The Brampton Food Hub held its grand opening this past Thursday. It finally provides the city a long-needed centralized emergency food network through a collaboration of six existing non-profit and faith-based agencies.
The launch follows years of work by local organizations and their members who have been championing efforts to address the food insecurity crisis in a hyper-growth city where many newcomers and other residents struggle to secure their most basic needs.
Brampton taxpayers still don’t have any answers about a half-dozen investigations cancelled last year by Patrick Brown, after initial work revealed alarming conduct by the controversial mayor.
Froese Forensic’s investigation into the failed BramptonU project flagged a pattern of disturbing behaviour inside City Hall, under Brown’s leadership, but the mayor cancelled the remaining work, including separate investigations into contracts and hirings, before the completed findings could be revealed to the public. The provincial Ombudsman issued a second letter to Council after Brown and his council allies pulled the plug on the probes, urging their completion, but Ontario’s municipal watchdog will not commit to an independent investigation.
Following protests across the province relating to issues of sexuality being taught in schools, the PDSB is implementing a new plan to support students and staff who identify as LGBTQIA+ or Two Spirit.
The Region of Peel will hear from staff about ongoing financial audits launched by Premier Doug Ford and the PC government into its books and learn how public health is preparing for the upcoming flu season.
City Council declared gender-based violence and intimate partner violence an epidemic in Mississauga, similar to motions brought forward to Brampton and Regional council earlier this year. It is a move advocacy groups are calling a “first step” toward addressing the root cause of these extreme acts of violence common across the region, but without sufficient recognition and funding from the Province, these violent crimes will continue.
Caledon council voted to extend its interim control bylaw on the aggregate industry for an additional year after an update to the Town’s outdated and insufficient policies was not completed in the one year timeframe. Despite the mayor and some councillors having concerns over the potential for aggregate companies to appeal their delayed applications, including one for a large blasting quarry in the middle of the protected Greenbelt, staff claimed the Town would be in a good position to argue an appeal.
They did not explain why. Under the PCs, 97 percent of decisions at the Ontario Land Tribunal have gone in favour of private companies recently.
As The Mississauga Food Bank announces its rebranding to Food Banks Mississauga, a name the organization’s CEO says better reflects the work it does, the community service has also revealed in its latest report that five percent of the city’s population is now turning to the food bank to meet one of its most basic needs. The shocking statistic comes as the organization predicts a further surge in food insecurity in the community with no government intervention in sight.
A report coming to St. Catharines council on Monday includes a recommendation for the approval of incentive applications for three development proposals as part of the City’s 2020 Community Improvement Plan. Monday’s report raises questions and stirs previous concerns about the effectiveness of these incentive programs that have historically been criticized in Niagara Region for giving wealthy developers even greater profits at the expense of taxpayers who see few benefits.
Premier Doug Ford announced the reversal of the widely reviled Greenbelt Plan Thursday, putting all 14 remaining parcels of land removed last November back into the protected greenscape. Despite an apology and admission of his mistake, advocates remain cautious of the government’s integrity and intentions, turning their attention to projects like Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass which have been under intense scrutiny.
With the climate movement growing across the globe, organizers are seeing more young people of diverse backgrounds (in many ways) get involved. Two young Ontario activists, Sophia Mathur and Miranda Baksh, say this diversity is important because climate change affects all, regardless of race, class or political stripe. The purpose is not to alienate any particular segment, but to galvanize generations demanding government protection.
Mississauga continues to be a leader in green transit by securing funding for the procurement of 82 new hybrid electric buses. By the end of 2024, these green buses will make up almost 60 percent of its fleet. Brampton, which has fallen further behind in electric vehicles, has approved funding for Fire and Emergency Services to purchase two fully electric fire trucks.
Caledon is slowing the aggregate industry after failing to complete all of the necessary studies for updates to its policies by the deadline.
As more and more housing developments fill out the city, a lack of infrastructure to support Brampton’s growing population is causing concern among already frustrated residents who say the hyper-growth is too much for the limited infrastructure. Transit cannot keep up, there are not enough libraries and community centres, and other existing services are already stretched to the limit. Schools are overcrowded and the chronic hallway medicine crisis in its lone full service hospital will only get worse. But Brampton is facing pressure to meet unprecedented new housing targets set out by the Doug Ford PC government. Where, residents ask, is the province’s commitment to fund infrastructure to support the mandated growth?
The Region of Peel has issued a letter to the federal and provincial government requesting stronger support systems for international students in Peel. Ongoing issues continue to put young people at risk with little action for more than a decade. A lack of housing, falling prey to sex traffickers and the absence of support from colleges and governments that gladly accept money from families, has created an ongoing crisis that often leads to tragic consequences.
