John Cutruzzola says a decade-long legal fight with Brampton City Hall accomplished its goal. The company’s $28.5 million lawsuit, which will not move forward after the courts ruled against Inzola Group, revealed disturbing behaviour by former City officials, none of whom are with the municipality anymore. The court focused on whether Inzola was legitimately disqualified from the bidding process in a half-billion-dollar downtown redevelopment project, which included a City Hall expansion. Tens of thousands of pages of documents in the case exposed widespread misconduct in the way the procurement was handled.
Mississauga’s fire service has suffered from decades of neglect that has left the City scrambling to play catch-up.
Public plans and documents obtained by The Pointer show bureaucrats and councillors were warned about the service’s deficiencies more than a decade ago, but against a history of populist tax freezes, they failed to act.
Little Etobicoke Creek was the centre of a study that shows the next heavy rainstorm could cause huge damage to nearby businesses and homes. The municipality saw in 2013 what can happen in a flash storm, as once in a century weather events now happen every few years, thanks to man-made impacts on our rapidly changing climate. Mississauga is now trying to prepare for the next catastrophic event.
Peel Region isn’t out of the woods yet. As the novel coronavirus continues to mutate, public health officials are in a race with time to get populations inoculated. The delta variant is now spreading in Peel, something Dr. Lawrence Loh is monitoring closely. The mayors of Mississauga and Brampton are calling on the Province to give Peel proper second-dose allocations, so the region and surrounding areas can avoid a fourth wave.
Councillors in the City of Mississauga pushed back on Monday after they were presented with proposals to reduce parking in new developments to lower the cost of housing and encourage residents to leave their cars behind.
Drawing on past experience and resident complaints, several suggested transit usage simply isn’t high enough to start limiting people’s parking options.
Council voted to hire a third-party investigator to probe sweeping allegations of corruption inside City Hall made by an employee who formerly worked in CAO David Barrick’s office. Every discussion on the matter so far has happened behind closed doors, and residents want to know what’s going on. Gurpreet Dhillon fought against the practice, stating it wasn’t accountable or transparent and he moved a successful motion to ensure no more secrecy from the public.
During a 2014 trial that garnered international attention, Mississauga rapper Avalanche the Architect tried to convince a judge that lyrics in one of his songs were not actual threats but just artistic expression.
It’s a theme that is becoming more common in the criminal justice system as rap songs are increasingly used as evidence in criminal trials, disproportionately impacting young, Black and Hispanic men.
An analysis by The Pointer shows Peel Regional Police’s K9 unit is getting significant traction online. Compared to the force’s main account, the differences are stark but the messages are similar: showcasing the work of police.
It’s no surprise that these amazing police dogs are wildly popular and the following they’ve garnered has a lot to do with how Twitter as a platform works. The transparent approach with the public is an example of how the communication tool could be used by police departments.
After false starts and programs that led nowhere, Peel police, supported by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, will launch a consultation on anti-Black racism and discrimination during the summer.
Police and human rights experts will complete a list of recommendations rooted in data and based on previous surveys, asking the community for their approval. Residents will shape policies, not the force.
In Mississauga and Brampton, thoughts are already turning to next year’s provincial election. One councillor in each city is hoping to move on to Queen’s Park, while other candidates have started to test the water.
Voters in the two cities hold the keys to 11 critical seats and will find themselves the centre of attention as the Liberals, NDP and PCs vie to form the next government.
After increasing for five straight years, many forms of violent crime in Brampton and Mississauga decreased in 2020.
While residents in both cities will be relieved to see the numbers going in this direction, the role of pandemic restrictions on these activities could mean the trend is only temporary instead of a sign of long-term strategies paying off.
The nightmare stories of two Brampton families tell the anguish of a city ignored by its leaders for decades. Residents have asked why they are treated like second-class citizens for years, but no level of government has answered for the crisis they have all created.
The City’s crumbling healthcare system is used as an election prop then ignored until the next campaign cycle begins. Meanwhile, Brampton residents live under constant fear that a loved one will fall sick and become dependent on an infamous local healthcare system that has made national headlines during the ongoing pandemic.
The pandemic is leaving a long trail of stressed and traumatized people in its slowly receding wake. Social service organizations will be the ones tasked with helping individuals process and come to terms with the year that was and get back on their feet.
As Family Services of Peel celebrates its 50th anniversary, the newly installed executive director talks with The Pointer about what the future holds and how organizations will need to change to continue performing their critical, life-saving role.
Mayor Patrick Brown was repeatedly rebuffed by councillors and Region of Peel staff Thursday. His efforts to delay critically needed downtown infrastructure work failed.
His misleading comments about the history of the Downtown Reimagined project were batted away and he will now have to accept blame for a possible six-year delay to the City’s part of the crucial revitalization plan.
Creating a greener planet will mean diverting more waste away from greenhouse gas emitting landfill sites.
Proposals from companies to create a new anaerobic waste facility in Peel, to turn residential green-bin waste into natural gas, will be presented to Regional Council July 8.
