Dennis looking ahead to next Sarnia election

Taking personal shots at Sarnia’s mayor “probably took it a little bit too far,” says Sarnia’s Bill Dennis.

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The city councilor raged against Mayor Mike Bradley, others on council and a city environmental committee representative this week, prompting council to adjourn earlywith most of the city’s business left undone.

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Ace of Wednesday makeup meeting hadn’t been scheduled.

Dennis said he has no intention of picking fights when council resumes.

“Obviously I want to do the people’s business and I want to do it right, but (Bradley) better treat me with respect,” he said.

“If he doesn’t treat me with respect, I’m not going to be a punching bag for him.”

Dennis, asked Wednesday about how he’d reflected since Monday’s council fracas, was in campaign mode for an election still three years away, casting Bradley as an “elitist,” “out of touch” with the city’s problems, and himself as a common man with deep community connections.

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Earlier this week, Dennis said he’ll likely run for mayor in 2026.

“(Bradley’s) afraid of me because he knows I’m the bigger threat for him politically,” Dennis said.

Dennis, a former realtor first elected to council in 2018 on a campaign that included support for Bradley — then facing restrictions at city hall after a workplace investigation report in 2016 found he bullied and harassed senior staff in violation of workplace harassment laws — said that relationship has soured.

“That blew you (witnessed) with me and Bradley, that was a long time coming,” Dennis said.

“Him and I haven’t spoken in two or three years.”

Dennis, who has refused to apologize for accusing Bradley of “wash(ing) out of real estate” before entering politics, and calling council “left of Mao,” took aim at Bradley again Wednesday over that workplace harassment investigation history.

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“If anyone is going to get an apology from me, it’s going to be the 2014-2018 council,” he said.

That council was largely replaced in the 2018 electionafter taking action over the workplace harassment investigation, including restricting Bradley’s access to staff areas at city hall and making him communicate with staff via a council intermediary.

“I’ve seen the real Mike Bradley,” Dennis said, accusing the mayor of being controlling.

Dennis also didn’t hold back Wednesday about council colleagues, saying they “just punch a clock and show up” and “you’re sitting around with clowns that are just showing up for the paycheque or just showing up for a social gathering.”

Meanwhile, Dennis said he’s “extremely passionate about what I do.”

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Dennis, who said he doesn’t care about code of conduct complaints, reiterated he doesn’t think city environmental committee members “represent the everyday hard-working people in the city.”

“They’re almost like an enlightened bunch that look down on everyday working people and I don’t go for those types,” he added.

Greg McConkey, the environmental committee member targeted by some Dennis Barbs Monday, “was collateral damage in that whole thing,” Dennis said.

But Monday’s “blowup” in council chambers may have helped him politically, Dennis said..

“You wouldn’t believe the number of messages I’ve received from people saying ‘Good for you. The mayor needed to be told that,’” he said.

“I’ve probably picked up hundreds of supporters over this whole fiasco.”

And he vowed a no-holds-barred battle if he and Bradley both ran for mayor.

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