Startling drops in revenue and further projected losses from U.S. tariffs have workers at Brampton’s Stellantis auto assembly scared for the future.
While industry analysts warn the ongoing 25 percent tariffs will force Stellantis to make some difficult decisions about its North
American operations union officials are scrambling to reassure 3,000 employees in Brampton that their careers are secure.
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In a groundbreaking decision years in the making, the International Court of Justice has declared that climate inaction isn’t just reckless, it’s illegal. For the first time, the world’s highest court has confirmed that states have binding legal obligations to curb greenhouse gas emissions, including from fossil fuel production, or risk violating international law and facing consequences. The ruling could transform climate lawsuits from long-shot battles to powerful tools for justice.
The decision comes as the Ontario government has unveiled its latest energy plan which is continuing to push the province away from renewable energy, compromising vital emission reduction targets.
SafeHope Home in Durham Region is one of the few residential programs for human trafficking survivors in the country, and the only one to offer a long-term, wraparound support system. Thankfully, nobody was hurt in the fire, but now the organization must work tirelessly to find a new space and limit the disruption to these women who are trying to rebuild their lives after escaping one of the most heinous forms of exploitation.
The organization is currently fundraising to help support the purchase of a new location.
As fossil fuel giants flood screens with misleading net-zero claims, a UN special rapporteur is calling for urgent legal action to ban false advertising, end fossil fuel subsidies and phase out oil, gas and coal by 2030 after the industry’s six-decade campaign of climate denial and delay.
Canada’s federal government recently made changes to the Competition Act to fight greenwashing but relentless lobbying and resistance from the oil and gas sector have set Ottawa behind as the push to criminalize fossil fuel misinformation takes off elsewhere.
The municipal storm sewer south of Chippawa Parkway has intermittently spewed an unknown chemical substance into the Welland River since July of last year.
Despite efforts from City and provincial officials, the origin of the black, oily substance has not been identified. Frustrated residents fear there simply is not enough political will to track down the source—which appears to be somewhere inside the Stanley Business Park.
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Jean-François and Jennifer Casu-Morin came to Caledon to raise their children surrounded by nature. They hoped to build a life on their farm in what was once celebrated as Ontario’s greenest town. They vividly remember Mayor Annette Groves personally assuring them during her 2022 election campaign that she would protect the environment and listen to local voices—promises that earned their trust.
That trust is in shambles after councillors, at the behest of Groves, fast-tracked a controversial plan to fill Swan Lake, which sits behind their home, with construction waste. The plan from the mayor, a favour to a powerful developer pushed through with no public consultation, has sparked a fierce fight over clean water, wildlife habitat and Caledon’s slowly vanishing identity as a green oasis.
Patrick Brown is pushing for the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to be added to Canada’s terror watch list. But the Brampton Mayor, who is constantly in the media speaking on issues outside his municipal jurisdiction, has remained silent on a key piece of the narrative surrounding the gang and its implication in Peel’s troubling organized crime landscape. Various sources have publicly stated that the Bishnoi gang is used as a “proxy” by the Indian government to target Sikhs in Canada.
Despite his close connections to India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brown continues to ignore the connection between Modi’s government and the harassment of Sikhs in Canada.
The Canadian Constitution Foundation is taking the City of Niagara Falls to court over its doubling down on a controversial “decorum” policy that bans the holding of signs inside the council chambers. The organization, which is launching a new initiative aimed directly at rogue municipalities, says legal precedent and the Constitution protect this type of expression. It criticizes the City’s senior staff for what appears to be a fundamental misunderstanding of the Constitution.
Women’s rights activists were recently arrested for trying to draw attention to a proposed new provincial law aimed at holding municipal politicians accountable for harassment and assault.
Near the anniversary of two devastating “100-year storms” that turned Mississauga streets into rivers and homes into disaster zones last summer, the city is still digging out physically, financially and emotionally.
Despite pouring hundreds of millions into stormwater infrastructure and rolling out new relief programs, many residents remain flooded with frustration as local, provincial and federal support lags behind.
After his son was attacked at school, Anwar Knight says the Peel District School Board lied to him and attempted to cover up the incident. The experience led him to launch Hold Schools Accountable, an effort to reform the Education Act and ensure no parents are forced to deal with what he and his family had to go through.
A coalition of nine First Nations is taking Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Mark Carney to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, challenging Bills 5 and C-5 on constitutional grounds. They argue these laws concentrate sweeping powers in the Cabinet, bypass Indigenous consultation and weaken environmental protections on traditional lands, infringing on their rights and sovereignty.
Participating First Nations seek to halt enforcement of the new laws until the courts review their constitutionality.
