The City of Brampton says Patrick Brown and Rowena Santos have failed to hand over documents to staff working on a freedom of information request by The Pointer seeking communications with their friends, whose firms received $629,000 in payments for the failed Brampton University project.
Brown and Santos cancelled forensic investigations probing the project and their relationship with the two men hired as consultants.
Invoices obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show Patrick Brown used the mayor’s office expense budget to pay a firm more than $28,000 during his CPC leadership campaign to handle social media posts, including ones used for his federal campaign.
This appears to be a violation of federal election laws which prohibit candidates from charging third-parties for certain expenses.
Members of Peel’s Black communities are telling prominent advocates they are scared to speak out against Patrick Brown, despite their desire to see him gone from City Hall.
However, an open letter from Len Carby, a long-time advocate against systemic discrimination in the city has outlined these concerns, calling for Brampton voters to make sure Brown does not return to City Hall after October 24.
After voting the same way for nearly 30 years, residents of the Town of Caledon will see a change on their municipal ballots in 2022.
The population of the Region of Peel has been on an incline since its creation in 1974; with that comes challenges such as ensuring the representation of residents is reflected equitably in the 25 seats within the Region of Peel Council. Meet the candidates running for Caledon Wards 1/2/3 and 4/5/6.
Caledon residents showed up to a special council meeting Tuesday afternoon to address concerns around the controversial aggregate industry. Open pits, quarries and other sites that have been abandoned for years have become more than just an eyesore.
Residents have voiced the need to protect local ecosystems from these destructive operations, but many said Tuesday’s last-minute meeting, after council members like Innis supported the industry for years, was nothing more than an election stunt.
Patrick Brown appeared on iHeartRadio addressing his cancellation of six forensic investigations in August, repeating a number of falsehoods about the now terminated probe of the failed Brampton University project, including that there was “no wrongdoing found” and that the “Ombudsman said it wasn’t worth investigating”.
The firm of Brown’s close friend was paid almost $360,000 more than what was approved by council and much of the work was never done.
Jennifer Innis has failed to take action on the controversial St. Mary’s Quarry and in the past has supported aggregate projects opposed by most of her residents. After supporting the industry for years, she was booed while on stage last week when Caledon voters demanded action.
Now, after working against their interests, with six days before the election, she has pushed for a special council meeting to suddenly change her stance.
While provincial governments play an important part in determining a healthy and affordable housing market, experts are saying there’s more work that needs to be done by Peel’s mayors and council members as the rising cost of living is seeing more families struggling across the region.
Arjun McNeill is a 24-year-old Caledon resident who is trying to break the status quo on October 24.
McNeill, one of the youngest candidates running for a council seat in this year’s municipal election, is hoping to infuse his sustainable ideals into local politics.
Mayoral contender Nikki Kaur went to Queen’s Park on Thursday asking for provincial officials to launch investigations into Patrick Brown’s growing number of scandals and controversies inside City Hall.
He terminated six forensic investigations after damning evidence of widespread wrongdoing was found.
Former councillors Annette Groves and Jennifer Innis both want to be Caledon’s next mayor.
They have served on Caledon council together, but their views on development, urban sprawl and the environment offer two vastly different approaches to managing the massive growth that will define the municipality over the next three decades.
The mayoral candidate is also a lawyer and senior staffer inside City Hall; she says Brampton can not afford four more years with Brown at the helm, after he spent most of the last term trying to find a way out of the city, to pursue his federal political ambitions.
Kaur vows to restore accountability and address the issues Brown ignored while trying to make his exit, including crime, affordability and healthcare.
Residents of Wards 3 & 4 will get to choose from six candidates who want to represent constituents on the issues that matter most to them, as Jeff Bowman retires from municipal politics after doggedly trying for years to clean up a City Hall that saw one scandal after another under the leadership of Patrick Brown.
With the population expected to grow by about 50 percent by 2051, urban growth is inevitable across the Greater Golden Horseshoe. This will put immense pressure on our land, wildlife and watersheds.
A new tool developed by the Ontario Headwaters Institute provides a glimpse into the future of our province—for better or worse.
In February, six Brampton councillors called out Mayor Patrick Brown and senior staff after two years of controversy, an external investigation and widespread allegations of abuse inside City Hall under the leadership of CAO David Barrick.
