$10 for a latte; $3K for flight to Portugal; a 60% Uber tip; $800-a-night hotel stays: Brampton taxpayers covering lavish City Hall travel

Through a series of freedom of information requests, The Pointer has obtained detailed travel records, itineraries and receipts for trips taken around the world by Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown since he took office in 2018. His councillor allies and staff inside City Hall have also used a revolving door of global travel to rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in charges covered, unwittingly, by Brampton taxpayers. 

There is no detailed public information available to Brampton residents to provide documentation of each trip, every single dollar spent and what the travel is for, with public details of the benefits created for Brampton’s taxpayers.

Despite dozens of trips to places like Taipei, Portugal, Japan, India, Dubai, Germany and numerous other countries including frequent travel across the United States, Brown has failed to explain what benefits all the trips have created for the Brampton taxpayers paying for them. 

It is unusual for a municipal government to undertake such extensive travel all around the world. Provincial and federal officials generally lead efforts to attract foreign investment and create economic development partnerships globally. While it is not uncommon for some municipal participation in such travel, the amount of spending on costs for global trips under Brown is unprecedented. 

The way taxpayer money is being spent on what appears to be lavish spending funded by the public without letting them know has also drawn sharp criticism, harkening back to the days of Susan Fennell. She was removed as mayor by voters in 2014 after they learned of first-class airfare, stays at exclusive hotels, meals at expensive restaurants and charges for things like IQ tests on her phone and a 24/7 limousine service she used on top of her luxury SUV that taxpayers had to cover, until they found out about all of it.

Council took steps to dramatically curtail Fennell’s irresponsible use of travel and expense accounts as City Hall policies were enacted to protect Brampton taxpayers from further abuse.

It appears that lavish spending on travel has not only returned to City Hall, under Brown, trips around the world have reached unprecedented levels, with charges for questionable spending that Brampton residents have no way of knowing about. 

The Pointer will be publishing a series of stories on many of these trips, after obtaining travel receipts and other documents through a freedom of information investigation.  

Hundreds of pages of itineraries, travel records and receipts reveal a pattern of spending under Brown’s leadership and a lack of transparency that undermines public confidence in municipal government.
The examples of questionable spending across the globe were too many to include in a single story. Examples from 2023 alone, include:

• March 30, 2023, $3,102.26 for a one-way flight from Taipei to Lisbon
• October 1, 2023, $15.17 for a medium latte and cranberry muffin at Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C. ($11.16 USD)

• October 8, 2023, $6.99 for a bottle of Fiji water at Pearson International Airport

• October 8, 2023, $2,458.95 for a return flight to San Francisco

• October 12, 2023, $6.86 for an Uber tip (60%) on an $11.47 fare in Detroit ($5 USD tip on an $8.36 USD fare) 

• October 9, 2023, $17.21 at the Anaheim, California Marriott for a coffee, almond bar and pack of Trident gum ($12.67 USD)
• October 12, 2023, $53.86 at Shake Shack in Detroit for a burger (on a gluten free bun), a shroom burger, spicy cheese fries and a coke ($39.25 USD)

• November 11, 2023, $3,661.17 for a five-night hotel stay, one room, at the VIP Executive Art’s Hotel in Lisbon, Portugal
• October 9, 2023, $5,008.31 (including $846.59 for one room for one night) for a three-night stay in three rooms at the Westin and the Aloft Detroit at the David Whitney ($3,687.73 USD)
• October 9, 2023, $2,156.74 for two return airline tickets to Detroit. 

It is unclear if any of these costs covered by taxpayers were reimbursed by council members or staff. City Hall officials did not respond to questions.

Detroit trip 

In October 2023, Brampton Councillor Gurpartap Singh Toor travelled to Detroit. The stated reason was to learn how to transform Brampton’s struggling downtown core into the aspirational “innovation district” promised six years ago by Mayor Patrick Brown, who has failed to deliver on his commitment. 

According to travel receipts and other documentation obtained by The Pointer through a freedom of information request, the three-day trip between October 9 and 12, 2023, cost Brampton taxpayers approximately $8,000. The lion’s share of the money, $5,008, was spent on hotel accommodation for Toor, Devin Ramphal (Innovation and Technology Sector Manager for the City) and Harjit Singh Jawanda, a community relations advisor to Toor. 

The trio travelled to Detroit for the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Urban Transformation Summit. According to City documents, the “anticipated outcomes” of the trip were to make new contacts in other innovation districts and to get feedback from Julie Wagner, CEO of Global Institute for Innovation Districts (GIID)—an organization that includes the City of Brampton as a member.

While Brampton taxpayers spent $2,156.74 to fly Toor and one other adult to Detroit (which is a 3 hour and 30 minute drive), it appears the only time they met with Wagner was for 45 minutes on October 9, between 8:45 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. at the Shinola Hotel Evening Bar. 

The flight receipt from Air Canada includes seats for two adults at a cost of $1,687.30, plus $469.44 in additional charges. The travel itinerary notes that Ramphal would be driving to Detroit.

