Mississauga’s budget committee convened for the first time ahead of the 2022 budget process to hear more bleak financial projections from staff.
Despite more than 12 months of hardship and cutbacks, rampant COVID-19 cases mean the City is facing another massive shortfall by the end of 2021.
After a year of neglect, a huge announcement by Queen’s Park Thursday means every adult in Peel’s hotspot postal-code-areas will be eligible to book a vaccination appointment starting next week.
The new directive has stirred hope among essential workers and other residents, but some are wary of being let down again, after the region’s woeful treatment by the Province throughout the pandemic.
Tuesday’s news that Premier Doug Ford will not live up to his recent commitment to finally provide guaranteed paid sick days will have a compounding impact on Malton, which is suffering the highest rates of transmission in Mississauga.
With a clear picture of what has happened in neighbouring Brampton and throughout Malton, why hasn’t Peel Public Health provided the needed support?
At the beginning of April, Mississauga installed signs in Ward 5 and 8 warning local residents that automated speed enforcement cameras are coming.
The move signals progress in the City’s efforts to curb speeding, but Mississauga is lagging behind its neighbours after a year that saw fatal collisions spike across Peel.
Monday was a day that crystallized for many the utter neglect much of Peel has suffered throughout this pandemic.
In Ottawa, a moment of silence was observed inside Parliament for Emily Viegas, who died due to COVID-19 last week. In Brampton, a sense of dread and hopelessness is washing over the community.
Meanwhile, Ontario’s Health Minister Christine Elliott, in a heartless response to the girl’s death, claimed the ravaged region is getting all the help it is “entitled” to.
In the days following damaging allegations of corruption, racism and nepotism made by a now-former senior director inside City Hall, residents are calling for CAO David Barrick to be fired by council members. They voiced their concerns online and off, taking to the streets Monday to protest the City’s handling of the latest accusations and other disturbing conduct by Barrick, while Mayor Patrick Brown, who hired him, remains silent.
During the height of the ongoing pandemic, Peel Paramedics have launched a new public awareness campaign highlighting the shocking levels of violence and harassment first responders experience every day. The latest advocacy effort shows the organization is trying to move beyond its apathetic, macho work culture of the past, to one that understands the mental and physical toll frontline staff struggle with.
For five years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Kevin Dickman was sexually abused by Frank Kohler, his Big Brother at the time and a Peel Regional Police officer.
The abuse traumatized Dickman, pushing him into a life of depression, homelessness and drug use. He committed suicide in 2019.
On Tuesday, Kohler finally faced justice and will spend the next four years in a prison cell.
For those privileged enough to play, the ancient game might be the vaccine needed to help them cope with the surging pandemic. But Doug Ford has shut the game down. For segments of the population being most severely ravaged, particularly those who provide essential work, opening golf courses might be the last of their worries, but closing off outdoor recreation is only making the ongoing public health crisis worse.
Claims of corruption, bullying, and questionable procurements inside City Hall are outlined in a stunning email by a woman who, until Thursday, held a senior role in Brampton’s shaky administration.
She was fired hours after her damning allegations, and on Friday council voted for a third-party investigation into CAO David Barrick, a controversial figure who was also at the heart of a scandal that rocked Niagara Region.
An analysis completed by The Pointer has discovered nearly 30 species at risk lie within the proposed path of the GTA West Highway.
Construction of the highway will lead to extensive habitat destruction and proliferate the urban sprawl that has paved over much of Southern Ontario in recent decades.
With each new development, more habitat is lost and, eventually, there will be nowhere for wildlife to flee.
Ontario’s brutal third wave continues to stretch the ability of Peel’s healthcare providers to care for the sick and track down the infected.
The region is struggling with sky-high positivity rates and overloaded hospitals as the vaccine rollout continues to lag behind the rapidly spreading virus.
The federal government will decide by May 4 whether to take control of the GTA West Highway from the provincial government and potentially end the project for good. In the second of a three-part series, The Pointer looks at transit alternatives to the highway and how they could impact growth in the region.
Simply cancelling the route won’t be enough to change the trajectories of growth in Brampton and Caledon.
In Mississauga and Brampton, many councillors keep their constituents up to date with printed newsletters that are mailed to their doors. In 2020, at the Region of Peel alone, about $133,000 was spent on old fashioned print newsletters to communicate during a rapidly evolving public health crisis.
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, who is fixated on tax freezes and fiscal belt-tightening demanded of others, uses taxpayer dollars to spend excessively promoting himself.
The officer who shot Ejaz Choudry to death as the elderly man advanced on him with a kitchen cleaver is the latest to be cleared of wrongdoing by the Special Investigations Unit.
While the Choudry family, community advocates and stakeholders demand answers, the detailed SIU report suggests the problem is not the fault of frontline officers facing the wrath of an angry public.
Helicopters and ambulances leaving the Region of Peel with COVID-19 patients are the duct tape holding Brampton and Mississauga’s healthcare systems together.
