanticoke energy project. In addition, he touted “cutting municipal red tape” to push for local businesses and tradespeople to work on the project.
He also wants to see improved communication between Council and the public, promising to promote engagement if elected, such as possibly running a website to poll the public on municipal issues.
Adams also wants to improve relations with Haldimand’s two Indigenous neighbours, noting, “We can always do better. We need to all come together to the table to listen and work towards positive outcomes. I’m committed to engaging with Six Nations and helping make that happen.”
Adams concluded, “I’m here to continue what I’ve done my whole life…. I want to keep giving back to the community. I love Haldimand…. There’s no personal gain from doing this beyond wanting to continue our beautiful way of life out here.”
