Christina Early won on a promise to put residents first after years of controversial development decisions under previous leadership. Now, she must prove she can protect what residents value the most — the town’s farmland, groundwater and rural character — while confronting the growth pressures, quarry proposals and infrastructure costs facing Caledon over the next four years.
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Ahead of the municipal election on Monday, October 26, Brampton voters should ask themselves if their life and their city feel better eight years after the arrival of Patrick Brown from the political scrap heap that was his career following allegations of rape and attempted rape by two young women.
Brampton voters salvaged his ruined ambitions in 2018. Eight years later, what have they received in return?
The landmark youth-led climate lawsuit La Rose v. His Majesty the King began its full trial in Federal Court on October 26, where 15 young Canadians will continue to argue the federal government’s climate policies are actively threatening their constitutional rights.
The Pointer followed the proceedings on Day 1 of the trial, which is expected to last for nearly two months.
Voters across Ontario will cast a ballot in today’s municipal election. One issue that deserved more attention leading up to the decision on who will run the province’s cities and towns is the appalling behaviour of mayors and councillors across Ontario, as corruption, scandals, closed-door deal-making, bullying and intimidation are rampant in local government.
Ontario’s Ombudsman has turned a blind eye, allowing increasingly emboldened mayors to run their municipalities like it’s the Wild West, while traditional media outlets have withdrawn from serious accountability journalism at the local level.
What do all of us lose when accountability is not on the ballot today?
At a Standing Committee meeting in support of the Province’s move to eliminate directly elected councillors from the Niagara Regional Council, Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati claimed Niagara mayors “lose every time” to the councillors.
The Pointer analyzes his claim.
A last-minute plan, a multimillion-dollar question and an election on the horizon. St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe’s sudden push to put taxpayers on the hook for cleaning up the former General Motors lands was stopped before council could debate it. With the proposal potentially making a return under a new council, the bill may be far from settled but it has certainly given many residents ‘a hundred million reasons’ not to vote for Siscoe on October 26.
In Caledon, where quarries loom, developers continue to bank land and trust in local government has worn thin, voters head to the polls Monday divided over the future of the GTA’s largest municipality.
Thanks to terrible leadership by the last three mayors, large parts of the once bucolic collection of rural hamlets and villages have been turned into a nightmarish ‘freight village’. As voters decide between mayoral candidates promising their version of “smart growth”, some are reminding residents to ‘not be fooled again’ by promises that have been immediately broken in the past.
Jim Diodati has been criticized throughout his career for being inconsistent with his claims and misrepresenting the facts. After making comments about his main rival in the Niagara Falls mayoral race, The Pointer fact checks some of the statements made by the incumbent.
Four women are taking on established incumbents and other candidates in Niagara’s biggest cities in an electoral environment that has historically offered women fewer opportunities to reach the highest levels of municipal office. Niagara’s numbers remain below national levels, which themselves fall well short of equal representation, and lag behind broader international benchmarks for women’s political representation.
Prabh Gill has big plans to get his city on track after more than a decade of chaos inside City Hall. The professional arbitrator and project manager who has also done human rights work with UN affiliated agencies, wants to bring his experience to the council table as Brampton's next mayor. Affordablity, accountability and making his city safe are at the top of his agenda. Join us on Ballot Vox.
What started as a spat between neighbours, has become a years-long legal battle for Adam Drew. Evidence he uncovered shows City of Pickering officials ignored the findings of senior staff, misled the Committee of Adjustment and the Ontario Land Tribunal and refused to enforce their own bylaws against Adam’s neighbour, who made changes to their property without a permit.
He has been fighting for some form of accountability since 2021. The case is a glaring example of how badly broken Ontario’s paper thin municipal accountability system is.
Mat Siscoe wants to be mayor of St. Catharines again, and Jim Diodati wants the job for another term in Niagara Falls. Both have checkered records regarding the rules mayors are supposed to follow, and now their use of City Hall resources and branding, which is not allowed during an election campaign when each candidate is supposed to operate as a private, independent citizen running for office without any support of the publicly funded local government, is raising questions about how opponents are supposed to compete when the playing field is far from level.
Peel Police’s Fraud Bureau is seeking more information from the public about RSG Law, the firm founded by former Brampton MP Raj Grewal, to help an ongoing criminal investigation.