As hospitals across Ontario fill up, frontline staff are terrified an already strained system could finally break down.
A Mount Pleasant resident has dedicated much of his free time to maintaining and running a Facebook group for his neighbourhood.
His efforts are focused on creating a feeling of community in Brampton, helping residents to communicate as the Flower City changes and grows.
The City of Brampton is celebrating a significant investment in its transit system by Ottawa and Queen’s Park, after almost $175 million in funding was confirmed.
The money, which will be paid by all three levels of government, means transit expansion can continue after Mayor Patrick Brown removed capital funding from the City budget under his zero-tax-increase policy. One key question: why is the City building infrastructure that doesn’t support its commitment to sustainability?
When the pandemic hit, many Canadians adapted with the help of familiar social programs and family networks for support. For newcomers to the country, who came with little more than the possessions in their suitcase, the public health crisis became the latest obstacle in their pursuit of a new life.
A successful transition into a new society was suddenly made even more difficult. Despite setbacks, adult students are quietly plodding along, learning words like resilience, determination... and hope.
Police shootings and now a misguided provincial backlash against the women and men sworn to protect us raise questions about our faith in law enforcement.
After Doug Ford’s ham-fisted announcement Friday afternoon, confusing an already confused public, misinformation and hysteria around police “carding” were the inevitable outcome of decades of broken trust between police and the public.
Between the beginning of May and the end of September, the City of Mississauga will introduce harsh fines for those caught parking illegally near the lakeshore. The move addresses concerns of Ward 1 and 2 residents, but raises broader issues around accessibility for those not fortunate enough to live beside the Great Lake.
Peel Region has been struggling with overwhelmed healthcare resources and inadequate staff numbers for years, resulting in lengthy wait times and hallway care long before COVID hit.
With the third wave of the pandemic crashing over the province, hospitals have been asked to ramp down elective surgeries, causing a domino effect in Peel’s already overburdened healthcare system.
The federal government will decide by May 4 whether to take control of the GTA West Highway from the provincial government and potentially end the project for good. In the first of a three-part series, The Pointer looks at a major developer who supports the GTA West Highway, analyzing how it stands to gain. Its interests seem directly opposed to aspirational smart growth plans in Peel.
Nine months after the Peel District School Board began a legal action against anonymous Twitter accounts, its new administration apologized last week. The decision, recognizing the account owners as advocates and not trolls, stirs debate around the protection of anonymous online use.
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki told MPs the nation’s top police agency needs to do better, but stopped short of confirming an investigation into MindGeek.
The porn giant has been under the microscope for months after its alleged failure to report child pornography posted on its website despite laws preventing such behaviour.
The Centre for Conflict Resolution International has been selected to complete a workplace assessment of Peel Children’s Aid Society after staff complaints of anti-Black racism and discrimination.
However, an internal communication, seen by The Pointer and confirmed by Queen’s Park, shows CCRI had already been chosen by the same Peel CAS senior leadership under scrutiny, before a provincial investigation was even announced.
Across Peel and the rest of Ontario, the recent jump in infections has put ‘unprecedented’ strain on the province’s frontline healthcare system. Patient transfers and the cancellation of elective procedures are two of the latest outcomes as hospitals scramble to address the latest crush of cases.
With the third swell of infections crashing like a tidal wave over Peel, local school boards will keep classrooms closed after the spring break.
Transmission is out of control and the number of ICU patients has reached record-high levels.
Most of the lands occupied by Ontario residents are subject to treaties and other agreements with our First Nations. For decades, these obligations to ensure approval from the original inhabitants of the lands we live on have largely been ignored. The same European attitudes that for centuries imposed farcical laws and allowed for the ruthless exploitation of First Nations are seen in the contemporary planning and land-use process, which routinely ignores the rights of the Indigenous in any decision making around their historic terrain.
As the Region of Peel expands to accommodate two of the fastest growing cities in Canada, lucrative building contracts for massive developments are up for grabs. Residents stand to gain from all the growth, but it’s up to the industry, the cities and the region to create opportunities for Peel’s diverse communities which have traditionally been locked out of this high-income sector.
Concrete actions to transform the Peel District School Board are finally taking hold, with new policies on equitable hiring and student opportunities.
But racialized leaders at the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation District 19 (Peel) are frustrated over their exclusion from critical conversations and their organization’s lack of action.
In his new book, Value(s) – Building a Better World for All, the former Bank of Canada head challenges the banking and business worlds. Shift your narrow thinking and become truly dynamic. Profits, he argues, can be made alongside a more human and eco-friendly approach. Not only will we create the economy of the future, we will feel good about it, while saving the planet.
After months of bad news for Brampton and Mississauga, battered by COVID-19, the Province has finally taken a step to confront the region’s out-of-control viral spread.
On Wednesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who has ignored Peel’s pleas in the past, revealed a vaccine strategy that will target hotspots and essential workers.
