The doctor shortage across Ontario is felt acutely in Peel, especially in Brampton where underfunding of the city’s local healthcare system led to an emergency declaration years ago.
Voters are being asked to choose the next federal government with few details about how each party would fix the badly broken frontline healthcare system in Brampton and other parts of Ontario.
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The next federal government will have to address the lack of affordability facing millions of Canadians—roughly 8.6 percent of Peel’s population is living in poverty.
Statistics Canada reported two years ago that 22.9% of residents in the country’s 10 provinces were living in a food-insecure household—8.7 million people, including 2.1 million children.
Food Banks Canada has proposed a potential solution to lift people out of poverty; are federal leaders listening?
Shootings in parts of Brampton and Mississauga continue to shake communities. But Peel Police routinely present misleading information which goes unchecked by media.
Conservatives led by Pierre Poilievre are once again campaigning on a crime platform that fails to mention the decreasing rates of gun seizures in places like Peel.
Before dissolving his government, Liberals under Justin Trudeau reconfigured immigration levels and policies for the next two years, recognizing that poorly managed programs such as the international student strategy had outpaced capacity across the country.
In a region where immigrants are the lifeblood for almost every facet of Peel’s future, residents are being asked to vote for a new prime minister with few details about how one of the central features of Canadian identity will be approached.
A federal election is officially underway after Mark Carney won the race to replace former Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau earlier this month. Already enjoying success in the polls, Carney hopes to beat key rival Pierre Poilievre when voters choose a new prime minister April 28th.
The Pointer will be gathering information about the candidates seeking election in Brampton and Mississauga with details about their experience as they vie for a seat in the House of Commons.
As cities swell and wild spaces shrink, the clash between urban growth and environmental protection is at a critical point—Peel is at the heart of this tension.
Rapid development and underfunded climate commitments are pushing local ecosystems to the brink. Experts say the federal government has to take action— the cost of delay is no longer theoretical.
Protecting communities from climate change, funding for millions of new homes and a long list of social service needs are among the many costs Canada’s next government will have to prioritize.
With less than a week before the election, and many ballots already cast in early voting, electors across Peel remain in the dark. The Liberals just released their fully costed budget, while the Conservatives continue to postpone theirs, forcing voters to make a decision about who would best manage critical issues such as climate adaptation, healthcare funding and the collapse of social housing with little information in front of them.
As Muslim communities across Canada have grown, so has the awareness among politicians of the vote-rich potential to exploit these blocs of electors.
Many are frustrated with politicians who come around during election season, often offering favours to key community members who give them access, only to see candidates turn into ghosts once the election is over.
Entering the last full week of the federal election campaign, Canadians have received only vague information about the protection of our natural heritage. Donald Trump would like nothing more than to get his hands on our pristine fresh water.
Sadly, the federal leaders have failed to outline a clear path forward to ensure the preservation of our critical water, which is central to Canada’s environmental and economic well being.
The threat of a recession triggered by ongoing economic uncertainty south of the border has rippled through Ontario’s home building industry. While federal leaders flail over plans to boost construction, one Niagara business wants local municipalities to step in with innovative initiatives to increase desperately needed housing supply.
As impacts of climate change on municipalities intensify, local officials in Peel are grappling with floods, extreme weather and rising health risks.
They are calling for immediate federal action to bridge the gap in climate adaptation funding for stormwater upgrades and a range of other projects to make municipalities more resilient. They need long-term, sustainable investments to keep communities and their residents safe.
A longtime Brampton resident laments the current state of our democracy, as she struggles to make a decision before the April 28 federal election.
Candidates won’t answer simple questions and party leaders avoid explaining how they will pay for all the shiny promises being dangled in front of frustrated voters.
In an election defined by economic uncertainty, the impacts of the worsening climate crisis should be front and centre, advocates have highlighted. The cost of wildfires, biodiversity collapse and our rising oceans have suddenly been pushed aside, as party leaders fixate on the chaos created south of the border.
A sweeping report by more than a dozen environmental organizations breaks down each party’s stance on the environment—from fossil fuel subsidies and plastic exports to Indigenous-led conservation and clean energy policy—with the aim of pushing climate action back to centre stage.
Despite a long list of issues facing residents in the Mississauga Centre riding, don’t expect much engagement from the candidates on those growing concerns.
