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.
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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Constitution Foundation is demanding that Niagara Falls Council’s ban on signs in public meetings be immediately rescinded.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.
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.
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.
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.
From the muskeg of the Ring of Fire to the marble halls of Queen’s Park, a storm is gathering in Ontario. Bill 5, the Ford government’s so-called economic legislation, threatens to bulldoze through environmental protections, democratic processes and treaty rights, to speed up growth.
Indigenous leaders aren’t staying silent—rights are not “red tape”. Fueled by memories of past betrayals like Bill C-45, they warn: this is how Idle No More began, and it will happen again.
Claims by Poleen Grewal are supported in her wrongful dismissal lawsuit with details of communications from senior leaders of the PDSB including its current director, Rashmi Swarup, who allegedly undermined the work of the woman responsible for addressing systemic racism and other forms of discrimination.
Grewal’s employment was eventually terminated, after Swarup claimed she was largely responsible for the board’s widely publicized failure to eradicate systemic anti-Black racism—despite evidence that shows the former employee’s efforts were methodically undermined for years.
Most people trust banks as safekeepers of their money, but few realize those very funds are often used to bankroll fossil fuel projects that worsen the climate crisis. On May 21, faith leaders and activists came together in Toronto’s financial district for a day of protest.
The City’s to-do list continues to grow. Since being elected in 2018, Brown’s financial strategy has drained city coffers, and his empty promises have left residents frustrated.
At the same time, they watch as critical services are unable to keep up with demand and major projects wait for long-promised funding.
Racism has been a hallmark of the British royal family for centuries. It was the defining characteristic of imperial rule in places like India and Africa.
The worst of the royals and their imperious attitude toward all those beneath them is embodied by the behaviour of Prince Andrew. Now, the recent allegation of racism levelled by the disenfranchised Prince Harry is the inevitable outcome of a family that has always lived under the credo of English privilege at the expense of all others.
As Ontario confronts the pressing need for more clean, sustainable energy, the shift toward solar power is gaining momentum. The International Energy Agency predicts solar could become the world’s largest source of electricity by 2050.
This ongoing transition demands a skilled workforce, and Ontario’s colleges are stepping up.
Cities can no longer afford to straddle the line between progress and the past. Hybrid buses may have been a necessary bridge a decade ago, but continuing to invest in them now only prolongs reliance on diesel and locks the city into outdated technology for decades.
The answers are expensive, but with electric and hydrogen fuel cell buses ready and proven, Mississauga must fully commit to zero-emission transit if it wants to meet its ambitious climate goals.
The extension of a closure that has shutdown Brampton’s Stellantis assembly plant has ratcheted up the anxiety for thousands of employees.
They are worried the latest news is part of a departure that will see Brampton lose one of its largest employers, as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens automakers that don’t move operations to America.
A U.S.-based research lab that monitors the health of the Great Lakes is vital to the safe drinking water consumed by millions of Ontarians. Sweeping funding cuts under the Trump administration have crippled the lab’s ability to track pollution, harmful algal blooms and climate impacts—threatening the freshwater supply shared across the border.
Scientists warn that now is the critical moment for federal and provincial governments to step in and strengthen Canada’s role in protecting this essential resource before gaps in data and monitoring put communities at greater risk.
A work stoppage among Brampton Transit employees which would have triggered widespread chaos for commuters has been avoided after the signing of a multi-year collective agreement between the union and the City of Brampton.
More than 100 environmental organizations, municipalities and Indigenous groups are drawing a line in the sand. Since Bill 5 was introduced last month—dubbed the Protecting Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act—advocates have rejected the profit-first agenda threatening environmental protection, Indigenous rights and municipal governance.
Premier Doug Ford needs to stop his latest powergrab, and listen to the hundreds of experts, advocates and municipal leaders who are telling him Bill 5 will do nothing to solve Ontario’s housing issues and lead to widespread environmental destruction, says the head of the Ontario Headwaters Institute.
As Mississauga and Brampton move forward with ambitious zero-carbon retrofit projects, questions around Peel Region’s governance are casting a growing shadow. With the Region’s future still in limbo and key legislation stalled by the surprise winter election, key environmental initiatives hang in the balance.
Local officials are navigating an uncertain path to secure funding and keep timelines intact, caught between bold climate goals and political upheaval.
Joshua Creek residents concerned about the risks of potential contamination in their community, where industrial waste had been disposed decades ago, want more answers.
Cancer data provided by Halton Region suggest there is no reason for concern, but numerous stories of illness in the neighbourhood (which might represent typical cancer rates in any area) have been shared on social media.
Instead of listening to them, the mayor responded with a heavy hand, calling on police to investigate the claims as part of an alleged scam.
Nearly a year after two storms a month apart battered neighbourhoods across the GTA, residents in Mississauga wonder how they can be better prepared for the next major flood.
City Hall officials continue to plan for climate change but many residents still recovering from last year’s devastating floods feel not enough is being done.
Doug Ford and the PCs have been promising the city a second hospital for years, even hosting a campaign-style event recently claiming construction has started. A builder has not yet been selected and, once again, the provincial budget does not include any specific funding for the project.
Even if it does eventually get funded, the current plan under Ford to expand Peel Memorial does not include any acute care beds, would not have any of the required medical wards to qualify as a full-service hospital and falls far short of the capacity local officials have demanded to lift Brampton from its hallway-healthcare status.
Toronto has made it clear that without green building standards emission reduction targets can’t be met.
As the Ford government barrels ahead with its latest housing bill — the seventh in just six years — environmental safeguards are once again on the chopping block. Bill 17 promises faster builds, but at what cost?
On Tuesday inside Queen’s Park, all five PC MPPs for Brampton voted against an Opposition motion from NDP leader Marit Stiles requesting funding for critical health infrastructure, including a badly needed second hospital in Brampton.
The move comes after a confusing campaign photo-op outside the site of the Peel Memorial Phase II expansion which claimed to be for a “groundbreaking” even though a contractor to build the expansion has yet to be named.
Prime Minister Mark Carney introduced his new cabinet today, marking a major development for Brampton on the federal political scene as three local representatives now form part of the Prime Minister’s inner circle. They will be responsible for key priorities that could have big impacts on a city in desperate need of financial assistance from upper levels of government.
Barred from delegating before the board, an advocate for Black communities across Ontario is taking the Peel Police Services Board to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal.
It’s becoming a disturbingly common practice for advocates attempting to force change within rigid institutions with histories of perpetuating systemic racism.
Nestled in the rolling green of Caledon, Peel’s first solar-powered brewery is redefining what it means to raise a glass.
GoodLot Farmstead Brewing’s latest creation, Tree Hug Wilder Sap Ale, is brewed from the sap of Canada’s iconic sugar maple—and infused with a mission to protect the very forests that inspire it.
Two professors at the University of Guelph warn that Premier Doug Ford’s controversial Bill 5 will hand unchecked power to the provincial government and cause widespread destruction of vulnerable wildlife and ecosystems.
Through actions reminiscent of U.S. President Donald Trump, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is dismantling the province’s environmental protections behind a smokescreen of economic recovery and trade war rhetoric.
With Bill 5, the PCs are launching an unprecedented attack on environmental protection laws, completely dismantling the Endangered Species Act and giving themselves permission to award new infrastructure and development projects wherever, whenever and to whomever they choose, exempting projects from existing provincial and municipal laws.