With shrinking reserves, growing deficits and declining enrolment the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board has been placed under provincial supervision after an independent review found without ministry assistance, the board was at “significant risk” of defaulting on its financial obligations.
The Opposition NDP say the supervision order will not solve the root cause of the issue—PC underfunding of the public education system.
Mayor Annette Groves is once again under fire from the very residents who helped elect her on promises to protect Caledon’s environment and give the community a voice in local development. This time, outrage has erupted over a motion she introduced to allow construction fill to be dumped into a rehabilitated gravel pit, now a groundwater-fed lake teeming with wildlife.
The proposal, pushed forward without public consultation, drew a crowd of furious residents who packed council chambers on July 8, mirroring the backlash from 2024 when Groves faced widespread criticism over sweeping planning changes she made without proper public input.
Kathy McDonald, who has fought for years to reform the Peel District School Board, raised concerns during the board’s budget meeting early this month, highlighting what she sees as a failure to adequately invest in initiatives, mandated by the province, to end systemic anti-Black racism still plaguing the PDSB.
She also blasted the lack of transparency and staffing cuts impacting the entire public education community.
Peel Region urgently requires smart, sustainable growth to address its housing needs, but progress is repeatedly being stalled by chaotic PC legislation and political maneuvering among local leaders.
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and Caledon Mayor Annette Groves walked out of an earlier regional council meeting in protest.
Egregious cases of animal cruelty continue to be exposed across Ontario.
Advocates say the entire animal welfare system is broken, and next Saturday they will take to the streets in Niagara Falls to confront the increasingly disturbing treatment of animals across the province.
Tenants protested outside City Hall Monday, demanding council members pass a rental replacement bylaw with strict provisions that ensures developers respect tenant rights and preserve existing affordable rental units if they plan any renovations or demolition.
After years of delay, Bramptonians still don’t have a timeline for the expansion of Peel Memorial. A critical second hospital has been needed in the city for decades. Despite an RFP for the project closing in April, no proponent has been named to carry out the construction and the PC government refuses to answer any questions, while the mayor and other officials continue to mislead residents about the status of the long-delayed project.
After claiming that an ongoing criminal case against Councillor Mike Strange could not be addressed or even remotely tied to any council conversation—justification for blocking a women’s rights group—Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati gave Strange the floor at Tuesday’s public meeting to do just that.
While the man charged with intimate partner violence was allowed to use his position and the council chamber to crusade for himself, women seeking to address proposed provincial legislation aimed at tightening accountability of municipal elected officials were again denied the privilege afforded to Strange.
The PC government is taking its proposed new municipal accountability legislation on the road this month to gather feedback from elected officials, stakeholders and the public across Ontario.
During the first two hearings last week, committee members heard disturbing stories of a municipal government system that resembles the wild west.
In a message to the Falls View Hose Brigade, Niagara Falls Councillor Mike Strange asked the group’s members to fill council chambers “so there is no space for the women’s group to sit” at Tuesday’s council meeting, in exchange for free drinks after.
He wants to drown out The Women of Ontario Say No after the mayor and City officials denied the group an opportunity to address the lack of accountability over municipal elected officials accused of assault. Strange was charged with intimate partner violence in May after police responded to a domestic incident and found a woman who was injured at the scene. He told the Hose Brigade that he plans to defend himself Tuesday and asked the group’s members to clap for him.
As Peel endures its hottest year on record, haunted by memories of last summer’s devastating floods, local councillors confront a stark reality: despite ambitious plans and some progress, the region is drifting further from critical climate targets. Rising emissions driven by population growth, provincial policy setbacks and a contentious waste-to-energy plant have set Peel back in a race against time.
The legal heat is rising in Niagara Falls following the removal and arrest of three women who attended a council meeting to address proposed provincial legislation meant to hold elected officials more accountable when they commit assault.
The Women of Ontario Say No has taken legal action, warning the City and local police that the move was unlawful, while the Canadian Constitution Foundation is demanding that Niagara Falls Council’s ban on signs in public meetings be immediately rescinded.
Canada is cracking under the pressure of drought, parched fields, blistering heat and a food system on edge. In regions like Peel, where fertile soil once sustained generations, farmers now face sweltering summers and unpredictable storms.
A new UN-backed report highlights the dire future that prolonged droughts will create.
This isn’t just another hot summer—it’s a turning point.
Residents across the region are watching their back as organized criminal elements target Peel’s large South Asian community.
Police arrested 18 Brampton-based suspects accused of a range of criminal acts against South Asian-Canadians; while calls have mounted for federal action against organized crime allegedly tied to evidence of the Indian government’s efforts to silence Sikhs across the country.