Grewal and RSG Law are the subjects of dozens of lawsuits and other cases since April, alleging widespread real estate and mortgage fraud totalling more than $200 million. Peel Police believes there may be more victims who have not yet come forward.
On September 18, a Federal Court of Canada ruling cleared the way for a climate accountability case brought by three young Canadians along with environmental and health groups, rejecting the Mark Carney Liberal government’s attempt to have the case thrown out before a full hearing — a week after scientists warned Canada is more than 20 years behind reaching its 2030 emissions target.
The Greenbelt scandal was never just about 7,400 acres of protected land. Three years after the RCMP began its criminal investigation into the Doug Ford government’s ‘hasty’ land swaps, questions over who knew what, who benefited, who used personal accounts to conduct government business and why key records remain out of reach continue to loom over Queen’s Park.
Silence, meanwhile, on the legally required 10-year review of the Greenbelt Plan grows louder. On October 7, a Liberal MPP reminded Ontarians there is another piece of the scandal that remains unresolved.
More newcomers are stepping into local politics than ever before, determined to bring voices and perspectives missing from city halls. But for many, the road to elected office is far from equal. Candidates across the Greater Toronto Area say financial barriers, limited political networks and unequal access to resources and endorsements continue to skew their chances.
The former Brampton MP engulfed in dozens of lawsuits alleging widespread real estate and mortgage fraud, claims he had no day-to-day role in a business owned by his wife’s father, who alleges Grewal had “ultimate control”, and is suing him over unauthorized transactions.
More lawsuits have been filed against Grewal in the last month, part of dozens of legal actions alleging he owes more than $200 million. Some of the evidence in recent court filings details the shooting death of one of Grewal’s former employees, dealmaking by the former MP and claims that his life is in danger after the bookkeeper was gunned down in December.
With advance polls now open, St. Catharines mayoral candidate Ann-Marie Zammit, an actor and union advocate, is asking voters to imagine a city where housing, public transit and workers’ rights take center stage over developer interests. In a recent sit-down with The Pointer, she shares why she wants to curb strong mayor powers, why she’s anti-artificial intelligence and what ‘politics of care’ means to her and the city.
The federal government’s plan to bring private investment into Canada’s four largest airports is being presented as a way to unlock billions of dollars for infrastructure and strengthen connections across the country. As Ottawa works out how the long-term arrangements would operate, the impacts on passengers, airport workers and the local municipalities is murky.
With the West Coast Pacific Link pipeline now designated as Canada’s first project of “national interest”, the Liberal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney is betting that faster approvals can unlock a new generation of major infrastructure. As Bill C-39 moves to reshape environmental assessments, critics are asking since speed is now the priority, how will the environmental costs, Indigenous rights and the long-term consequences of fast-tracked projects be properly addressed beforehand?
As Ontario pours billions into highways and development while reshaping the institutions responsible for protecting its watersheds, six Ontarians were recently recognized by the Ontario Headwaters Institute for protecting the wetlands, waterways and ecosystems that communities depend on.
On September 23, their stories served as a reminder that like every drop that gathers in a vast lake, lasting change is built one small act at a time.
Four years after their election to St. Catharines council, Mayor Mat Siscoe and Councillors Robin McPherson and Caleb Ratzlaff are back on the ballot.
They told voters then that the former GM property would be a top priority if the electorate put its faith in them. As the October 26 municipal election draws closer, residents around the decaying property wonder what happened to their promises.
This past weekend marked the one-year anniversary of the passing of former Niagara Regional chair Jim Bradley and the final substantive meeting of the 32-person Regional Council.
The past year has been a tumultuous one for the region and governance at the upper-tier level of government will not be the same after a series of changes, orchestrated by the Provincial government.
What happens when the public record tells a different story from the one residents have been given? In Huron Shores, a 19-month review of municipal records, engineering reports, funding applications and Council proceedings has raised questions about the deterioration of the historic Dean Lake Bridge that the public never got the answers to.
As Ontario heads toward its municipal elections this October, one grassroots group is making the case for why residents deserve ‘the whole record’ before deciding who should earn their trust—and their vote.
Two reports published a day apart had the same dire warning for humanity: instead of meeting climate targets, the world — and Canada — will push past its temperature thresholds, unleashing dangerous climate impacts. But scientists have one reminder: buckle those seatbelts; we need to change the path, not ‘reduce ambition’.