In a special council meeting, Brown was accused of blocking votes from taking place during closed session meetings, forcing the majority bloc of councillors to vow dramatic action.
Between now and the October municipal election, The Pointer is republishing articles that highlight the troubling behaviour of Patrick Brown since becoming mayor of Brampton.
The anchor tenant (a partnership between University of Guelph and Humber College) of the planned Centre for Innovation, has pulled out of a proposed downtown Brampton campus.
The devastating news comes right after Brown, Rowena Santos and Paul Vicente sent out campaign-style literature advertising that 5,200 new University of Guelph-Humber students would be studying in Brampton. A spokesperson said the three were never given permission to use the names and logos of the post-secondary institutions in their political material.
As 96.5 percent of Canadian Union of Public Employees members across the province vote in favour of taking strike action against the Conservative government, Evelyn Blackwell, president of CUPE 1628, says the last thing education workers in Peel want is to be walking the picket line, but without a reasonable offer from the PC government, it may be their only option.
Nikki Kaur pledged to hire more officers to address rising crime and hammered Patrick Brown for what she called failed leadership, while he called her debate style, “mudslinging”.
She vowed to end his scandal riddled time in office.
This year has shown that climate change is no longer a distant threat, its impacts are here, and they are deadly.
Municipal candidates looking for council seats in Peel share their visions for moving forward on climate adaptation, mitigation and funding.
City Hall documents show $180,800 paid by Brampton taxpayers to a third-party company went to lawyer Howard Winkler.
Winkler represented Brown in his lawsuit against CTV following allegations of sexual misconduct and defended him in a lawsuit filed by senior PC MPP Vic Fedeli against Brown following the release of his tell-all memoir in 2018.
Impaired driving is on the rise across many of Ontario’s large urban centres, and a new survey from MADD Canada shows that young males are largely to blame.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission delivered its final report to Ottawa in 2015, after eight years of work. The 94 “calls to action” are crucial to the wellbeing of First Nations communities and other Indigenous peoples who have endured centuries of trauma caused intentionally by governments across the country and historically by the British and French.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald has stressed the need for immediate action to implement these desperately needed changes. But she says at the pace the government is moving, following decades of criminal-like behaviour, it will take 40 years before any real benefits of so-called reconciliation are seen.
The Pointer’s Alexis Wright has created a virtual walk of reflection to consider our collective obligation to First Nations communities and other Indigenous peoples.
An update by forensic auditors reveals they were in the process of investigating the relationship between the mayor and one of the failed Brampton University project’s main consultants—who was paid almost $360,000 more than what was approved by Council—when Patrick Brown moved to cancel the investigation.
The update shows Rob Godfrey, his close friend, was paid before work was done, and much of it was never completed.
The dead of a Canadian winter is an unforgiving time for dogs not made for the harsh climate. But more and more have been forced to the streets in recent years, often abandoned or escaped. Many end up starving and succumbing to the cold, dying in horrendous conditions.
Rescue organizations across the globe have taken on the responsibility of saving these animals. Advocates in Canada, a major importer of rescue animals, fear the just instituted ‘blanket ban’ on animals from certain countries where rabies is a risk only hurts those following all the precautions in the first place, to ensure a safer future.
A group of 11 candidates in Brampton, all members of the city’s diverse Black communities, are using their election platform to call on the Peel Regional Police to immediately take meaningful action to address the use of force against Black residents, which continues to impact them at a rate three times higher than other groups.
Meet the 13 candidates who are campaigning for the chance to represent the residents of Wards 7 & 8.
Taking over the now vacant seat of Brampton Centre’s MPP Charmaine Williams will come with a demanding agenda, after the one-term former councillor took a hard stance on community safety, a key local issue ahead of the October 24 election.
A three-day forum starting tomorrow will bring together stakeholders and researchers to discuss the current state of the Great Lakes ecosystem.
While climate change and invasive species are ongoing threats, the surging population of the Greater Toronto Area and the stress it is placing on Lake Ontario and the Great Lakes Basin will dominate many of the discussions.
The once hyped plan to build a university in Brampton is floundering with little to report after more than two years. The City has spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on consultants with almost nothing to show for it.
