This is the first of a two-part feature on the future of the auto industry in southern Ontario. As the cost of hybrids and e-autos go down, the pressure on legacy automakers to make changes to compete, ratchets up.
Diwali is just over a week away, but COVID-19 policy discussion around the major celebration is far sparser than for either Thanksgiving or Halloween. In Brampton, Peel Public Health is taking a strong stance, but the City’s messaging is less clear.
While municipal officials are allowing, even encouraging the use of fireworks, plans for virtual offerings to discourage groups in Brampton from celebrating together and risk increasing the spread of COVID-19 in Ontario’s worst hit city, have been absent.
Come Saturday, COVID restrictions in Peel will ease and indoor dining, fitness classes and small gatherings will be allowed under Provincial guidelines.
The move has been publicly advocated by Brampton and Mississauga’s mayors, even in the face of the worst viral picture in the province.
Peel Region has been allocated $30.4 million based on the federal government’s assessment of severe housing needs among renters and the homeless, as the supply of rental units appears to have temporarily increased due to the pandemic.
Lakeview Community Partners, the development consortium building one of the most anticipated projects in Mississauga, is suggesting the federal and provincial governments help pay for the creation of a district energy and vacuum waste system.
But local residents, who have already seen the developer push through thousands more units than originally proposed, aren’t happy about a taxpayer-funded handout.
The region’s test positivity rate had also increased to 5.4 percent by mid-October, up from 3.6 percent at the beginning of the month.
It’s one of the indicators that shows Peel heading in the wrong direction as businesses reel from the ongoing restriction measures, while families hope the holiday season can be salvaged.
Brampton is struggling to win critics over to support its plan to build a progressive, urban boulevard in the middle of a proposed 400-series highway. Staff and councillors at the Region of Peel are the latest to question how a highway and mixed-use corridor can coexist.
The city’s novel coronavirus test positivity rate is trending up, rising to 9.6 percent from 8.1 percent the previous week. Despite a climb in cases the Province has not committed to adding a second full assessment centre in Brampton. If numbers don't come down current restrictions such as the prohibition on indoor dining, might have to remain in place past the initial 28-day period.
With COVID-19 cases surging across Ontario and the novel coronavirus slipping through the doors of more and more schools, parents embark on a grassroots plan – calling it “long past due” – to ensure their children remain safe, despite the Province’s failures.
Next week’s budget will reveal Queen’s Park’s commitment to keeping the virus from spreading deeper into Ontario’s education system.
The latest surge of COVID-19 has raised more questions about the work world’s ability to adapt.
An office provider in Mississauga believes people can’t work at home forever, and flexible office spaces in suburban settings might be key to our economic recovery.
The number of schools with cases of COVID-19 in Peel is steadily rising, with more than one in four at the PDSB and DPCDSB registering at least one active COVID-19 case.
Presented with the concerning data, the head of Peel Public Health, Dr. Lawrence Loh, categorically ruled out closures without providing any further insights.
The region’s top public health doctor says the current 28-day modified closure can’t be lifted with COVID-19 battering Brampton and Mississauga.
Recent data from Peel Public Health shows a worrying regression, with 8.1 percent of tests in Brampton returning a positive result and hospitals nearing capacity.
Peel Region councillors are calling for urgent measures after two consecutive regional budgets offered next to no investments into new affordable units or shelter spaces to help the homeless, and those trying to escape abusive relationships.
The country’s first COVID winter has created a desperate situation as the most vulnerable run out of options.
Many keep going to work despite the high risk of infection. Often, they don’t have a choice, relying on their employers to keep them safe. But in some cases, they have been let down.
With the viral spread in Peel picking up speed, keeping our essential workers safe should be a priority.
It took a punishing pandemic and a damning report from our military to expose some of the deep flaws in our retirement homes and long-term care system. But elder abuse goes much deeper, into our tone-deaf legal system, and our ill-designed power-of-attorney rules that put in jeopardy the life savings and well-being of our loved ones.
A local cleanup operation jumped into action Friday after a business allowed diesel to spill into the Credit River. The spill is the worst of its kind since the early 2000s and illustrates the fragility of Mississauga’s natural ecosystem.
Mississauga and Brampton mayors have criticized the Province’s decision to include Peel Region in the modified Phase 2 restrictions, citing a lack of data when targeting businesses, including the food industry. Many entrepreneurs in the sector, like Mississauga's Irine D’Cunha, can’t be helped, even with a new support program rolled out by Ottawa.
