Following several reviews of whether to allow cannabis retail in Mississauga’s city limits since its legalization in 2018, council members are once again debating the matter. Sparked by the ongoing presence of a particular illegal location operating in the middle of the city, a notice of motion presented by Councillor Dipika Damerla, who has previously voted against allowing retail cannabis twice, is calling on the City to reconsider its ban, but a discussion during Wednesday’s general committee meeting revealed some councillors want to keep the ban in place.
A Black man has been appointed to the Peel Police Services Board for the first time in its history, marking a significant milestone for a community that experiences disproportionate harm at the hands of police officers.
The decision was not without controversy as the choice narrowed to two candidates of different backgrounds. Some elected officials tried to pit Peel’s Black and Muslim communities against each other.
Police, politicians and the public call for change in a system that allows Canada to remain a ‘source country’ for the international stolen car market.
Vehicles across Ontario and other provinces end up in countries where the illicit trade in stolen cars happens in the open, right under the nose of governments and local authorities.
Councillor Rowena Santos butted heads with former councillor Charmaine Williams throughout the previous council term. She had championed the renaming of the park in 2020 to honour the abolition of slavery and the greenspace has been used to celebrate Emancipation Day in Canada on August 1.
After councillors last year approved in principle upgrades to the park, in February Santos pulled the plug, insisting a letter be sent to Queen’s Park, where Williams now serves as a Brampton MPP, asking her government to cover the $4.5 million for the work to build badly needed improvements.
Regional councillors will appoint an individual to the Peel Police Services Board on Thursday.
Members of Peel’s Black communities are calling for representation around the table as they continue to face disproportionate harm at the hands of police.
Claiming a labour shortage and expressing frustration with policies that make it difficult for his daughter to work at City Hall, Councillor Michael Palleschi received support from Patrick Brown to loosen Brampton’s already weak nepotism rules.
A 2019 equity audit of City Hall found Brampton’s diversity is not reflected in its local government. Brown orchestrated the hiring of senior staffers despite their lack of experience or familiarity with the city and their past connections to him.
Mississauga is one of few large cities that does not allow cannabis stores due to concerns over a range of potential negative outcomes; Brampton’s Library board will present to Council after finding out its Chinguacousy branch will be evicted from the Bramalea Civic Centre; Health Minister Sylvia Jones will appear before regional council to discuss the PC government’s plan to address rapidly rising rates of mental health problems.
An audit published by Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk in November found the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is severely lacking in its management of invasive species.
Her audit details the failure to collaborate with other governments, inadequate funding for municipalities and the lack of a coherent strategy as invasive species thrive due to global movement and climate change.
In 2021, despite backlash from the public, Caledon council passed a motion to request an MZO for a warehouse project located at Dixie Road and Mayfield Road.
The development approved in March 2022 will divert the watercourse that runs through the site—which includes portions of the Greenbelt. Despite its role in protecting a large portion of southern Ontario’s natural habitats, and a new report that looks at natural channel restoration in Brampton, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority is repeating the claim that tampering with the stream will be ecologically beneficial.
The public’s access to information is enshrined in provincial law. The City of Brampton has repeatedly violated this legislation and a new report exposes how, despite receiving fewer requests for information in 2022, the City’s efforts to respond within legislated timelines continues to fall well short.
The failure in accountability comes at a time when Brampton City hall is plagued by controversy.
Brampton residents Krystina Ali and Katherine Sampson have both created petitions asking Brampton City Council to undo the Chinguacousy library branch’s looming eviction from the Bramalea Civic Centre after Patrick Brown failed to inform stakeholders and the public ahead of the shocking decision.
Following a petition signed by a large number of Brampton residents, the City is undertaking its first ward boundary review since 2012, to ensure councillors can effectively and equitably represent all citizens.
Mississauga continues work on a set of Green Development Standards to try and grow sustainably in the face of ill-conceived PC housing legislation.