Ten months into the Doug Ford government’s takeover of Peel’s school board, the financial books may have been rearranged without public consultation after years of provincial underfunding but there is a bigger threat impacting students directly as they head back to school: the levels of lead in their drinking water.
As Ontario continues to stand by a lead standard that allows twice as much of the ‘toxic metal’ in drinking water as the federal guideline, critics continue to ask: when will safe water become as much a priority as a balanced budget?
Fired by the Niagara conservation authority.
Fired by the City of Brampton.
Lasts one year in Thames Centre.
Fired by South Stormont.
Hired by the City of Whitehorse.
Jim Ross, a political consultant who was paid $25,000 by Mat Siscoe’s election campaign in 2022, has since received more than $65,000 of taxpayer money to host teletown halls for the City. Neither Ross nor Siscoe declared any conflict of interest, an apparent violation of City policy.
Emails reviewed by The Pointer show Siscoe taking a keen interest in the contracts for the work his friend was bidding on.
People power has worked once again in a Peel municipality. On September 16, Mississauga council unanimously approved a one-year pause on large-scale data centre development following months of resident opposition to a proposed 40-megawatt facility—becoming the second Ontario municipality to impose a moratorium on AI data centres that are hungry for electricity and water.
In merely six days, the Mark Carney government accepted the risk of Webequie Supply Road construction possibly increasing “physical and sexual violence towards Indigenous women and girls” in the name of “public interest” on the condition that proponents meet certain requirements. Advocates are now asking why Canada has not learned from its past.
While senior police officials have labelled impaired driving “a scourge” in Peel, the crime is being perpetuated by their own sworn members. In 2025, five officers were caught driving impaired while off-duty. In one instance, a dog died when the officer crashed into the divider between the express and collector lanes on Highway 401.
Peel Police have not named the officers or made any public statements about their shocking conduct.
While politicians on both sides of the border trade barbs over the name of Lake Ontario, conservationists are protecting the land around the pristine waters that feed into it.
On August 25, Ontario Nature announced it had acquired 18 acres in eastern Ontario, permanently protecting an environmentally sensitive tract within the Frontenac Arch, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve widely celebrated as one of Canada’s most biologically rich and diverse landscapes, at a time when unchecked development is being prioritized over nature.
The sunsetting of a long-running scholarship at Brock University for students born in the Guernsey islands is part of a larger pattern of failing to honour the man who gives the university its name and ignoring the contributions of Indigenous peoples.
Just a month before “the world’s largest investors” will convene in Toronto for the first-ever Canada Investment Summit, the Mark Carney federal government made attempts to dismiss a climate lawsuit that began with three young Canadians challenging his decision to weaken the 2030 emissions plan.
On August 27, the applicants pushed back, saying their case is not about telling the government what policies to choose but rather about following the law.
Since the announcement on August 14 that foreshadowed the closure of the Stellantis Assembly in Brampton, thousands of residents directly connected to the operation have been on pins and needles. Both Stellantis and Unifor have been silent on details as they enter negotiations before the current collective bargaining agreement expires on September 20.
If the Brampton plant is shuttered, it will cement the loss of thousands of auto-sector jobs in the region.
In August, Premier Doug Ford touted his PC government’s track record of helping municipalities address the mental health and addiction crisis.
At the same time, the leaders of Ontario’s big cities said things have never been worse and demanded increased funding to help them get services to those in need.
After a bruising 2025, Canada’s electric vehicle market is showing signs of recovery following Ottawa’s revival of the federal rebate program and a new crop of cheaper models. The biggest surprise was in Ontario, where EV sales have surged to a record high even without a provincial rebate.
Two months later, Ottawa repealed the EV sales standard, prompting experts to question if Canada’s recent EV success might be short-lived.
Municipal politics in Niagara has undergone foundational shifts over the last four years. From municipalities reducing the number of elected officials around their council tables, to the PC government axing 19 regional council positions earlier this year, Niagara voters will be marking a very different ballot come October.
With nominations closed, The Pointer breaks down all those who have registered and been certified to run across the region.
After more than four thousand wildfires across Canada had burned during the summer, the federal and provincial governments announced investments to protect nature; while simultaneously advancing legislation and projects that will permanently alter landscapes across the nation.