Years ago, the best way to alert the public of a missing person or a homicide case that’s gone dry would have meant releasing recorded messages on radio stations or putting up a hotline information poster.
Now, police authorities use new communication tools to circulate information on cold cases up to the surface at a moment’s notice.
For years, the Peel Regional Police reduced the number of community police stations it ran.
The nine locations the force operated in 2000 were reduced to just two by 2018. A December motion by Councillor Gurpreet Dhillon, amended by his colleagues, supports opening a new station in east Brampton and asking police brass to pivot their philosophy, as residents demand a fresh approach to increased violent crime on the streets of two of Canada’s largest cities.
Calls for stricter measures grow as community spread accounted for almost a third of the total infections in Peel last week. After the PC government ignored calls to focus on essential workers and educators, infection rates, unsurprisingly, have gone in the wrong direction.
Now, Peel Public Health has ordered all the region’s schools shut down, immediately, as the local pandemic rollercoaster continues in Ontario’s hardest hit area.
For a city looking to become a “climate change leader”, and for councillors who pledged to ease the tax burden on local residents in 2021, a generous taxpayer funded allowance to cover a vehicle seems out of place.
Yet, when the idea of reducing the grant was proposed, many Mississauga councillors balked.
“I’m not using public transportation,” Councillor Ron Starr said.
A virtual Peel District School Board event organized to celebrate the beginning of Sikh Heritage Month was infiltrated by internet trolls sharing homophobic and racist slurs. The talk, featuring NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, was designed to allow Sikh students and staff join in a celebration of their faith, while educating peers in the diverse region.
The Pandemic has shown the worst of greed and self-interest. It has also brought out the best of humanity. Paying too much attention to the gluttony and self-centredness in our society denies us of our most basic need – to be good and do good for our partners in this complicated thing called life.
At its height in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Brampton was the nation’s biggest exporter of cut flowers, known for Edward and Harry Dale’s decades-long work producing some of the world’s finest roses.
Today, known as the “Flower City” in homage to its rich botanical and rural history, Brampton has capitalized on the opportunity to create curated, blooming gardens known for their beauty and colour. In the age of climate change, the commitment to naturalize and restore native plants and pollinator gardens is arguably more important now than ever.
Vaccines are starting to move into the region in greater volumes, but COVID-19 transmission continues to rapidly outpace vaccination rates, pushing Peel and Ontario’s healthcare system further beyond its capacity.
Secondary units are a vital source of housing in Brampton as affordability across Peel continues to be an issue. With prices climbing the temptation to enter the illegal secondary suite market grows. These unregistered units are difficult to inspect and often are not in compliance with safety codes, a major problem for bylaw officers in Brampton. After charges in 2018, it remains unclear if Sandhu has complied with the City’s rules.
The Pointer has obtained documents through a freedom of information investigation that show the City quietly awarded $218,000 worth of contracts, without council approval, to a man named Tony Quirk who worked closely with Brampton’s CAO, David Barrick, when they were part of a cabal of Conservative Niagara Region politicians embroiled in a series of controversies.
Mayor Patrick Brown, who oversaw the hiring of Barrick, has political ties to both men.
Many politicians are active on social media; they have to be in order to keep up with their communities. But some have been slow to effectively staff up for the reality of political communication in the digital age. The mayor of Mississauga is miles ahead of those still trying to engage using yesterday’s methods, and she’s not afraid to admit it.
The updated plan was introduced during the City’s second public consultation on the Riverwalk project recently. The final master plan will be introduced in May and will focus on the public spaces residents will have access to along the impressive waterway being planned through the decaying city centre.
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie was one of many leaders across North America who promised to confront anti-Black racism last summer.
A laundry list of to-dos was established during a council meeting in June, but meaningful actions have yet to be taken.
While last year saw COVID-19 create the worst public health crisis in decades, another lingering epidemic continued to unfold.
The opioid crisis has been taking lives across Canada for years, including in Peel, and last year was the worst yet.
A backlog of approximately 600 cases a week has forced Peel Public Health to redirect its contact tracing efforts to the high priority outbreaks.
Peel’s top doctor is urging residents to push through their COVID-fatigue while slow vaccine distribution is causing frustration.
Sentencing for ex-police officer Frank Kohler’s five-year sexual abuse of former Brampton schoolboy Kevin Dickman has been remanded to next month as his defence counsel asks for mercy, and a lighter penalty. They cite his age, his noble life, and contrition for his repeated assault of a boy. But he is not the only one guilty for his heinous crimes. Peel police, which buried the evidence against its own officer and let him walk away, also needs to bear the burden for what it did to Kevin Dickman.
The beds are part of expansion plans for Phase 2 of Peel Memorial and the first set of details outlining the long awaited project.
More than $18 million will go toward the development of an emergency department, and the expansion itself could begin in 2023. Not much is known beyond this and no money was set aside for the capital cost of the project in the just released 2021 provincial budget.