The Region of Peel has seen improvements since its first workplace census in 2020, but major gaps remain in diversity at all levels of the organization.
Bill 56, Fewer Floods, Safer Ontario Act, a private members Bill brought forward by Liberal MPP Mary-Margaret McMahon, was voted down by all PC MPPs last week.
It was not a surprise given the Ford government’s move to gut conservation authorities, which provide critical flood management. McMahon says she will look to municipal leaders to help protect residents from flood risks.
At a recent Brampton Library board meeting, members expressed their anger at Patrick Brown and other council members who, without consulting the public or other stakeholders, handed over the building that houses the Chinguacousy branch to the Toronto Metropolitan University for a proposed new medical school.
The popular branch will have to temporarily operate out of the Chinguacousy Park Ski Chalet.
The 2023 Ontario budget puts forth $70.5 billion for public transportation projects over the next decade. But NDP Critic Joel Harden says while that seems like a sizable investment, the money is not going where it is needed most. The PCs are investing almost $28 billion in highway projects, when experts say we need to move away from individual forms of transportation.
In response to widespread discrimination, the Peel Multicultural Council, a non-profit organization, is launching its Anti-Racism Project to challenge ingrained attitudes and narratives that continue to harm the region’s racialized communities. Its largest public institutions have struggled with the dramatic demographic shift over the past three decades, failing to reflect the changes.
On April 1, the Ontario government has a surprise planning announcement for the province's residents.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is putting the Ontario government on notice, questioning the effectiveness of its oversight and safety measures to keep provincial railways safe. The findings came out of an investigation into a 2019 accident in Kitchener when a GO Train struck two pedestrians at a public crossing. The report is a grim reminder that train-related accidents result in injury and deaths across Ontario, including in Mississauga where a four-year-old girl was struck and killed by a GO Train last July.
An Ottawa judge dismissed two breach of trust charges against former Brampton East MP Raj Grewal, ruling there was insufficient evidence to prove the hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans he solicited from family and friends to cover his growing gambling losses were in return for political favours.
Known as a clean energy leader and the first jurisdiction in North America to eliminate coal fired electricity generation, Ontario is taking three steps backward in the race to a net zero grid.
The Province’s love of natural gas is hindering its ability to achieve what environmental organizations and intergovernmental bodies are pushing: a sustainable clean energy transition.
Citing “workload concerns,” the City of Mississauga’s integrity commissioner Robert Swayze resigned earlier this month, leaving the City searching for a watchdog to hold locally elected officials accountable. Swayze’s own understanding of the Municipal Act was scrutinized last year after former councillor Karen Ras resigned in early 2022 following allegations that former councillor Ron Starr had repeatedly harassed her throughout much of the previous council term. Ras was critical of the way Swayze handled the matter and filed a lawsuit against the City.
An update on Algoma University’s expansion into Brampton is coming to Council while Caledon’s advocacy for a traffic and road safety study on Highway 10 is gaining momentum with a letter of support from Dufferin County.
An overview of the PDSB Mental Health and Well-being Strategy is coming to the school board as it prepares to implement Phase 3 in the 2023-24 school year.
It has been rolled out with great fanfare, but $10-a-day daycare under the federal Liberal government’s national plan is not helping the communities that need it most. Across Peel, spaces are still desperately in need, as demand far outpaces the supply of daycare spots.
A coalition of plastic producers, backed by American oil companies and the governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan, went to court three weeks ago after filing a lawsuit against Canada’s federal government over the designation of plastic as a toxic substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Three environmental organizations interjected on behalf of the Canadian government arguing in favour of the designation and subsequent single-use plastic bans. The case was heard days after members of the United Nations reached a historic treaty to protect the world’s oceans.
To birds, many buildings create optical problems for navigation, constantly causing collisions. With increased urban growth around the world, the easily avoidable loss of species will continue unless solutions are adopted. A group of dedicated advocates is attempting to have bird-friendly design become part of the Ontario Building Code; if the PC government does not listen they plan to take the matter to Ottawa.
