The 2025 budget reveals the City of Brampton’s commitment to climate action remains largely symbolic.
With Brampton's vulnerability to flooding and the growing demand for public transportation, Mayor Patrick Brown has made significant cuts, including to stormwater management and transit funding, while ongoing expansions like the Goreway gas plant and waste incinerator pose new pollution risks.
Latest Episode
With collective bargaining discussions ongoing, Peel paramedics are highlighting pay gaps of up to $30,000 compared to other first responders like police and firefighters.
The union is demanding fair wages, better benefits, and comprehensive mental health support.
After a disturbing increase in measles cases across Ontario last year, and Canada's first human case of avian flu, a spotlight is being shone on Peel’s underfunded public health unit and its ability to deal with emerging threats.
Officials are striving to safeguard vulnerable populations, but their efforts are hampered by a backlog of immunizations created by the pandemic, vaccine misinformation and chronic underfunding.
Despite deep cuts to critical services and delayed projects, Brampton Council passed the 2025 budget Monday without a single voice of opposition or meaningful debate by councillors. The session, lasting less than two hours, has residents questioning the lack of accountability and transparency under the leadership of Mayor Patrick Brown who is forcing a 23.3 percent increase for Peel Police.
With all the cuts to the city’s services and infrastructure, despite a provisional 8.4 percent tax hike for the total 2025 property bill, many Brampton residents are questioning what they are getting for the stiff increase.
As the controversy around Peel Police’s crippling 23.3 percent budget increase heightens, Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish now claims she voted against the financial request while she was still on the police board, despite the record showing that she abstained from the vote late last year.
On Thursday, a motion being presented by the Mayor to the Region of Peel’s budget committee calls for the police budget to be limited to a 14 percent increase. But after the police services board already flatly rejected any reduction, the move seems like a waste of time.
With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation, Canada faces uncertainty about its environmental future. While Trudeau framed climate action as a cornerstone of his governments and delivered key early policy wins, critics have pointed to a series of controversial decisions over recent years, accusing him of prioritizing political points over climate progress.
As the country heads toward an election, advocates warn that without strong leadership committed to climate action, key initiatives like the Oil and Gas Sector Emissions Cap Regulations and the Clean Electricity Regulation could be sidelined, jeopardizing the nation’s environmental future.
The Ontario government has paid out $23 million in lawsuits to sweep aside allegations of sexual and physical abuse within schools for the deaf and blind.
There has never been a review of the board responsible for these schools, despite piles of evidence of mismanagement and harm. It’s time for the Auditor General to step in.
The controversial mayor’s lack of a financial strategy is creating serious issues for the City of Brampton and its residents. Ignoring critical spending in order to freeze the budget in previous years has left key projects like the chronically delayed downtown revitalization underfunded or ignored.
In 2025, Brown is cutting even deeper, while residents question what happened to all the promises he has made during election time.
After facing several delays, the Region of Peel confirmed to The Pointer that its regional reception centre, meant to provide shelter and wrap-around supports to asylum claimants, would not open in the fall as scheduled. As frigid temperatures arrive, those without shelter are once again at risk, roughly a year after two asylum claimants perished outside a Mississauga shelter while waiting for a spot to open up.
Despite receiving $22 million in federal funding specifically to open the reception centre with hundreds of shelter beds before winter, the Region has refused to explain why it failed to do so.
The federal government’s decision not to designate Highway 413 for a full impact assessment has drawn sharp criticism for its reliance on provincial legislative mechanisms to address environmental and Indigenous concerns.
Ottawa claims the Highway 413 Act and Ontario's Endangered Species Act offer adequate oversight—Premier Doug Ford’s government has been condemned for systematically weakening environmental protections and ignoring safeguards set out in these laws.
A recent report from Peel staff confirms that no one at the Region has seen the financial or labour projections made by the PC government’s now dismantled Transition Board to justify sweeping changes to the two-tier municipal system.
The Province's failure to provide transparency throughout the reconfiguration process has created confusion at the Region, where staff retention has been a struggle amid uncertainty about the future.
Shunning recommendations in the City’s financial plan, Mayor Patrick Brown’s 2025 budget proposes cuts to areas in desperate need of funding, including transit, the library system, key infrastructure and climate change mitigation.
His proposed salary hikes alongside budget cuts to services and infrastructure will force residents to pay dearly in the not-too-distant future.
Alok Mukherjee warns the increase, described as “ludicrous” and “unsustainable”, could have larger implications for police budgets across the province.