In long-term care homes and for those accessing these types of home-based services, creating an environment that caters to a senior’s ‘cultural needs’ is crucial. But a combination of issues is blocking this from happening.
Peel Regional Police unveiled a new anti-discrimination project this week in partnership with the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Dubbed by both organizations as “legally binding”, community members have shared their concern that the force, dogged by revelations of its discriminatory culture, is on another PR mission instead of actually seeking transformative change.
A motion tabled by Ward 5 Councillor Carolyn Parrish was voted down last week. It called for a two-thirds majority around the council table when elected officials choose to overrule the expertise of their own planners during development-related disputes. Parrish argued that avoiding predictable defeats at the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal will save taxpayer dollars and reduce the price of new residential and commercial units in the city.
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie and Brampton’s Patrick Brown face the same dilemma as most entrepreneurs in their cities: they want to jump start the economy and get revenues flowing but the daily COVID case numbers in Peel continue to trend in the wrong direction. If things don’t turn around, the current 28-day return to much of the Stage 2 lockdown could be extended.
Campaigners in Peel have been pushing since at least June to change the profile of Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) Division 19’s leadership. Last week, the executive agreed to let an anti-Black racism committee appoint three new senior positions. Despite the success, 28 percent of the union’s top brass voted against the move, showing there is still work to be done.
St. André Bessette Catholic School in Brampton is the latest in Peel hit hard by the novel coronavirus. It had to shut six classrooms after Peel Public Health declared an outbreak driven by the school community. The continued spread in the region’s educational setting is creating chaos for boards trying to manage shifting attitudes among parents who are balancing schooling and safety.
Gang violence continues to spread across parts of Brampton and Mississauga in 2020, while Peel Regional Police have been unable to get as many guns off the streets in recent years. The numbers dropped while officers were forced to take up other responsibilities.
The solution: balance the expensive costs of frontline investigations with funding initiatives that deal with the root causes of crime and other crises police are increasingly dealing with.
A majority of those who have survived some form of human trafficking don’t come forward for help or share their stories with police. It’s due to fear and uncertainty, but mostly a matter of trust. Survivors don’t trust police and the legal system to prosecute, or service providers to help them. In a region that’s a hotbed for trafficking, rebuilding broken trust is a must.
On Thursday, Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced his government would scrap Regulation 274, a rule that values seniority over all else in the hiring of teachers. The move has been criticized by unions and cautiously welcomed by advocates calling for more equity in education.
The two groups agree on one thing: removing the regulation alone is not enough. A robust plan to hire racialized teachers, especially in Peel, needs to come next.
Just days ago, the city had the highest proportion of new cases of any provincial hotspot, while testing levels remain far below Ontario’s per capita targets. The Province has acknowledged the city’s dire situation but refuses to take responsibility for the lack of resources, which only it can provide.
The statement of claim against Holland Christian Homes details the lawsuit on behalf of those residents impacted during the spread of the novel coronavirus. The claim outlines problems witnessed over the past decade, alleging the organization failed to provide adequate care long before the pandemic.
When the Province declared a state of emergency in mid-March, it gained the power to make quick decisions on the fly. Ever since, a downpour of new rules and regulations have left people feeling dizzy and confused.
As a result, 311 — the go-to service for Mississaugans with questions — has been snowed under, leaving frustrated residents stuck in a queue listening to tinny pop music instead of getting the answers they need.
Families with elderly members in long-term care facilities know the importance of personal support workers, but the lack of critical staff is painfully obvious. Residents and their loved ones in Mississauga and Brampton want to know why more isn’t being done to increase alarmingly low staffing levels as a second wave of COVID-19 spreads across the two cities.
After years of buck-passing across the bureaucracy, a new subsidy and pest management program is being promised to Mississauga residents following hundreds of rat-related complaints since 2017 and recent infestations in some neighbourhoods.
Last week, councillors greenlit a feasibility study by the City’s transit agency, MiWay, to investigate the possibility of running hydrogen-powered, zero-emission buses. In his report lobbying for the funding, MiWay boss Geoff Marinoff said the City will miss its 2050 climate targets if it keeps buying traditional buses.
Less than two years after a much vaunted revamp of Canada’s family reunification immigration program, Ottawa has scrapped recent controversial changes and reinstated random selection. The system, one of only a few non-economic routes into Canada, offers a chance for Peel families to reunite with grandparents who have felt particularly far removed in a world separated by the novel coronavirus.