The new plant will boost Peel’s organic waste processing capacity, and mark a big step toward meeting global, provincial and municipal climate targets.
Queen’s Park and Ottawa are investing enormous sums in transit projects around the GTA.
The new infrastructure represents the promise of a green future, but without schedule and fare integration, Brampton and Mississauga residents, like thousands of others across the GTA, likely won’t use the glittering new multi-billion-dollar infrastructure being built across the region.
Peel CAS and its leadership are under investigation, ordered by the Province, after allegations of anti-Black racism were laid out in a union report.
The provincial probe will also investigate the organization's financial management, with pay increases for senior leadership drastically outstripping inflation over the past two years.
Brampton’s majority immigrant population and working class culture have combined to make the city a soccer hotbed. No fewer than five members of the Toronto FC first team hail from the Flower City and more promising youngsters are making their way through the ranks.
The plucky suburb has all the ingredients required to keep on nurturing players for the beautiful game.
Scandal follows the Brampton mayor wherever he goes. His disdain for the truth and utter contempt for democratic norms are currently supported by five councillors who have decided to bow and kiss the ring, plunging City Hall into another era of turmoil.
As Mississauga continues its vertical expansion, spots of natural beauty are getting hemmed in. The city has no plans to slow its rapid urbanization, but the pandemic has shown all of us how important the natural world is to our collective well being. Protecting these places will become more important than ever.
It’s no secret Peel Region as a whole has some deep rooted problems with residents slamming their foot on the gas. The area has one of the highest car insurance rates in the country and has for years made national headlines for tragic car accidents.
Today, Mississauga City Council voted to add 20 new automated speed enforcement cameras in designated safety and school zones. But the real solution likely lies in how the maturing city continues to evolve from its suburban beginnings.
The Province’s repeated bulldozing of local planning processes has been a headache for many cities. After stating its opposition to widespread usage of Ministerial Zoning Orders, a tool frequently used by the Ford government to rapidly approve development projects without proper consultation, the City of Mississauga recently requested one of its own to fast track a film studio.
Can new rules be established to help guide cities in their decision making on when it is best to allow the Province to make local planning decisions?
As vaccine eligibility continues to expand, more Peel Region residents are getting their turn at the jab. Thanks to the special two-week allocation of doses to hotspots, the region overall has been trending downward in positive cases and upward in first doses.
The provincial government announced the May long weekend will feature golf, tennis and other outdoor activities. But parents still don’t know if children will go back into classrooms this year.
As Ontario’s solicitor general and MPP for Dufferin-Caledon, Sylvia Jones operates in the intersection of provincial and municipal politics.
But in a pandemic that has raged within her region, some Ontario residents question if the person in charge of public safety is interested in consulting with them to make her decisions.
Mississauga’s refusal to host legal cannabis stores pushes residents who use the substance to illegal stores, mobile dispensaries à la Uber Eats, or to nearby cities. Charges for driving while under the influence of cannabis have almost doubled since 2018.
Meanwhile, police are spending heavy resources trying to shut down illegal storefronts as more popular mobile dispensaries are also thriving.
After months of getting the short end of the stick, Peel has administered more than its per-capita allocation of vaccines.
An increasingly heartening vaccination campaign offers residents some hope, but the dire situation in hospitals means the region still has a long way to go.
The next few months or years promise to be a ‘combustible’ time for the old Chrysler assembly line on Williams Parkway as it falls under new ownership. Can muscle cars keep the doors open in an age of sweeping policies to curb climate change?
A survey of staff at City Hall has confirmed what most already knew: local government does not look like its residents. Less than 30 percent of the City’s staff identify as racialized, compared to about 60 percent of the Mississauga population, while the highest level of leadership is exclusively white.
The leader in charge of the diversity portfolio is also a white man. Eleven out of twelve council members are white. Without the lived experience, some question if they are an illustration of City Hall’s culture of indifference toward equity and inclusion.
Creating a beautiful cityscape throughout a decaying downtown has been on the agenda for Brampton City Council for decades. Dysfunction among council members has returned, jeopardizing the future of a city centre desperately in need of a complete makeover. Wednesday’s meeting was an exercise in futility and local business owners are ready to revolt.
In a committee meeting, councillors found out that Brampton, during a year when the city was crushed by a public health crisis, saw the biggest jump in the number of employees on the “sunshine list” to date. Anxious not to repeat mistakes of the past, some councillors want a much needed discussion around senior staff salaries and perks, considering their responsibility to protect the taxpayers they represent.
In a city that has faced tremendous population growth over the past three decades, which is projected to last at least another 20 years, Brampton has remained grossly underfunded. With one full-service hospital for a population approaching 700,000 and a lack of equitable public funding in almost all key government sectors, an issue that has loomed for years is the difficulty to accurately account for the city’s population. The current Census represents an opportunity to finally change this and secure a fair share of funding.
For the second time in the past six months, staff have violated guidelines under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. After CAO David Barrick illegally changed the staff member responsible for handling FOI requests and took over authority of the role, without the knowledge or approval of council, his administration is now ignoring legislated timelines to meet requests for public information.