The unprecedented size of the police budget increase suggests a reckless approach to the use of public funds, raising questions about the need for so much more money in one year and how the board could possibly justify being so blindsided that its irresponsible oversight led to a shortfall equivalent to almost a quarter of its budget, and about 40 percent over two years.
False reports in major Indian media outlets claim suspects in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the slain Sikh-Canadian activist, have been freed. The disinformation campaign has attempted to cast doubts about Canada’s judicial process, despite claims by federal Indian officials that their government will do everything to cooperate with Canadian authorities investigating a murder allegedly orchestrated by India’s ruling BJP government. The RCMP debunked the Indian reporting, confirming all suspects remain charged.
Regions like Niagara are emerging as leaders in innovative alternatives to traditional energy systems. Adoption of heat pumps and geothermal energy demonstrate the region's commitment to reducing reliance on fossil fuels. The provincial government, however, has introduced Bill 165 to override the Ontario Energy Board's decision to end subsidies for new natural gas connections.
Life continues to be increasingly unaffordable for Canadians struggling with the cost of telecommunications, groceries, housing and transportation; even air travel has become out of reach for more and more Canadians.
Unlike markets around the world where competition in the cellular phone sector, travel industry, among grocers and other areas helps keep costs more affordable, one large Canadian company says consumers here continue to be abused by governments that protect certain companies and prevent competition that would dramatically reduce the cost of living.
Brampton’s delayed 2025 budget, finally set for release on January 10, won’t likely face much scrutiny inside City Hall, which is tightly controlled by the mayor. Patrick Brown has cancelled or postponed critical infrastructure projects which have been ignored as a result of his demands for unsustainable cuts to key municipal needs.
Meanwhile, the city’s taxpayers continue to fund his own bloated staffing, lavish trips around the world and costs associated with legal battles & a revolving door hiring approach to control loyalty to the mayor.
Ahead of the holidays a staff report to council revealed more dysfunction under Patrick Brown’s leadership.
Bylaws meant to provide oversight of the vast rental market in the city, which has suffered from illegal secondary suites for years, cannot be enforced due to unclear wording and a lack of resources to carry out inspections. Councillors in the past have reported seeing twenty tenants, often international students, crammed into one basement.
With a string of empty promises from Patrick Brown, a growing list of projects in the city remains unfunded. Money from Ottawa for critical work, such as the Riverwalk redevelopment plan, has not been matched by Brampton under Brown’s watch, putting the funding in jeopardy.
The five Liberal MPs in the city have not managed to secure equitable fair-share funding for a wide range of infrastructure needs, with the Conservatives now aiming to win the six seats that will be up for grabs in the looming election.
With right-wing populism gaining traction globally, climate change is increasingly weaponized against the left. In countries like the U.S. and Canada, right-wing leaders like Donald Trump, Pierre Poilievre and Danielle Smith are rolling back climate policies while promoting the oil and gas industry as part of the solution to bring the cost of living back down to more affordable levels.
The rightward shift is fueled by conservative voices, amplifying climate denial and silencing those who push for change, using economic claims to counter them.
With no sustainable, long-term solution to tackle homelessness, Peel Region has to pour more money into its overflow hotels and emergency shelter spaces to meet the surging demand for temporary housing.
The cost has nearly doubled from two years ago.
Around the world, young activists are taking their governments to court to demand urgent climate action. In Canada, 15 youth recently secured the right to take their case to trial in 2026, building on a similar victory in Ontario just months earlier.
Both cases argue that government inaction on climate change is a violation of their fundamental rights. But it has taken five years for groups to make meaningful progress in the courts — while the impacts of climate change have rapidly intensified. Are the courts moving too slowly to address a crisis that puts the entire planet at risk?
A recent audit of Ontario’s opioid strategy confirmed the Premier and Minister of Health did not conduct any studies or reviews to support the decision to close supervised consumption sites. Among several findings, the audit also showed the PCs were aware of the impacts of closing several of these sites, including increased risk of deaths from overdoses and emergency department visits, before the decision was made.
Over 50 environmental organizations in Ontario recently sent an open letter to the provincial government, urging stronger protections for vital ecosystems in the face of escalating biodiversity loss.
A new global report highlights the dire need to preserve critical parts of the planet for food security, water quality, human health and climate stability. Meanwhile, Canada’s environmental commitment is under scrutiny with the federal government’s recent update to its emissions target falling short of expectations.
After repeatedly dodging requests to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic, instead claiming more research would be conducted, the PC government has now cut short the study intended to gather more information.
Advocates continue to ask why Doug Ford, who regularly talks about being tough on crime, has failed to take violence against women seriously.