This federal election is the latest example of how parties and their leaders run campaigns, with little respect for voters who are once again being asked to cast a ballot without any detailed platforms to choose between. Local Conservative candidates have been AWOL for the last few weeks, making it hard for constituents to form an opinion about them before the big decision on April 28.
The city’s intoxicating lakefront is being opened up for the people, redefining the way residents and visitors interact with the shoreline; a goal decades in the making. As a mix of luxury mid-rises and more affordable townhomes and other units begin to shape Mississauga’s future, questions swirl about the grand plans to rethink the waterfront.
Tens of thousands of residents will soon call Lakeview Village, Brightwater and the redeveloping Port Credit marina area home, but one thing remains unclear—who will fund billions of dollars for public infrastructure, from transit and community centres to other local amenities?
On April 12, the Region of Peel voted unanimously, despite the absence of all three mayors, to send a letter to Ontario’s Ministers of Environment and Health, outlining urgent concerns over the proposed expansion of the Emerald Energy From Waste incinerator.
The motion reflects growing anxiety that the facility—slated to become the largest of its kind in Canada—could worsen air quality, increase health risks and deepen environmental inequities in a community already facing significant pollution pressures.
As Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre promise voters they will get tougher on crime, a narrative being spread by the Peel Regional Police department aims to influence public opinion, but claims that the bail system is a major cause of violent crime and sweeping life sentences will eradicate illicit activities are misleading.
Instead of focusing on real solutions, the two political leaders are using police talking points to score points with those convinced that crime should be a major issue this election.
After a year that saw clashes between diaspora communities in Brampton, driven by India’s alleged targeting of Canadian Sikhs, and the city’s mayor admit to succumbing to foreign interference, the latest news of China’s efforts to sway voters has a particularly chilling effect here.
Dividing communities is a consequence of foreign interference, something many residents of Brampton know all too well.
The next government will have to address a housing crisis now more than a decade old. In Mississauga, a city facing immense growth pressure, status quo planning to create large single-family homes will no longer cut it.
Missing middle housing, density and complete communities are what younger generations are asking for, with a reasonable price tag that won’t leave them house poor for the rest of their life. But the three major parties have failed to offer a detailed plan, and realistic ideas to deliver what voters in Canada’s seventh largest city desperately need.
The carbon tax, once a cornerstone of Canada’s climate strategy, has become a political bargaining chip in the 2025 election.
Recently, Prime Minister Mark Carney made the controversial move to eliminate the consumer carbon tax, a decision that experts warn could undo progress to address climate change and set Canada back in the race to a new clean energy economy.
Critical workers who help some of Peel’s most vulnerable residents recently voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike after years or dealing with compensation that has not kept pace with their increasing workload.
A well-crafted public relations event days before the start of the federal election campaign had many Brampton residents convinced the multi-billion-dollar tunnelled LRT into downtown was a done deal. But that’s far from the case.
As Canadians prepare to vote on April 28, with Brampton's six seats up for grabs, the city’s transit future remains unclear without a federal commitment, despite the pre-election claims, while the controversial mayor has failed to budget any money for the LRT plan he pitched as the answer to local transportation needs.
Ahead of the April 28th election, more and more questions are being raised about what exactly the major parties are promising to ensure our natural world—with all the economic and personal consequences tied to its safety—is protected.
Recent Ontario elections, when voters were given little warning about the consequences of Doug Ford’s eventual policies, serve as a reminder that constituents risk their own wellbeing when forced to make a decision without much meaningful information from those asking for their support.
While U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum and the auto sector sparked more anxiety across Canada’s freight sector, some truckers hauling food loads and consumer goods, which will not face border taxes, breathed a sigh of relief this week. For many others, a shrinking and saturated market is tightening the squeeze.
A shadowy nexus of political insiders, fundraising operatives and party gatekeepers is at the heart of explosive allegations made by Keshav Mandadi, a would-be Conservative Party candidate in Mississauga, who claims he was systematically misled, financially drained and ultimately disqualified without explanation from a local nomination race that never happened.
Nine supervised consumption sites across the province transitioned away from harm reduction services on Tuesday in response to the PCs’ Community Care and Recovery Act, even though a court decision last week placed an injunction on their closure until a final decision.