Each of the two Air Canada seats, in total, cost Brampton taxpayers $1078.37. The Pointer checked the price for the same days of the week this coming October, a Monday to a Thursday, and the lowest fare for the same Air Canada flights was $616 return. 

It’s unclear why Councillor Toor booked such expensive seats for a short flight to Detroit that takes approximately 50 minutes in the air. 

Toor did not respond to questions. 

The itinerary for the Detroit trip shows Councillor Gurpartap Singh Toor and Devin Ramphal meeting with Julie Wagner, the CEO of Global Institute for Innovation Districts, for 45 minutes at a hotel bar.

(City of Brampton)

The accommodation, transportation, food and other costs incurred for this trip raise questions about the effective use of taxpayer dollars. A 45-minute Zoom call with Wagner could have been arranged instead of sending Toor and two others to Detroit. The City provided no notes or reports explaining the outcome of the meeting, and there is no summary of any contacts made throughout the three-day trip to justify the expense. 

The presence of Jawanda also raises questions. While the daily itinerary lists seminars, keynotes, tours and other meetings for both Toor and Ramphal, Jawanda is not listed as attending any of them.

The Pointer reached out to Councilor Toor with a series of questions regarding the tangible outcomes of this trip including any potential leads on businesses to locate in Brampton or employment opportunities created as a result of his attendance at the Michigan Summit. He was also asked about the presence of Mr. Jawanda who does not appear to have any expertise or experience in downtown revitalization.

Questions were also sent to the City of Brampton about any evaluation process the municipality has in place before approving such trips to ensure specific benefits for Brampton taxpayers; and what post-trip evaluation or accountability mechanisms exist to assess whether benefits and value for money were achieved. No response was received. 

The travel appears to have done little to lift downtown Brampton out of the rut it has been in for decades—almost immediately after his 2018 election, Brown cancelled a key plan meant to revitalize the city centre, while he has continued to call it the “innovation district”.

Renderings of what Brampton’s council-approved “Downtown Reimagined” plan would have looked like. Mayor Patrick Brown cancelled it in 2019 and promised an entire “Innovation District” instead, which has yet to materialize. City Hall officials have taken trips in support of the project that have cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.

(City of Brampton) 

Despite funding travel to address the flagging fortunes of downtown, the declining situation has led to businesses leaving the area or struggling to stay afloat. 

The Detroit trip followed claims of creating an “iconic landmark building” in downtown, while groups such as the board of the Brampton Library have expressed concern about the lack of information about the project. 

City Hall has announced partnerships with local organizations such as the Brampton Entrepreneur Centre, BHive Brampton, Algoma University and Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst Headquarters and Accelerator, but it is unclear if travel by City officials is done in partnership or with the knowledge of organizations that are supposed to be part of Brampton’s economic development plans. The Pointer has tried to obtain reports linking the frequent travel with specific plans and outcomes to improve economic development opportunities, but there is little documentation available. 

Residents interested in the 2023 trip by Toor and two staff members to Detroit are not able to find any public details.  City staff have declined to provide any information about leads or businesses that have come to Brampton as a result or committed any investment. 

Partners in Brampton’s “Innovation District”.

(City of Brampton)

During the trip Toor and Ramphal participated in sessions and tours of local businesses and commercial locations including a ‘Behind the Scenes Tour: Smart Parking Lab Showcase,’ a session on ‘Delivering Next Generation Urban Mobility’ and ‘Behind the Scenes Tour: Detroit Mobility District’.

On October 11, Toor and Ramphal attended panels on “revitalizing downtown” and “Beyond Net Zero,” as well as a tour of a local community centre, the “Durfee Innovation Society.”

Jawanda is not mentioned as attending a single event throughout the itinerary. 

Devin Ramphal stayed at the Westin Hotel & Resorts, which cost Brampton residents $575.25 USD ($781.25 CAD). The receipt notes there were two guests in the room. 

Two other reservations were made at Aloft Detroit at The David Whitney Hotel. One room was booked for two adults, at a cost of $1,752.80 USD ($2,380.48 CAD) for three nights. A second room, for one adult, cost $1,359.68 USD ($1,846.58 CAD) for the three nights. 

The amount was calculated in Canadian dollars based on the exchange rate on the same date listed on the receipts for the payments.

Other costs charged to taxpayers during the trip include an Uber tip of $6.86 CAD which was 60 percent of the $11.47 fare. The total cost of the Uber ride was $21.93 CAD, paid by Councillor Toor with an Apple Pay Mastercard that transacted at 11:17 a.m. on October 12, 2023.

On the same day, 7 minutes later, at 11:24 a.m., another receipt during the trip shows $53.86 CAD was spent at a Shake Shack in Detroit for a burger (on a gluten free bun), a shroom burger, spicy cheese fries and a coke ($39.25 USD). It is unclear who charged this amount to taxpayers or how the bill was paid.

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