After Niagara Falls residents were twice denied an opportunity to address a proposed new provincial law, they will get their chance at a public meeting Friday. A women’s rights group was shut down when attempting to delegate on Bill 9, which aims to create tighter accountability rules for municipal council members, including those who are charged with assault.
Local officials claim that because Councillor Mike Strange is currently facing an intimate partner violence assault charge, the new rules being considered by Queen’s Park can not be addressed inside council chambers. Three women who wanted to voice their views were arrested after Mayor Jim Diodati refused to let them express themselves.
Despite City Hall’s poor finances, Mayor Patrick Brown and his fellow Brampton council members gave themselves a lavish golden parachute in the form of a taxpayer funded severance package unlike anything employees in Ontario are entitled to under provincial legislation. Even if elected members choose to step down or retire, they will still receive a publicly funded lump sum of money, under the controversial decision recently made quietly by the city’s council, without any public debate.
Amid a blazing heatwave, a group of GTA residents took a journey across Toronto’s leading renewable energy sites, proving that progress is possible even when government support falters.
From historic community wind turbines to cutting-edge school solar panels and innovative geothermal systems, the tour showcased how local action is shaping Ontario’s clean energy future.
Brampton councillors greenlit the expansion of the Residential Rental Licensing program for three years in Ward 2/8, with a plan to hire more property standards officers for stricter enforcement, while frustration mounts among landlords who have questioned the move since its launch last year.
Mayor Patrick Brown’s shortsighted financial strategy, freezing revenue and delaying key projects, is starting to have a serious impact on Brampton’s future. A recent report—which councillors refused to address—highlights a $180 million shortfall to keep key assets in working order. The City currently has no way to pay for the growing gap.
The province faces intensifying climate extremes—from record-breaking heat waves and devastating wildfires to unprecedented flooding—but the provincial government’s latest budget paints a troubling picture.
Despite increasingly grim warnings and growing public demand for environmental protection, funding for emergency preparedness and conservation is being slashed, while billions are poured into highway expansions for more sprawl and worsening emissions. The PC government has yet to articulate a clear vision for Ontario’s future.
The Canadian Constitution Federation has warned that if Niagara Falls does not alter policies it views as unconstitutional, litigation could be forthcoming.
The warning comes as the City denied Women of Ontario Say No founder Emily McIntosh a chance to speak at council for a second time.
You wouldn’t know Canada is burning, if listening to our politicians.
Three sweeping bills, rushed through legislatures in Ontario, British Columbia and Ottawa, are dismantling decades of environmental oversight in the name of “nation-building”. Critics warn this fast-tracking frenzy is an egregious abuse of Indigenous rights and territorial sovereignty. It could also seal the fate of future generations who will suffer the consequences of unthinkable ecological and environmental degradation.
These harms, they point out, are being carried out by so-called leaders who want to redefine the limits of democracy, so special interests don’t have to worry about the legal tools and political will that should help us fight the climate crisis.
The new legislation is meant to create mechanisms to remove elected officials for “serious contraventions” of local codes of conduct. But some municipal elected officials fear the process could be abused to remove councillors with dissenting views to the majority of council.
In a swift move framed as a response to an “economic war” with the U.S., Ontario’s government fast-tracked Bill 5, giving Doug Ford’s cabinet sweeping powers to create Special Economic Zones (SEZs)—a scheme planned long before trade tensions emerged. Critics warn this risky strategy sidelines Indigenous voices, weakens environmental protections, and echoes failed SEZ experiments worldwide. Many economists are also skeptical.
A new awareness campaign by the organization on the frontline of the cyber-fight to protect young people puts you in the shoes of a teenager facing online sextortion, a crime that is increasing at an ‘astronomical’ rate across North America.
“Bring Skye back.”
The chant rang out outside Gordon Graydon Senior Public School earlier this month after students walked out of their classrooms to protest the looming departure of a popular principal, Skye Bowen. Many feel she had finally begun to address systemic issues among the school’s diverse student body that had gone ignored for years.
In 2023 Councillor Gurpartap Singh Toor and another person flew to Detroit on two airline tickets totalling $2,156.74 for a three-day conference that his “community advisor” also attended. Along with another Brampton staff member who was on the trip, they were supposed to obtain information to help revive the struggling city centre and turn it into an innovation district.
There is not much to show for what they accomplished, other than spending Brampton taxpayer money on things such as pricey food, a 60 percent tip on an Uber fare and expensive hotel stays. This is the first in a series of articles The Pointer is publishing on the frequent trips staff and council members have taken around the world since Patrick Brown became mayor.