While governments can hold businesses accountable for greenwashing, who calls out public institutions when they do the same? The Competition Bureau is being asked to investigate recent contradictory actions.
Documents obtained by The Pointer through a freedom of information request detail the risk firefighters take with each call they receive about the former General Motors property right next to downtown St. Catharines.
The logs, which detail flooded elevator shafts, crumbling buildings and “treacherous” routes leading to fire sources, cast doubt on claims by City officials that no formal complaints have been received about the dangerous state of the site.
Neighbourhoods in St. Catharines might look dry right now but the aftermath of three once-in-a-century storms within a week is still visible outside homes. Heaps of what now looks like garbage show what residents lost.
On August 24, as City Council backed an independent flood review and emergency measures, one resident brought his neighbours’ voice to City Hall, demanding answers and pushing for lasting change before he joined NDP leader Marit Stiles at Queen’s Park three days later, calling on Premier Doug Ford to recall the legislature and address the disaster.
In Peterborough, the local municipality and public health unit are working together to identify and mitigate threats from a former General Electric property. In St. Catharines residents are left wondering why they do not get the same treatment.
Testing identified asbestos in the soil on the former GM property more than two months ago; so far, little action has been taken.
On August 13, Ontario Premier Doug Ford released the Data Centre Playbook, kicking off a one-month public consultation period, just days after two municipalities voted in favour of halting new data centre developments, as the Green Party of Ontario called on the PCs to issue a province-wide moratorium.
The shaky plan lacks enforceable standards, clear distinctions between data-centre types, municipal authority, Indigenous consultation and environmental safeguards.
When the federal government approved the first road to be constructed to the mineral-rich Ring of Fire, it admitted the project could cause ‘irreversible’ damage to the environment and Indigenous ways of life, yet determined its economic advantages outweighed those effects. It was a decision made by Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin just six days after a six-year-long consultation process concluded.
The Friends of the Attawapiskat River are now taking Dabrusin to the Federal Court, asking judges to reconsider the ‘unreasonable’ decision.
Lori Lococo was likely on her way to securing a third straight term as a Niagara Falls City Councillor. Events over the last three months made her change her mind.
A day before nominations are set to close for the October 26 municipal election, she has withdrawn her nomination and refiled for mayor. She will face off against formidable incumbent Jim Diodati, who has led the municipality since 2010.
Just days after Neskantaga First Nation residents returned home from a wildfire-related evacuation, they were forced to pack their bags again. This time because a contractor’s mistake flooded their only nursing station with raw sewage.
One of Ottawa’s long-awaited programs, years in the making, was announced last winter with a $40 million promise of putting young Canadians at the centre of climate action while tackling unemployment.
More than nine months later, plans for the Youth Climate Corps collect dust on federal shelves along with at least two disbanded Youth Councils that provided young voices a seat at the table where national policies that dictate their future are built.
The AI boom is arriving faster than rules meant to govern it. Across Ontario municipalities are facing proposals for massive data centres that could reshape local demands for electricity, water and infrastructure as Queen’s Park and Ottawa promote AI as an engine of economic growth.
Just days after a Mississauga resident wrote to Mayor Carolyn Parrish to coordinate a regional response to the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure, the Ontario Green Party called on the Doug Ford government to halt new data centres until it has rules to govern this energy-hungry technology.
Mother Nature may have unleashed more than just the intense rains that pummeled St. Catharines in recent weeks. The deluge of water on the crumbling former GM property is flowing through land rife with dangerous contaminants, including asbestos recently found in the soil.
After a pond meant to contain contaminated stormwater was observed overflowing into the municipal sewer system, the provincial government has ordered the property owner to come up with a plan to avoid similar discharges in the future.
Municipal politics in Niagara has undergone a foundational shift over the last four years. From municipalities reducing the number of elected officials around their council tables, to the PC government axing 19 regional council positions earlier this year, Niagara voters will be marking their X on a very different ballot this year.
With less than two weeks until nominations close, The Pointer breaks down all those who have registered to run across the region.
Following a decision to charge residents $1,000 for filing a Code of Conduct complaint against members of Council, those same members now argue a bylaw is needed to prevent frivolous complaints and protect taxpayers from unneeded legal costs.
Critics argue it’s actually another attempt to discourage legitimate complaints or a “pathway to silent obedience”, as stated by one resident, who has raised the ire of Council.