Gagan Sikand has been away on a long-term medical leave since October. Despite pleas from residents, staff at his office and working for the Liberal Party have no answers about how long he will be away, how residents are being served and if there will be a by-election.
On Wednesday, Brampton Councillor Jeff Bowman will order City staff to create an analysis of spending on non-union salaries and benefits at City Hall. The move comes after sharp pay increases in Brampton, with more than 1,000 City staff now earning in excess of $100,000 per year. The number has more than doubled in five years.
Gurdeep (Nikki) Kaur was fired by CAO David Barrick hours after levelling explosive allegations against him, Mayor Patrick Brown and other senior staff members. In a bizarre twist, sources have confirmed Council has directed Barrick to rehire the whistleblower he fired three weeks ago.
Mississauga Hospital was built in 1958 and, if plans move forward on schedule, could get a complete rebuild in 2024. The major healthcare investment is needed to accommodate rapid population growth that has seen the city’s number of beds per 1,000 residents fall to roughly 1.6, well below the national average of 2.5.
Peel Region is home to the country’s largest collection of South Asian-Canadian communities. Hundreds of thousands of residents have family back in India, where the recent viral spread has decimated the planet’s second most populous nation. For residents here, each day is met with anxiety as the situation half-way around the world worsens.
When Hana Fatima saw a woman struggling to shop among the horde of panic buyers last March, she knew she had to help. Her small act inspired the Good Neighbour Project.
Governments are the first place residents turn to with questions about everything from snow removal to immigration applications. The pandemic has demanded an unprecedented level of communication between politicians and the public. Unfortunately, this has often left Canadians frustrated and somewhat alienated from government, as communication has frequently been disastrous.
Moving forward, local governments will need to rebuild trust among a public whose civic engagement had already dwindled.
Councillors in the City of Mississauga have voted to ask Queen’s Park to fast track a plan for the city’s ninth studio, exempting it from the planning process.
If approved, the request could see construction begin by the end of 2021 and more than 5,000 skilled jobs settle in the city, but the move also muddies the waters around council’s attitude on provincial control over local planning.
With 50 percent of provincial vaccine supplies going toward designated hotspots, it’s allowed Peel Region to lower eligibility to all residents 18 and over.
The Province said for the weeks of May 3 and 10 vaccines will be directed toward the hardest hit areas; what happens after these two weeks is unknown. Many residents have been rolling up their sleeves in hotspots after a seamless process booking their appointments; this has continued in non-hotspot areas as well.
Advocates speaking on injustices that exist within the health sector have been using social media for years to share their message.
As COVID-19 spread, these experts gained prominence, using their platforms to connect with people struggling to understand the virus, and sharing clear information backed by evidence the Province refused to acknowledge.
Following damning whistleblower allegations against CAO David Barrick, the embattled head of the City’s bureaucracy was grilled during an audit committee meeting Tuesday as members said he has stripped away the accountability function’s independence. Meanwhile, 28 staff complaints that came into the corporate fraud hotline were closed by managers without sharing any details with Council or the audit committee.
At a press conference Tuesday, Minister of Education Stephen Lecce announced online learning will continue as an option for students into the next school year. The deadline for parents to tell schools is still not determined.
Additional COVID relief funding was also announced, but there are already concerns it won’t be enough for harder hit areas like Peel.
Originally due in early 2021, the details of an ambitious partnership between Peel Regional Police and the Ontario Human Rights Commission will be unveiled on May 28.
The plan is still to be finalized and approved, but will focus on data collection and analysis to help eradicate systemic discrimination within the force.
More than 60 percent of Mississauga’s fire stations are at least 30-years-old and have not had any major upgrades or renovations since they were built.
After decades of neglect, staff are recommending significant investment over the next decade to meet safety standards that have been ignored.
After a request from Environmental Defence and Ecojustice to take over the approval process for the controversial Highway 413 project, Ottawa has taken a first step.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Jonathan Wilkinson, announced he will designate the project under the federal impact assessment protocol, an initial move that could spell the end of a highway many in Ontario do not want.
Peel’s rapid population growth creates a long list of challenges for those who respond to healthcare emergencies. How can paramedics reach more remote locations faster? How do paramedics reach those living in highrise towers where dealing with healthcare emergencies is already exceedingly difficult?
With Peel’s expansion, paramedics are trying to solve the problems that accompany all the growth.
Peel police has yet to apologize for letting its former officer who sexually abused Kevin Dickman walk away.
Frank Kohler was sentenced this week for the serial sex abuse of Dickman, who was just a boy when the former Peel policeman assaulted him over five years. Five decades later, the force he once worked for, which let him walk away a free man despite all the evidence and a confession, remains silent on the past behaviour.
The federal government will decide by May 4 whether to take control of the GTA West Highway from Queen’s Park and potentially end the project for good.
In the last of a three-part series, The Pointer looks at how the struggle between cities, the Province and Ottawa over the route represents a crucial opportunity to collaborate on climate change, instead of wasting time we don’t have on disagreements that won’t matter once it’s too late.