Since the PC government announced four months ago it will dissolve the Region of Peel by 2025, serious questions about the future of critical services are being addressed. Amid the uncertainty created by the looming end of two-tier local government, in June, Regional council requested the upper tier municipality send a letter to the province requesting confirmation that Peel Regional Police — the second largest local police force in the province — will remain as a single entity beyond dissolution. But as the provincially appointed transition panel examines how it will dissect the Region’s departments, even more questions are swirling about the future of policing in Mississauga and Brampton.
Following the resignation of former housing minister Steve Clark and a reshuffling of Ford’s cabinet ministers, the PC government will conduct a review that will include all requests for Greenbelt land removals — as many as 800. While this is mandatory every ten years, experts say the intent is to strengthen Greenbelt policies and expand the protected area, not remove parcels for development.
Following months of speculation about her time as mayor ahead of November’s vote for the Ontario Liberal Party leadership, Bonnie Crombie has confirmed she will take a leave of absence from her role as Mississauga mayor. With a good chance she might not return, who are some of the likely candidates that will vie to replace the popular leader?
Edenshaw Developments Ltd. is under the microscope again at City Hall for repeatedly bringing back development applications councillors have heavily criticized, with little to no changes made to address concerns raised. In a September 5 planning and development meeting, the Mississauga-based developer once again brought back a proposal for 49 South Service Road, a development City Council previously condemned for “putting a circle in a square.” In response to council’s frustrations, Edenshaw is bringing the application to the Ontario Land Tribunal — its second appeal in two years.
As the City moves forward in developing its new Official Brampton Plan, a staff report shared with Council on August 28 highlights infrastructure shortages in the majority of the city’s Primary Major Transit Station Areas. It also points out that places where more and more residents will rely on transit are not currently supported by adequate jobs and office space that typically characterize areas serviced by major transit stations.
Planning for the looming dissolution of Peel Region continues as senior staff prepare for the winding down of services that for decades have been managed by the senior level of local government, which will no longer exist as of 2025. Meanwhile, regional staff coping with the upcoming end to their responsibilities as part of the upper-tier municipality, are trying to find ways to accommodate a flood of refugees in Peel.
The community of Belfountain has banded together in opposition to a development proposal that would double the population of the hamlet.
One of the major concerns of residents is the impacts 75 large executive houses would have on the water quality and quantity in the area. A community organization hired its own hydrogeologist to conduct an independent investigation which shows stark differences from the developer’s data.
At least six women in Peel have lost their lives at the hands of an intimate partner or male friend so far in 2023.
Despite the detailed knowledge of how these tragedies occur, solutions continue to be brushed aside and resources to help those in need are being withheld by elected officials.
The first week back to school across much of southern Ontario featured humidex values in the low 40s, temperatures that make it difficult for learning.
As high temperatures arrive earlier in the spring and persist into fall, which future climate models point to, schools will need to keep students and staff safe and cool.
Council is officially back in session after a summer recess, and the fall is set to see a number of projects revisited that are crucial to the city’s future.
Updates on the touted Centre for Innovation; addressing downtown’s ongoing redevelopment needs; and plans for a future cricket stadium are among the priorities council members will have to make decisions on in the coming months.
Poleen Grewal, who for years fought to protect students from the systemic discrimination that has plagued the Peel District School Board, has been fired. She held the role of associate director of equity and instruction.
Grewal says the decision amounts to reprisal after she challenged board leadership for years while senior educators fostered a culture that harmed thousands of visible minority students, who make up almost 85 percent of PDSB classrooms. Grewal alleges the board is now using her as a “scapegoat”, claiming she is largely responsible for the very problems she worked to eradicate.
Immediately after Steve Clark resigned as Ontario’s housing minister, demands rained down for the protection of all Greenbelt lands.
Doug Ford, the man responsible for approving carve outs that stand to earn developers more than $8 billion, has yet to explain his role in the scandal. A review he announced Monday already has critics questioning what good it will do, after the premier refused to halt development of the vital protected greenspace.
In one of the fastest growing municipalities in Canada, managing climate policy at the Region of Peel is no easy feat. Breaking down gender barriers and biases, Christine Tu turned her passion into action, moving the Region’s Office of Climate Change and Energy Management into a challenging future.
Her risk-based, people-centred approach aims to make Canada’s largest suburb a beacon for municipal leadership in sustainable growth and design.
For close to 20 years, superintendent Mandy Johnston accepted that extreme levels of violence and sexual harassment was just an unfortunate part of her daily work racing through the streets to save lives as a Peel paramedic.
But after an incident in 2019, Johnston decided enough was enough and the External Violence Against Paramedics program was born, becoming a household name in the Peel organization and across the province for changing a workplace culture that has tolerated abuse for decades.