On Tuesday, Niagara police were called to council chambers by City staff after mayor Jim Diodati refused to let a council meeting continue. The issue? A small group of women were holding signs that read: “The Women of Ontario Say No”. They were removed and arrested.
They had gathered in support of stronger Ontario laws to hold local elected officials accountable when they are charged with assault. Niagara Falls Councillor Mike Strange is currently facing an assault charge in an alleged intimate partner violence case.
As wildlife populations crash globally, Ontario’s new Bill 17 legalizes what conservationists call ‘bird death traps’ by stripping away vital bird-friendly building protections. Marketed as a way to speed up residential development, the law removes municipal authority to enforce standards that save millions of migratory birds each year from deadly window collisions.
Advocates warn these changes prioritize developer profits over nature, undoing decades of progress and threatening Ontario’s climate goals.
In total, 18 individuals linked to a Brampton-based criminal entity responsible for multiple violent extortions, staged collisions to claim fraudulent insurance payouts and crimes across the towing industry were arrested by police.
The operation unfolded as B.C.'s David Eby called on Ottawa to list the Bishnoi group, an organized Indian criminal network that has reportedly claimed to have targeted the South Asian community in Canada, as a terrorist organization.
Following assault charges against Councillor Mike Strange, an advocate for enhanced municipal accountability has been denied a chance to address Niagara Falls council about the need for increased accountability measures for local elected officials charged with assault.
“It de facto prioritized the comfort of the person charged with physical assault over the democratic right to address an important legislative issue. This is wrong,” she said.
Political leaders usually pursue policies permissible among the majority of electors. Doug Ford’s Bill 5 is born from a belief that, above all else, most Ontarians prioritize their material needs.
A new movie delves into the driving contemporary psychology of the consumer mind. It offers clues about what motivates politics today, more than ever before.
Critics are concerned that Prime Minister Mark Carney is stepping back from the foreign policy of his predecessor—Justin Trudeau drew a clear line which he said was crossed by the BJP government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who Carney invited to the G7 Summit in Alberta this coming week, despite backlash from Sikh Canadians calling it a “betrayal of Canadian values”. A U.S. indictment includes detailed evidence linking Modi’s government to the assassination of Canadian Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Ontario’s information and privacy watchdog has released a scathing report on the PC government’s handling of documentation related to its attempt to remove 7,400 acres of land from the Greenbelt.
The report details how the PC government violated the law surrounding record retention. The land swaps, which were reversed after public outcry, are now under investigation by the RCMP.
In a rare on-site meeting, Niagara Falls municipal officials met with local environmental advocates to discuss contamination around the old Cyanamid industrial property amid concerns that harmful chemicals are not being properly handled.
Throughout his career the city’s mayor has been skewered for openly lying. Since Patrick Brown arrived in Brampton in 2018, he has tried to convince residents billions of dollars are flowing to his city.
A tunnelled LRT, third hospital (it still doesn’t have a second), world class cricket stadium, cutting edge innovation district and standalone university are just some of the major projects he has promised and claimed to have secured funding for. His misleading press releases and election-style announcements with little to show for them, are starting to wear thin.
Poleen Grewal, the PDSB’s former head of equity, filed a $7 million wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the school board. The legal action has drawn widespread attention among those seeking reforms in an education system whose leaders were forced to admit doing harm to Black students for decades.
Many question if the PDSB’s current leadership is interested in change, after the lawsuit revealed the board’s strategy of blaming its failures on the person who for years faced obstacles while trying to reform the board’s culture of discrimination.
Across Caledon, signs rejecting a planned mega-quarry dot the rural roadsides. The latest stand in the fight to save the rural municipalities greenspaces took place outside TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, a golf facility currently hosting the RBC Canadian Open.
The owner of the exclusive golf destination has partnered with CBM, the company behind the controversial quarry proposal.
In less than two months since Bill 5 was introduced on April 17, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government bulldozed it into law, using economic benefits as justification. With choking wildfire smoke darkening the sky outside, the legislation was passed inside Queen’s Park, stripping away environmental safeguards and overriding Indigenous rights. It hands Ford unchecked powers to fast-track development.
First Nations and environmental groups are vowing to use Bill 5 as a legal roadblock that could render the legislation into a progress-blocking misstep by those pushing rapacious growth.
The alarming words come from Justice Renu Mandhane in a ruling that found racial profiling was grounds to toss out evidence in a weapons offence case.
Despite the chief’s claims that systemic racism is being addressed after decades of discrimination, the ruling highlights continued harm against Black communities across Mississauga and Brampton.
