He was born in the town of Quebec in 1797, the son of a wig maker of Italian ancestry, and studied at the Petit Séminaire de Québec.
He renounced his original vocation in 1821 and married Marie-Marguerite-Louise, the daughter of merchant Louis-Henri Archambault, the following year.
Bardy studied medicine with William Robertson at Montreal and qualified to practice in 1829.
In 1834, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Rouville, supporting the parti patriote.
Around 1854, Bardy began to support the practice of homeopathy, which was not viewed favourably by other members of the medical profession.