The director of the Ontario Headwaters Institute wants towns and cities to adopt a comprehensive set of rules to protect critical watersheds, as development pressures continue to threaten these central features of our ecosystems.
In an unprecedented move, Sheridan College has suspended 40 programs and is now considering further cuts, leaving students, faculty and the community around its Brampton campus grappling with upheaval.
Despite repeated demands from environmental groups and warnings from scientists, the federal government has refused to step in and conduct a comprehensive review of Highway 413, the controversial project being championed by the PC government that threatens Ontario’s Greenbelt and endangered species.
The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) dismissed requests to intervene, despite strong evidence that the highway will disrupt critical habitats and generate millions of tonnes of additional carbon emissions in the midst of a climate crisis.
Seven young climate activists are ready to keep fighting. The group, represented by Ecojustice, are challenging the Ontario government’s weak climate emissions targets, claiming they violate their Charter rights to life, liberty, and security.
After a historic victory for the youth at Ontario’s Court of Appeal, the PC government, which has fought the case since the beginning, is now appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada.
A two-year investigation into the former GM factory in the heart of the city has uncovered disturbing information through an access request.
City officials and GM fought to prevent the release of documents that show dangerous chemicals were found at alarming levels in the soil and groundwater. Despite plans to develop the property for residential use, the potential risks to public health have never been disclosed.
Ontario's environmental future hangs in the balance as the PC government under Premier Doug Ford continues to rush through controversial policies without meaningful public input or environmental studies. From the rushed Highway 413 approval to the secretive clearing of trees at Ontario Place, Ontarians are left in the dark, their voices ignored by a government determined to fast-track projects that pose a range of risks.
The latest Ontario Auditor General’s report paints a damning picture of a government that does not care about its own obligations under the Environmental Bill of Rights.
As the City of Mississauga struggles financially on several fronts—staring at the largest tax increase the municipality has seen in years—Mayor Carolyn Parrish wants the PC government to help offset the municipality’s operating costs for the Hurontario LRT, estimated at approximately $65 million annually. Without help, the City warns residents could see another substantial tax hike once the line is completed.
Municipalities across Ontario are carrying out budget talks, setting their financial priorities for the year ahead. Balancing critical needs with the rising cost of living has led to difficult debates across the province.
But in Brampton there are only crickets. Patrick Brown, who runs City Hall with an iron fist, has given no indication of when his budget under new Strong Mayor powers will be made public and despite promises of public consultations on the City website, none have been scheduled.
The PC government under Premier Doug Ford continues to mislead the public about the benefits of a highway through one of Ontario’s most significant wetlands.
Opposition is growing as advocates look for ways to stop the harm to hundreds of plant and animal species. Will the federal government follow its own laws and step in to review the ill-conceived project?
Despite the decision of organizers to cancel a vigil for former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, there have been suggestions the controversial event might be rescheduled. Jewish advocacy groups have called on the City of Mississauga to take a more proactive approach to ensure community harmony in one of Canada’s most diverse municipalities.
The Region of Peel is a mess and Doug Ford is largely to blame. On Thursday Mississauga’s regional councillors did not show up for a planned budget meeting forcing its cancellation and delaying the approval of Peel’s 2025 budget, hours before Ford’s government announced the elimination of some regional services which will now be handled by the lower-tier municipalities.
Mississauga would also like more autonomy over police funding, with Brampton in support of a 23.3 percent ($144 million) hike for the proposed 2025 police budget, while its neighbour to the south has described the increase as unsustainable.
Caledon residents who once trusted Mayor Annette Groves to protect the town from sprawling development have been forced down an unprecedented path —taking legal action against their own municipality.
In a bold stand against developers and their council supporters like Groves who are attempting to convert thousands of acres of countryside and greenspace into sprawling subdivisions, Democracy Caledon has filed a legal challenge to block 12 zoning amendments approved by Groves and town council earlier this year.
Environmental studies of the former GM property in St. Catharines are slated to be made public in the coming days. The release of this vital information follows a more than two-year fight by The Pointer to obtain documents members of the public have wanted for years. The City and GM fought the release of the information, despite concerns about building homes on a former industrial site where toxic chemicals have been detected.
The Brampton Mayor admitted on Thursday in front of MPs investigating India’s interference in Canadian elections that he was given an order by the foreign government, which he promptly acted on.
For more than a decade, Brown, who desperately wants to become prime minister, has recklessly opened himself to foreign interference by India and China, ignoring the potentially dangerous consequences to Canadian security and our economic interests.
Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is facing increased pressure to initiate a federal impact assessment for Ontario's Highway 413. In an open letter scientists warn the plan threatens critical ecosystems, endangering dozens of protected species, including the Red-Headed Woodpecker and Redside Dace. A federal assessment is not just an environmental necessity, they argue it’s a safeguard to ensure decisions are driven by scientific evidence, rather than political deal making.
In stunning testimony Thursday, the controversial Brampton mayor admitted to a Parliamentary committee investigating Indian interference in Canadian elections that he was given an order by the Indian government, which he followed during the 2022 Conservative leadership campaign.
His disturbing behind-the-scenes conduct comes after more than two dozen trips to India, where he was given “state status” by Narendra Modi, the country’s Prime Minister. He travelled for free on occasion thanks to Indian organizations tied to the ruling party. Now, he’s admitted to being repeatedly pressured and making decisions based on what the Indian government directed him to do.
The PC government’s Bill 212 is the latest example of its authoritarian nature, writes Victor Doyle who was one of Ontario’s key planners for decades.
The legislation eliminates critical studies for Highway 413 and cuts the public almost entirely out of the process to further a project that will destroy Ontario’s most sensitive environmental areas for a road that will do nothing to solve Ontario’s congestion problem.
On December 3, Vaughan City Council took a significant step to address the region's traffic challenges, with a motion introduced by Councillors Marilyn Iafrate and Rosanna DeFrancesca calling for a feasibility study on the potential buyback of Highway 407.
Three days before the motion was discussed, members of the grassroots group STOP the 413 NOW stood outside Bellvue Manor, where .Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria was scheduled to speak, to voice their opposition to the proposed highway.
Without discussion, and with a letter that appears to have already been prepared before council even made the request for a budget review, Peel’s police services board has slammed the door on any reduction to the largest increase Peel Regional Police will receive in its history, more than $144 million, an amount almost equivalent to increases the department recently received over an entire decade.
Taxpayers and community organizations, who did not have the chance to weigh in, want to know how the police can demand whatever they want, even though mounting evidence shows the approach being pushed by Chief Nishan Duraiappah over the last five years, is not working.
In 2022, when the Brampton mayor ran for the leadership of the federal Conservative Party, he travelled to Vancouver as part of a plan to win over groups and individuals tied to the Chinese government.
Brown has been summoned to testify before the Parliamentary committee probing foreign interference, but it’s unclear if members will go beyond questions about his more publicized connections to India.
In October, the controversial Brampton Mayor was requested to appear before the parliamentary committee investigating foreign interference but failed to show up. Late last week, Members of Parliament on the committee ordered him, through a summons, to come testify about his knowledge of India’s interference in Canada.
Brown has a long friendship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and in 2016 credited the PM’s ruling BJP Party for signing up members across Ontario to win the PC leadership race the year before.
In the wake of Mississauga's two "100-year storms" in July and August, the City unveiled new relief programs to help those impacted. Mayor Carolyn Parrish said while municipalities like Toronto continue to receive significant support from the provincial government, her city is left "dry"—a stark reality highlighted during a meeting last week, where a modest $30 million increase to the stormwater budget was detailed as Mississauga struggles to close a huge infrastructure gap.
As emissions continue to rise across Ontario, a new report from The Atmospheric Fund highlights the province's increasing reliance on natural gas for electricity generation, undermining efforts to reduce carbon emissions. While municipalities across Peel make significant strides by adopting electric vehicles, green building standards, and innovative energy projects, the provincial government’s policies, such as expanding natural gas infrastructure, are exacerbating the problem.
In response to the growing demand for its service and with budget season upon us, Food Banks Mississauga is hoping to get a $1.6 million increase from the Region of Peel on top of the $2 million approved by council last year as part of the Region’s 2024 budget. The request comes as Mississauga City Council just passed a motion declaring food insecurity an emergency, with Food Banks Mississauga reporting the highest increase in demand for services across the province.
The extra $144.1 million for the proposed 2025 Peel Police budget was sent back Thursday for reevaluation, as Mississauga members on regional council pointed to the financial pressures facing taxpayers. They also want Brampton to pay a 50/50 share, especially since Patrick Brown is lobbying for the unsustainable increase, 62 percent of which would currently be covered by Mississauga, while Brampton’s taxpayers only pay for 38 percent of the police bill. The decision to send the police chief’s budget request back was approved by the narrowest of margins.
With William Osler Health System as a key partner, TMU's planned School of Medicine is moving forward with accreditation and construction work happening simultaneously.
In 2025, it will welcome its first cohort of future MDs. Strong healthcare collaborations and community involvement are influencing the school's creative approach to medical education in Brampton, with a commitment to graduate more doctors from under-represented communities.
