Brad Woodside

Who is Brad Woodside?

Bradley Stanford Woodside is the mayor of Fredericton, New Brunswick since 1986. Woodside is presently also serving as the 1st Vice-President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. First elected as a councillor in 1981, he also served as deputy mayor. In 1986, Woodside was elected Mayor of Fredericton and is now serving his eighth term which makes him the longest serving mayor of Fredericton.

As Mayor, Woodside can count a range of accomplishments, including promoting IT in Fredericton, and the development of information technology infrastructure such as the Fred eZone wireless zone. His tenure as mayor has also seen the promotion of music festivals in Fredericton including the Harvest and Blues Jazz Festival, the Country Music Festival, and FredRock. While infill development and sustainability have been priorities of his tenure as mayor, he has also faced controversy over sprawling box-store development in the university woods, a previously protected wooded area.

Woodside received an honorary doctor of laws degree from St. Thomas University in 2011. Eleven professors at the small liberal arts university protested, in part because of his refusal to proclaim Pride Weekend in the 1990s.