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new program in early September aimed at members of the Black business community, many people, including the president of the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce, were cautiously optimistic. More than a month later, the application process for business loans still hasn’t opened and no timelines have been provided. Meanwhile, the pandemic’s second wave is ravaging companies, big and small, across Peel.
In 2009, Mississauga identified asbestos in several of its fire stations.
A separate audit, obtained by The Pointer through a Freedom of Information request, completed a decade later reconfirmed the presence of the toxic, carcinogenic substance, which officials have failed to remove, putting the health of firefighters at risk.
Three fire stations in Mississauga are in such bad shape, they were completely written off in a recent audit, which suggests they be demolished.
The stations, still used daily by firefighters, have varying problems, including question marks around their “structural adequacy”.
Experts say issues with cohorting, class sizes, and ventilation exist.
But a ruling from the Labour Relations Board means there will be no widespread changes, based on the position of Ontario’s four main teachers’ unions. Any issues that come across a teacher’s table will have to be brought to their board's attention individually.
Bars, restaurants and gyms are among the businesses in Peel that will be forced to close their indoor services starting Saturday.
The move is being billed as a version of Stage 2 protocols by the Ontario government, which has finally acted to slow down surging COVID-19 case numbers in three hotspots.
For weeks, schools in Peel have been reporting new cases of COVID-19 as students attempt to learn in the midst of a global pandemic.
October has brought the first official outbreaks in the region's schools, while one in Brampton had four cases on top of other classroom closures.
An audit completed in 2019 and obtained by The Pointer through a Freedom of Information request shows the monstrous repair bill facing the City for 14 of its oldest fire stations.
Decades of underfunding have been compounded by inaction, with the City seemingly paralyzed by financial pressures that are putting its residents in danger.
COVID cases in Peel schools continue to rise and 27 classrooms are currently closed. As thousands of students hope to keep learning in person, the weight of teaching in an incredibly challenging environment is compounded by the constant worry of an invisible killer looming around educators. But they are persevering, performing an essential duty to keep millions of Ontarians moving forward.
In June, members of OSSTF in Peel voted to create three new executive positions designed to help dismantle the anti-Black racism that permeates education in the region.
The new positions were a victory for racialized staff, desperate to be represented by their bargaining unit. However, union leadership has proved unwilling to cooperate.
The City’s councillors, who enjoy the luxury of a steady paycheque in these precarious times, face hard choices this budget season.
Many of the same constituents whose property taxes keep City Hall afloat are in desperate need of relief. Any help offered to them today, will have to be covered tomorrow.
Mississauga Ward 2 Councillor Karen Ras last week tabled a successful motion asking Queen’s Park for the ability to enter buildings whose owners are suspected of making renovations without a permit. The move is directed at unscrupulous landlords who cram tenants into badly built spaces, but the retrofitting of suburban family homes into apartment dwellings also raises questions about how to accommodate the city’s exploding population.
The Peel District School Board is offering parents and students a chance to switch from in-person to online learning as COVID-19 cases pile up in Ontario. The welcome move will take more than a month for the board to process, meaning families who want to make the move won’t be able to remove children from the classroom until November 18.
Three Black staff members plan to take the Peel District School Board to the Human Rights Tribunal, alleging anti-Black racism has contributed to poor mental health. The lawyer representing all three hopes a tribunal ruling in their favour would change how mental health and racism are viewed across Ontario.
When schools shut down in March and parents were forced to change their work schedules, daycare was a pressing topic on many minds. But now that schools are open and more students are staying home, childcare options aren’t nearly as tight as usual.
Council members in Brampton have backed a contradictory motion expressing their support for a sprawl-inducing highway and smart growth urban boulevard along the same route.
It’s an idea the Province has dismissed as unworkable, with no one at City Hall able to offer a technical solution for the two incompatible plans. The highway represents land use in direct conflict with City Council’s so-called climate emergency declaration.
After a brief retirement, Janice Baker is returning to city building.
The distinguished former head bureaucrat of Mississauga is taking the reins of the Region of Peel at a critical time when big decisions around growth are needed to guide the region toward a smart and sustainable future, away from the costly sprawl still favoured by Caledon.
Colder temperatures are on the horizon and the province is preparing to fight rising COVID-19 case numbers with enhanced restrictions for Ontario.
In Peel, despite some of the highest daily case counts since the start of the pandemic, health officials and politicians continue to deny the region is in a second wave.