While the community has seen no benefits from the wild proposal, the two men that won contracts to work on BramptonU have links to Mayor Patrick Brown and Councillor Rowena Santos, who have gone silent after pushing the ill-conceived idea.
Between now and the October municipal election, The Pointer is republishing articles that highlight the troubling behaviour of Patrick Brown since becoming mayor of Brampton.
As the affordable housing crisis pushes more people into precarious living conditions, Calvert Park occupants are protesting at Brampton City Hall, asking that Paladin Security ceases raids on the city’s houseless encampments, alleging torn tents and confiscated belongings including food and clothes.
Ontario hospitals, battered by nearly three years of COVID, are in crisis. The PC government says it is trying to help, passing legislation that will force hospitals to charge patients $400 a day if they refuse a transfer to a long-term care facility—even if they did not choose the facility which could be 150 kilometres away from their home.
Passed with limited debate or public consultation, legal experts say Bill 7 will be a disaster for Ontario.
Freedom of information requests are a key pillar of transparency and accountability in local government, granting residents access to a range of public documents to help them better understand how key decisions have been made and hold public officials to account.
In Brampton, the system is failing. Staff in 2020 received just 158 requests for information from the public and failed to return almost 40 percent of them on time.
Between now and the fall municipal election, The Pointer is republishing articles that highlight the troubling behaviour of Patrick Brown since becoming mayor of Brampton.
Outgoing Brampton Councillor Jeff Bowman has asked the provincial government to step in and continue investigations into wrongdoing at Brampton City Hall after Patrick Brown killed the investigations following the release of evidence that found misconduct.
Bowman also warned of the dangers of extending "strong mayor" powers to Brampton, if Brown is reelected.
Following similar lawsuits undertaken in Europe and South America, seven youth from across Ontario have banded together to sue the provincial government under Premier Doug Ford for stripping down legislation meant to reduce provincial greenhouse gas emissions.
The landmark case could force stricter emissions targets into climate legislation.
A letter from Froese Forensic Partners shows emails were being exchanged between City Hall insiders and friends of Patrick Brown and Rowena Santos who were eventually paid more than $600,000 between them after winning lucrative contracts in what was supposed to be a fair and transparent bidding process.
Brown recently cancelled Froese’s council-ordered investigation into the procurements, while another set of investigations into other procurements involving Brown was also stopped by the mayor, who claimed the City’s integrity commissioner could handle the work, despite being told by senior staff it is outside the IC’s jurisdiction. This has now been confirmed, leaving the investigations cancelled by Brown with no path forward.
Environmental issues still don’t capture the attention of voters the way economic and public safety concerns do. They are not directly linked to the immediate interests of residents, even though climate change is increasingly impacting the well-being of more and more Canadians. Green candidates have brought plenty of passion to the election trail; now they have to take off the gloves as our times need politicians, like Mike Schreiner, who will fight for the planet.
Brampton’s business community is losing faith in City Hall after years of tax freezes under Patrick Brown and inexperienced CAO David Barrick. A damning presentation made by the Board of Trade laid bare the recklessness of Brown’s tax freezes.
Business leaders highlighted the lack of basic planning, the late release of information and an air of incompetence emanating from Brampton, its council and staff.
Between now and the fall municipal election, The Pointer is republishing articles that highlight the troubling behaviour of Patrick Brown since becoming mayor of Brampton.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created even more instability around energy supply. Nuclear power has been hotly debated for decades.
Some see it as the only feasible way to shift from carbon; a goal linked directly to climate change mitigation, and the need to break the global dependence on bad actors like Russia. But the risks associated with nuclear power still loom like the radioactive clouds of past disasters.
Brampton residents are demanding further legislative action to prevent tenants from being renovicted as landlords utilize “strategic renovations” to raise the rent on units.
Property owner Pulis Investments denies allegations levelled against the company and says its renovations are badly needed, with families offered compensation during the work and the opportunity to return upon completion.
Meetings scheduled for both September 7 & 14 have been cancelled by Brown following the snap special meeting he called late August where the mayor terminated a half-dozen forensic investigations into the use of public funds for City contracts, including some handed to his friends. The cancelled meetings this week and next were supposed to provide the public with details of the investigations, which some councillors are vowing to complete, despite the mayor’s interference.