The release of the AR6 Synthesis Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change earlier this week provides the strongest data yet on the need for immediate action to slow global temperature increase. We are at a critical juncture.
A group of youth descended on Mississauga City Hall this week, demanding stronger action to protect their generation, following years of apathy by leaders who won’t have to deal with the consequences of their neglect.
The Lester B. Pearson Theatre, recording studios, music and dance spaces and the entire Chinguacousy Library Branch are scrambling to find new locations after the Bramalea Civic Centre was picked to host the proposed Toronto Metropolitan University School of Medicine. Councillors Rowena Santos and Pat Fortini got into a heated discussion at a recent meeting as Patrick Brown tried to downplay the mismanagement of the entire plan.
The PC government’s healthcare spending plan is being heavily criticized following the Financial Accountability Office’s disturbing projections. The FAO revealed a $21.3 billion shortfall in health sector spending by 2027/2028. In Peel, and particularly in Brampton, where a healthcare crisis has gripped the area over the past decade, and where rapid growth has seen healthcare funding fall further and further behind the growing demand, projected shortfalls in the next few years will make a dire situation even worse.
March 22 marks World Water Day which has sparked action by community members and environmental organizations across the province. Alongside this heightened activism, governments on all levels are increasingly overlooking the need to protect our vast freshwater supplies, which the entire world might one day rely on.
Following a year in which ten residents perished due to a fire, a strategy to educate and prevent tragedies before they happen is being rolled out across Brampton.
One of the ongoing problems unique to the city is the number of illegal secondary apartments in homes, which often do not meet basic fire code requirements.
Caledon Mayor Annette Groves is determined to hold the aggregate/gravel industry accountable, after decades of industrial activity has left many areas of the municipality riddled with open pit operations that residents have repeatedly raised concerns about, with little action.
In Mississauga, former integrity commissioner Robert Swayze has informed the City of his resignation, following the botched handling of former councillor Karen Ras's alleged harassment at the hands of another former council member.
Ahead of World Water Day, Andrew McCammon, Executive Director of the Ontario Headwaters Institute, questions why the province isn’t doing more to ensure the long-term sustainability of our vast and vital freshwater systems.
Across the province a coalition of nonprofits and nonpartisan citizen-led advocacy groups has come together under the banner: Alliance for a Liveable Ontario.
After almost five years of rule under Doug Ford, as residents have watched him undermine the public healthcare system, put our critical ecosystems and natural spaces at risk and strip away key democratic functions in local government, the new umbrella organization promises to be his true legacy—the premier who brought Ontario together… to defeat him.
During their most recent election campaign, the federal Liberals promised $1 billion over ten years for a renewed Freshwater Action Plan. The following year the same elected officials, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, committed two percent of the total funds promised. With threats from climate change, Bill 23 and other impacts of human encroachment on our freshwater supply, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative is asking the Liberal government to live up to its commitment.
Police, politicians, manufacturing leaders and other stakeholders gathered on March 10 to discuss auto theft, a crime that has reached record-breaking levels over the last two years.
GTA police chiefs are proposing a multi-jurisdictional task force to curb what they are calling a transnational crisis.
Doug Ford and members of his PC caucus have repeatedly claimed that Bill 23, their unprecedented aggressive housing legislation to construct 1.5 million new homes by 2031, was driven by demand created by immigration. Accommodating newcomers, they claim, is a key objective.
The facts show this is blatantly misleading.
After tireless advocacy from the volunteer-run Heart Lake Turtle Troopers, the City of Brampton is receiving nearly $75,000 from the provincial government to protect turtles at Loafer’s Lake. The conservation efforts will directly support one of Ontario’s most at-risk species and have significant impacts on the city’s urban greenspaces.
Over a third of this year’s capital budget is federal and provincial grants which have yet to be guaranteed to the city for transit facility electrification equaling $210 million to allow the buildings to service electric buses.