Peel’s site, meanwhile, must cease operations due to the provincial government’s move.
As U.S. President Donald Trump officially puts 25 percent tariffs on the auto sector at midnight, and applies sweeping taxes on almost all other goods for much of the rest of the world, the impacts on Mississauga will be significant.
The City of Mississauga has launched a campaign outlining several requests to federal leaders vying to become prime minister, with trade tensions top of mind for Canada’s seventh largest municipality.
The U.S. is set to introduce sweeping international tariffs today. In late February, with the threatened U.S. tariffs looming, automotive giant Stellantis announced an eight-week pause on its retooling plans to transform the Brampton assembly plant to manufacture electric vehicles.
Thousands of employees, including the head of the local union at the facility, are growing increasingly concerned, as the shutdown comes amid mounting uncertainty across the North American auto sector with the spectre of 25 percent tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump.
From the recent flood of international students who settled in Brampton to the rise in asylum claimants and the decades-long wave of newcomers putting down roots in the city, there is perhaps no place in Canada that has felt the impact of immigration more acutely.
Ahead of the federal election, residents across Brampton want to know what lies in store for the city that attracts an outsized number of newcomers every year, stretching resources thin and raising questions about what is working…and what’s not.
Misperceptions of this increasingly common crime, including the false idea that it only happens across borders, contribute to the risks people face in their own community.
Victims are often targeted close to home by people well schooled in identifying and exploiting vulnerable situations others find themselves in.
Local leaders and activists, in both the Niagara Region and Western New York, are encouraging a resumption of the relations and travel patterns that have intrinsically linked the Canadian and U.S. border communities along the Niagara River for decades.
Amid the growing challenges of food insecurity and mental health struggles, many Mississauga residents are finding refuge in gardening, using it for nourishment in many ways. The city's annual Seed Library event is part of this gardening revival, offering free seeds to locals eager to grow their own food and reconnect with nature.
Participants showed that planting seeds goes beyond growing food—it’s about cultivating hope for the future.
Somewhat encouraging words by Mark Carney and Donald Trump following their Friday phone call still create a sense of uncertainty around the escalating trade war triggered by the American President’s chaotic leadership.
Mississauga businesses tell The Pointer that not knowing if Trump actually has a plan at all, leaves them in a state of limbo, freezing many operations while paralyzing efforts to look elsewhere for partners, in hopes that relationships with America will normalize. Carney, meanwhile, is making one thing clear: Canadian businesses, and the country as a whole, need to start thinking beyond the U.S. as a fundamentally different economy of the future takes shape.
St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe used his most senior staff at the City of St. Catharines for his plans to attend a campaign event for Doug Ford where he endorsed the PC leader for premier, FOI documents show.
The use of City resources for such purposes is strictly prohibited by Council’s Code of Conduct.
With tariffs on both sides of the border, the organization, which relies heavily on donations from individuals and corporations (many tied to the U.S.) is already feeling the impact.
Prices at the grocery store are being felt, while the budgets of both those who are relied on for donations and those who are on the brink of food insecurity are being stretched.
Despite a harrowing plea from Peel’s only sexual assault crisis centre, Brampton Council made no substantial funding commitment—Mayor Patrick Brown and Councillor Rowena Santos, who have made various claims of supporting advocacy against gender-based violence, have failed to ensure the facility does not close next month.
In the heart of St. Catharines, a group of seniors known as the 'Raging Grannies' is using humour and heart to speak out on issues that matter most.
Born from a rich tradition of activism, the group’s playful protests are packed with powerful messages, addressing everything from the sell off of Ontario Place to climate change.
For five years, Mississauga resident Wolf Ruck has fought to keep his garden. The thriving habitat for pollinators is a haven of biodiversity, and according to City bylaws, it’s illegal. Each time it was mowed down, he replanted, determined to challenge a system that prioritizes aesthetics over ecological health.
Across Canada, environmental advocates and organizations like the David Suzuki Foundation and the Canadian Wildlife Federation have issued an open letter, urging municipalities to reform outdated bylaws that restrict habitat gardens, and adopt new policies that support biodiversity, environmental well-being and climate action.
Officials with the Metamorphosis Network, a collective of social service agencies in Peel, are hopeful that following the recent provincial election the PCs will address the longstanding funding shortfall that is harming vulnerable individuals and families across the region.