A damning report from Ontario’s Integrity Commissioner detailed the utter failure of Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark, who said he had his “head in the sand” while 15 parcels of land in the once protected Greenbelt were approved for home construction at a value of $8.3 billion to prominent developers.
The report, which follows a blistering probe by Ontario’s Auditor General, has left the Ford PC government reeling, exposing the cozy relationship between powerful builders and the ruling party.
After the Minister of Education reviewed the PDSB for allegations of anti-Black racism and governance failures, poor leadership and questionable HR practices, the Ministry issued 27 binding directives to the PDSB to address the widespread problems that were found.
A consultant hired to examine the diversity makeup of its workforce and identify and qualify discrimination and institutional/systemic barriers in the PDSB has revealed widespread issues within the Board and made 108 recommendations. The findings are extremely troubling, and include treatment that goes against the guidance of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
In a slew of press releases last week, the PC government introduced the Building Faster Fund at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario annual meeting in London.
The funding incentives will provide up to $1.2 billion over three years for municipalities that meet or exceed the housing targets they have pledged to achieve by 2031 as part of the Ford government’s plan to build 1.5 million homes. Premier Ford also extended existing strong mayor powers to municipalities once again, on the condition they sign onto the provincial housing pledge.
The GT20 Canada cricket tournament in Brampton featuring international stars recently wrapped up.
In its wake talks of Brampton’s proposed “multi-purpose cricket facility” have reignited. But despite the growing popularity of the sport in the city, and ambitions to make Brampton the “Cricket Capital of North America”, funding for a long-promised stadium has never materialized, even though Mayor Patrick Brown has made repeated pledges to get one built.
With summer reaching its end schools are preparing to reopen for the upcoming academic year. At the same time, a recent rise in COVID-19 cases has caused some concern as students return to the classroom with few of the pandemic precautions still in place. Peel struggled with higher case numbers than most other parts of Ontario, and many schools in the region were also hit hard.
The PDSB will be following Peel Public Health and provincial guidelines in anticipation of COVID-19 cases expected in schools come September, but stricter mandates do not appear to be in place.
As summer nears its end, the question of how the Region of Peel can accommodate those experiencing homelessness during the cold winter months gains an entirely new, and potentially deadly, significance. Regional officials say the hunt is on to find more community partners to help bolster the programming offered by the upper-tier municipality, most of which is already at capacity.
However, this will likely not be enough to meet the needs of this growing population once winter arrives.
An investigation by The Pointer has revealed just how damaging the Ontario government's ongoing push for development is to its most at risk species.
Development proposals, whether for a highway, a water main, or a subdivision, are analyzed in silos. Projects in Mississauga do not consider the impacts to wildlife in Pickering or Niagara, and those in Caledon do not analyze what goes on in Markham or Oshawa. But what if all these projects are harming the same species? Or the same threatened ecosystem?
That’s exactly what is happening to Ontario’s species at risk. Despite repeated calls from the provincial auditor general, the PC government refuses to analyze the cumulative impacts of its manic push for growth.
While the world transitions to a low carbon economy, it is often overlooked that smoke billowing from smokestacks is more than just the greenhouse gasses that warm the atmosphere. Hidden within the noxious clouds blooming from industrial smokestacks is a large sum of toxic chemicals, many of which can have adverse effects on human health.
A provincial policy that allows certain companies to break air quality standards put in place to protect human health is being questioned by a group of environmental lawyers.
Scrutiny of the PC land swap that removed 7,400 acres from the protected Greenbelt continues as the RCMP announce it has received a referral from the Ontario Provincial Police to investigate the matter.
The potential police investigation comes after auditor general Bonnie Lysyk exposed the process used by the PC government to choose parcels of land for removal heavily favoured prominent developers and PC donors.
The City of Brampton has preserved a number of historical properties around its downtown, many of them with deep connections to the city’s past or influential residents. As the City moves forward with plans to grow and innovate, these properties are increasingly finding themselves facing demolition as the value of new growth trumps a connection to Brampton’s past.
The Bristol Place development project is currently in pre-construction along Main Street North, and the City is looking to remove another heritage property to build its tallest buildings to date.
A collaborative of more than 50 social organizations is calling on Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk and the Ontario integrity commissioner to keep digging into the PC government and conduct a fulsome analysis of the behind the scenes work that went into creating the myriad of development policies rammed through during Premier Doug Ford’s tenure—many of which have benefited prominent home builders in Ontario.
The group posits that if the auditor general found wrongdoing in the flawed Greenbelt land removal scheme—a process Premier Ford said the ends justified the means—there could be more wrongdoing to uncover.