During Brampton council’s final day of budget deliberations, over $8 million in changes were made to the City’s proposed 2023 financial blueprint ahead of its planned approval on Thursday.
It’s unclear what impact these additions will have on the final tax increase for residents. The Brampton Board of Trade released a statement last month, after the proposed 2023 budget was released, criticizing the City’s financial stewardship since 2018 (when Patrick Brown became mayor).
Malkeet Sandhu, a community organizer with the David Suzuki Foundation, warned Brampton Council members that as they deliberate on the budget, emissions continue to rise in a community where just last year she watched from her window as floodwaters damaged trees, roads and homes.
Yet, Brampton councillors continue to delay critical investments into climate change mitigation.
A presentation to Brampton Council on the Hazel McCallion Line, formerly known as the Hurontario Light Rail Transit, showed costs associated with extending the project north of Steeles Avenue into downtown have almost doubled.
Auto thefts are surging across the Greater Toronto Area and on March 10, the Peel Regional Police will be hosting a summit with community partners to address the growing issue.
Regional councillors will receive a report outlining the challenges of adding more than 7,000 child care spaces allocated by the Ontario government.
Antibiotics are a life saving medicine that has saved tens of millions of lives. But their effectiveness is under threat. With antibiotic misuse and overuse, the potential for antimicrobial resistant genes to develop in the environment grows.
The World Health Organization and the United Nations Environmental Programme have identified antimicrobial resistance as a global threat, but technology and infrastructure to test for and remove these compounds from our wastewater comes with a high cost.
Peel’s population is aging three times faster than the rest of Ontario. Social support systems designed to care for and keep older residents healthy and safe are under unprecedented strain.
Family Services of Peel has been handed $75,000 to study the gaps in the region’s support system and find immediate solutions to confront the heart wrenching increase in incidents of elder abuse, including mistreatment that is tied to many complex cultural dynamics in Peel.
A lawsuit filed against Peel CAS by its former director of finance Marino Cader, who has been criminally charged for alleged financial fraud, and a statement of defence by the organization reveal a series of troubling allegations of wrongdoing, financial mismanagement and potential criminal activity at an organization responsible for protecting Peel’s most vulnerable population.
The civil claims follow nearly three years of internal strife behind the walls of an organization that has faced allegations of discrimination, intimidating leadership and widespread financial abuse, leading to the recent departure of its embattled former CEO Rav Bains, who is singled out in many of the lawsuit’s allegations.
Has Ontario lost the stability of its seasons? Dramatic variability in temperature and precipitation this winter has left many wondering about the impacts of climate change on our province.
Day-to-day or even month-to-month weather patterns are influenced by a variety of factors, but overall average temperatures are increasing, leaving Ontario open to more intense winter storms—despite what the current mild conditions may suggest.
The City has included $210 million in its 2023 budget that has not even been approved by upper levels of government, with the mayor suggesting otherwise.
Infrastructure projects, critical maintenance and COVID recovery continue to put pressure on City coffers, after Brown refused to expand the budget during his first four years.
Residents might have to pay an additional $177, on average, in 2023, while major projects to move Brampton forward have once again been kicked down the road under Brown’s leadership.
This week the Region of Peel lays out its strategy to attract funding for critical issues, including housing and climate change mitigation.
The Town of Caledon will hear information about ongoing air quality concerns due to industrial activity while the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board will consider a request for an Indigenous student trustee position.
The signs of increasing social isolation, discrimination, food insecurity and precarious employment are all around us. Walk out your door or scan the latest headlines to bear witness as the impacts of growing income disparity, mental health crisis and the mistreatment of vulnerable populations tear our social fabric apart.
A coalition of the province’s non-profit sector partners is calling on all levels of government to use public funds, for the public interest.
Ian Williams, University of Toronto English professor and inductee of the Brampton Arts Walk of Fame, spoke to a full house inside the Cyril Clark Lecture Theatre recently about his latest book, Disorientation: Being Black in the World, as part of Brampton Library’s events for Black History Month.