The Pointer contacted the Premier’s office and each of the provincial representatives in Brampton and Mississauga, but they have continued to remain silent on the issue.
With the spring migration underway, health officials are concerned about their ability to limit the spread of a deadly strain of avian flu after Peel Public Health received several reports of dead birds in Caledon and Brampton over the past month.
The Region is now monitoring any suspected cases of Avian Influenza or ‘bird flu’ in response to the “large number” of dead birds being reported.
Residents across Peel and Niagara, like many across the country, are feeling anxious about the possible impacts of the ongoing trade tensions with the U.S..
The Pointer offers an explainer to show just how connected the two countries are, and the leverage Canada has (and does not have) as we take on an American administration committed to destabilizing our economy to benefit its own.
MiWay ridership increased 14 percent last year and estimates suggest the trend will continue in 2025. Mississauga recently received $112 million from the federal government to be allocated over the next decade to advance key improvements to the city’s transit system as the booming city’s transit service continues to see increased demand.
Stellantis' abrupt pause on the $1.3 billion retooling of its Brampton Assembly Plant comes as U.S. President Donald Trump ramps up threats to impose 25 percent levies on the Canadian industry, sending shockwaves through the auto sector. With the turbulence surrounding North America’s automakers deepening, experts are now warning that Trump’s aggressive trade stance could dismantle Canada’s supply chains, drive up costs and lead to mass layoffs.
Across Canada, the fossil fuel industry has long influenced what children learn about the climate crisis, despite being some of the country’s largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. In Ontario, schools facing underfunding and shrinking resources become more susceptible to corporate-backed educational materials that downplay the industry’s impact and push false solutions. The recent passage of Bill C-59 aims to hold companies accountable for unproven environmental claims, but stronger action is needed to protect students from industry influence.
With Peel’s reception centre officially operational at Spectrum Way in Mississauga, staff are now working to redirect asylum claimants from the Region’s temporary facility at Leanne Boulevard. But with new revisions to Ottawa’s Interim Housing Assistance Program to support surges of refugees, staff warn the amendments could have “significant financial implications for Peel.”
In response to the changes to the federal government’s funding program and current asylum claimant numbers, the Region is now scaling back service levels and working to acquire a dedicated family site in an effort to reduce reliance on temporary accommodations.
Brampton’s downtown lacks a clear physical boundary, blurring its identity and fragmenting its representation.
A review of the political map of the city could change this, finally creating a true sense of what the city-centre is all about, and where it extends to.
A startling number of teenages of died by suicide after falling victim to sextortion scams. Tricked into sending sensitive images, the scammer threatens to spread it to their family and friends if they don’t send cash.
This crime is exploding across the globe, law enforcement and advocacy groups are clamouring for changes to social media security to put up roadblocks in front of these scammers who are often connected to organized crime groups. Why are government officials moving at a glacial pace as teens continue to die?
Almost a year into operations of its supervised consumption site, a staff report to regional council revealed Peel’s site must now close. The decision was made after Health Canada said it would not be extending the Region’s exemption to operate the site, aligning with the PCs’ recently passed legislation, which ordered the closure of several safe consumption facilities across the province.
The Ministry of Health says any funding or hosting of an SCS on municipal property is deemed “municipal support” under the legislation and that the Region must cease operations by the end of the month.
The crumbling of our long-standing tariff-free relationship with the U.S. is a reminder of the need to leave carbon behind, as much of the world rushes toward a new energy economy.
Donald Trump wants to plunge his country into the past but his leadership represents an opportunity for Canada to accelerate its shift to the energy economy that will shape the future.
Despite Donald Trump’s latest change of heart, claiming his tariffs on Canadian goods will be postponed till April, empty truckloads are becoming the new reality for thousands of Brampton truckers as cross-border trade is disrupted by the erratic behaviour of the U.S. President.
The economic fallout across the city has begun, as many drivers, mechanics and others who support the commercial trucking industry wonder how they will stay afloat while Trump tries to destabilize the Canadian economy.
At Wednesday’s council meeting, the city’s local elected officials adopted policies to provide a measure of support for the local economy while pushing back in a small but symbolic way against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods.
One councillor had some pointed words for the American leader.