In light of an announcement by Education Minister Stephen Lecce to investigate the circumstances around a lawsuit by late TDSB principal Robert Bilkszto, Black community advocates gathered at a press conference on August 2 calling for the protection and continuation of anti-racism work and diversity/equity/inclusion efforts in Ontario school systems.
Across North America, equity work is meeting more and more resistance.
James Dick Construction, one of the biggest aggregate companies operating in Caledon, has had direct involvement in the process to update regional mapping that will guide the future of resource extraction in Peel’s northern reaches.
The company’s engagement, which also includes sitting as a representative on Caledon’s Aggregate Resources Community Working Group, has triggered concerns there is a conflict of interest, and the potential for James Dick to put its private interests over those of Caledon residents.
With the transition board now in place to carry out the incredibly complex task of breaking up the Region of Peel over the next two years, serious questions are being raised about how Peel will continue to deliver critical social services while trying to disconnect the complexities of regional government.
Advocates at prominent community agencies are worried the Region will be unable to juggle the ongoing dissolution, without creating ripple effects that will slow down services like affordable housing, public health, mental health and addiction, and long-term care for the residents who depend on them.
The leaders of the three opposition parties in Ontario are all calling for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Steve Clark, to resign following the release of the auditor general’s report that provided a detailed account of how the PC government worked behind the scenes, holding hands with some of the country’s most powerful developers, to open up large swaths of the Greenbelt for development.
For some, a resignation is not enough and are calling for the lands to be returned to the Greenbelt and a criminal investigation into the scandal.
As auto giant Stellantis moves toward a future dominated by electric vehicles, uncertainty continues to plague workers at the Brampton Assembly.
In May of last year, workers were told the company would stop production of its muscle cars in 2024, during which time the plant would be retooled to begin producing electric vehicles. Questions about what this means for the plant’s thousands of employees are swirling in the background of Unifor’s ongoing contract negotiations, with workers seeking improved wages, pensions and benefits.
Residents of Belfountain, a modest community with a population of just over 200, are banding together to appeal a decision made by the Niagara Escarpment Commission to approve the development of 75 large rural estates that will essentially double the population of the hamlet.
Increasingly, locals are concerned about how the addition of these large homes will impact the water table that supplies their drinking water, and how the already strained Credit River can continue to withstand the urbanization occurring along its borders.
A report by Bonnie Lysyk offers a detailed account of how the PC government, led by Premier Doug Ford, worked behind the scenes, taking directions from some of the most powerful developers in the country, to open up Ontario’s protected Greenbelt so they can pocket billions in profits by destroying greenspaces for sprawling subdivisions.
Lysyk estimates the Greenbelt land owned by developers, much of it bought after Ford won the 2022 election, is now worth $8.523 billion.
Ahmad Attia, a previous member of the Peel police board between 2019 and 2023, has been reappointed by the provincial government. The move fills the board complement at a critical time for the force as it attempts to tackle systemic racism in partnership with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
The PC government continues to avoid explaining why Ron Chatha, the former provincial appointee, was ousted suddenly from the role in April.
A new joint report from the United Nations Environment Program and the Sabin Centre for Climate Change Law at Columbia university shows climate change litigation is on the rise globally.
Citizens are increasingly taking corporations and governments to court over their failure to responsibly act on emissions reductions and other environmental harms. The process has moved slowly and many cases have been lost in the past, but lawyers say the tide is changing toward the strongest form of climate action. New Canadian legislation could speed up the fight.
As Brampton battles the ongoing issue of driveway widening, a staff report brought to council on July 31st highlighted the efforts made by City Hall to address this problem.
Attempts to bring awareness of adverse impacts (while enforcing bylaws aimed at preventing driveway widening violations) continue as Brampton’s mismatched housing stock creates unusual pressures to meet the demands of residents. Driveway widening not only makes neighborhoods overcrowded with parked cars, environmental impacts on the city’s storm management system put properties at greater risk of flooding.
As temperatures continue to rise it’s not only the human habitat that is changing. More and more ecosystems are becoming increasingly suitable habitats for a variety of biting insects that transmit pathogens and diseases, which can be harmful to humans.
A Freedom of Information request filed by The Pointer has revealed Mayor Annette Groves and Town of Caledon staff participated in media training from Redbrick, a company specializing in “strategic communications” prior to a public meeting about a mega blasting quarry application in Cataract.
Mayor Groves says the training did not change her message of full transparency to members of the community.
Several months after Brampton resident and former police board chair Ron Chatha’s unexpected removal from the Peel Police Services Board in April, the PC government has failed to provide the public with answers about why the sudden decision was made.
When Chatha, who was in the midst of his second 3-year term on the board, was removed, Premier Doug Ford told the public more information would be coming “in the near future,” but despite requests from The Pointer, the PC government refuses to explain its decision.