The City of Toronto has adopted protocols to prevent conflicts between humans and foxes. These increasingly common interactions are the result of increased habitat loss, driving more and more animals out of the natural spaces where they thrive. Thanks to rescue operations many species threatened by human activity have been rehabilitated which helps maintain their population, but because of constant threats like habitat loss due to urban development, a multitude of species – at risk or not – are still in rapid decline.
Conservation experts and environmental advocates are manufacturing mini miracles across Ontario using small doses of funding doled out by the provincial government.
These projects create a bulwark against a biodiversity crisis that is threatening the vast majority of the world’s species with extinction. If elected officials decided to dedicate just a minuscule amount of increased annual funding to conservation efforts the outcomes could be remarkable.
Instead of allowing Brampton residents to shape their city, Patrick Brown put future planning in the hands of wealthy developers. To cut the public out of the process he claimed in Council that the PC government inside Queen's Park had set a deadline for the submission of special planning applications that are approved by the provincial government, not City Hall, to fast track projects. The special process, known as a Minister's Zoning Order (MZO), completely cuts the public out of decision making. The problem: Queen's Park set no such deadline; Brown made it up to prevent residents from having a say in how their city will take shape in the coming years.
Ahead of this fall's municipal election, The Pointer is publishing a series of previous articles that highlight Patrick Brown's startling conduct since becoming mayor.
After a stable year under the new director of education, Peel District School Board has made significant progress on the 27 Directives handed down by the Ministry of Education to eradicate widespread, systematic racism. Rashmi Swarup is known for her determined, caring approach. That’s why she was brought to Peel, to steer the board toward a new chapter. Repairing relationships with the community, specifically the diverse Black communities, and listening to student concerns has been a priority for her. After one year on the job, Swarup sat down with The Pointer and talked about the challenges PDSB faces.
An email from Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah circulated recently among community members asking residents to sign-up to hear about the force’s “journey.” The vague email called the event a “community update” but it caused confusion and anger when members learned they were not invited to get answers about why Peel Police used force against Black residents at more than three times the rate compared to the population overall.
During a last-minute special council meeting called late Friday afternoon by Brampton’s mayor, he took advantage of a missing councillor and with just enough votes pulled the plug on an ongoing series of investigations after allegations of widespread misconduct under his watch. An update by the investigation firm revealed disturbing practices around the use of taxpayer money under Brown. Despite the preliminary findings and advice from Ontario’s Ombudsman to follow through with the investigations, Brown terminated them, sparking outrage among council members, staff and the public.
The critically sensitive ecosystem we are all a part of has countless features that are all interdependent; if even one is affected, the entire system has the potential to collapse. Scientists have warned of what happens when one species goes extinct – human factors being the most prominent recent cause – and what this means for life as we know it. Thanks to rescue operations many species have been rehabilitated which helps maintain their population, but because of constant threats like habitat loss due to urban development, a multitude of species – at risk or not – are still in rapid decline.
The staff who work in Brampton’s communications department take home hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money every year. Since corruption allegations started swirling inside City Hall shortly after Patrick Brown's election, the department under Jason Tamming, who was recruited by Brown, worked to protect those accused of wrongdoing. Tamming is no longer with the City after a group of councillors vowed to clean up the culture Brown brought with him.
Between now and the fall municipal election, The Pointer is republishing articles that revealed Patrick Brown’s startling behaviour since becoming mayor of Brampton.
An analysis by The Pointer of chloride concentrations in Peel waterways has uncovered a troubling reality. Many of the creeks, streams and rivers that flow through the region are starting to have more in common with a salt water ocean than a freshwater ecosystem.
This poses a serious threat to aquatic life in Peel, and with a new study showing these harms can be triggered at levels lower than what governments have deemed safe, it demands increased urgency from municipalities and provincial officials to find new solutions for winter safety.
The pressure on nurses and other frontline hospital staff in Ontario continues. The system is failing and more nurses are jumping ship to increase their pay with organizations that have enough staff and are better managed. Many are comparing the United States and Ontario, describing realities that are worlds apart. If the provincial government does not address the growing crisis our healthcare system will spiral further out of control.
Just under half of Peel Region residents work within the trucking industry or its spin-off sectors. As a driver of the local and provincial economy, its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and the industry’s own vulnerability to a warming planet demand innovative ideas to keep goods moving sustainably.
