With infection numbers once again worsening, a parent at Agnes Taylor Public School is frustrated after not receiving a response from the Peel District School Board and their local trustee about concerns around COVID-19 mitigation and prevention measures at the school.
After the case was dismissed in February, an Ontario Justice has now awarded The Pointer over $64,000 in legal costs following a $12 million lawsuit brought by a Brampton doctor after reporting showed she spread anti-vaccine information on social media.
The financial demands of learning in a new country, and restrictions on the amount of time an international student is allowed to work, leave many of these newcomers vulnerable to labour and sexual exploitation.
New changes by the federal government could help alleviate some of the pressure, but advocates say Ottawa needs to do more to protect international students.
First reported by the Toronto Star, the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections has received Patrick Brown’s City Hall expenses, following the public release of invoices obtained by The Pointer that show the mayor’s social media expenses paid by the City of Brampton went up almost ten times during his CPC leadership campaign, which used work done by a firm that invoiced the City.
At least one tweet involved in the questionable use of City resources has been deleted by Brown since The Pointer first reported on it last week.
As Canada’s economy continues to sputter, Mississauga Food Bank visits have doubled over the last year, CEO Meghan Nicholls says, and without government intervention and clear policies to help combat food insecurity, the need is expected to rise.
The organization says more has to be done to meet the increased demand across the city as many individuals and families are being pushed to the breaking point. A national food bank report released today shows the same troubling trends across the country.
Nikki Kaur, who ran against the incumbent mayor, says her firing from her job at City Hall less than 24 hours after Monday’s election was another effort by Patrick Brown to silence her for coming forward with allegations and evidence of wrongdoing under his leadership.
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With only 24.6 percent of eligible voters casting a ballot in Brampton, Patrick Brown was able to secure the support of almost 60 percent of those residents who did vote in the country’s ninth largest city.
New faces around the council table were guaranteed following the departure of three incumbents, but a fourth new face will join the fray at City Hall following an upset in Wards 9 and 10 which saw incumbent Gurpreet Dhillon unseated.
The remaining incumbents, many of them loyal to Patrick Brown—Rowena Santos, Paul Vicente, Michael Palleschi and Harkirat Singh—will all be returning, as well as those who have been critical in the past of the mayor’s leadership, Pat Fortini and Martin Medeiros.
Annette Groves will take the Caledon mayor’s seat after Allan Thompson’s retirement from the job.
She received 58 percent of the vote. Her win symbolizes a shift to more sustainable policies in the GTA’s biggest municipality.
Winning in a landslide, incumbent Bonnie Crombie will once again serve the residents of Mississauga after receiving nearly 80 percent of the vote. The victory heralds Crombie’s third term in the mayor’s seat.
Following a term dominated by a harassment allegation, Ward 6 councillor Ron Starr was unseated by challenger Joe Horneck.
After a decade of ‘planning’ – including closed in-camera council sessions, questionable land sales, and rushed consulting and construction – the build for Erin’s Wastewater Treatment Facility is underway and predicted to be fully operational by 2028, dumping 7.2 million litres of effluent into the sensitive Missinnihe, or west Credit River, daily.
Hooked up in phases, the Town of Erin and the private sector partner have stated new developments will be connected initially, leaving current residents at the end of the line. After selling the lands for the Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) to the Town for just $2, Solmar Development Corp. is one of three builders that will be serviced first.
An effort to raise awareness about sexual assault allegations against incumbent Brampton candidate Gurpreet Dhillon has been met with aggressive tactics, organizers say.
The group, 74Nos, has promoted itself as a non-partisan, independent collection of residents trying to advocate for women.
Dhillon has denied allegations he assaulted a woman during a City of Brampton business trip to Turkey, but the City’s former integrity commissioner issued a report accepting the alleged victim’s allegations.
Y Media television host Yudhvir Jaswal called out Patrick Brown on his show this week as the mayoral candidate continuously lied about the reason University of Guelph-Humber pulled out of its Brampton expansion plans.
Brown tried to mislead viewers, repeatedly claiming six councillors cancelled the partnership, which is blatantly false; a letter from Guelph-Humber stated the decision was made after the City dragged its heels on the project.
Nikki Kaur is promising that if elected as mayor she will introduce a bylaw to create the city’s first auditor-general position. City Hall has been plagued by allegations and evidence of wrongdoing under Patrick Brown.
He orchestrated the hiring of unqualified staffers, handed contracts to friends and associates and rules around procurements were broken under his watch. Kaur is vowing to clean up City Hall if elected Monday.
The City of Brampton says Patrick Brown and Rowena Santos have failed to hand over documents to staff working on a freedom of information request by The Pointer seeking communications with their friends, whose firms received $629,000 in payments for the failed Brampton University project.
Brown and Santos cancelled forensic investigations probing the project and their relationship with the two men hired as consultants.
Invoices obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show Patrick Brown used the mayor’s office expense budget to pay a firm more than $28,000 during his CPC leadership campaign to handle social media posts, including ones used for his federal campaign.
This appears to be a violation of federal election laws which prohibit candidates from charging third-parties for certain expenses.
Members of Peel’s Black communities are telling prominent advocates they are scared to speak out against Patrick Brown, despite their desire to see him gone from City Hall.
However, an open letter from Len Carby, a long-time advocate against systemic discrimination in the city has outlined these concerns, calling for Brampton voters to make sure Brown does not return to City Hall after October 24.
After voting the same way for nearly 30 years, residents of the Town of Caledon will see a change on their municipal ballots in 2022.
The population of the Region of Peel has been on an incline since its creation in 1974; with that comes challenges such as ensuring the representation of residents is reflected equitably in the 25 seats within the Region of Peel Council. Meet the candidates running for Caledon Wards 1/2/3 and 4/5/6.
With the decision of Walter Sendzik to step down from his mayor’s seat, three candidates are vying for the position in the upcoming municipal election.
One of them, Mike Britton, has a slew of green policies he plans to roll out, if he’s elected.
Ron Starr, who is seeking reelection for council in Mississauga’s Ward 6, was seen shaking hands at a recent campaign event with Paul Fromm, one of Canada’s most notorious white supremacists. Starr maintains he did not know it was Fromm at the time.
Caledon residents showed up to a special council meeting Tuesday afternoon to address concerns around the controversial aggregate industry. Open pits, quarries and other sites that have been abandoned for years have become more than just an eyesore.
Residents have voiced the need to protect local ecosystems from these destructive operations, but many said Tuesday’s last-minute meeting, after council members like Innis supported the industry for years, was nothing more than an election stunt.
Patrick Brown appeared on iHeartRadio addressing his cancellation of six forensic investigations in August, repeating a number of falsehoods about the now terminated probe of the failed Brampton University project, including that there was “no wrongdoing found” and that the “Ombudsman said it wasn’t worth investigating”.
The firm of Brown’s close friend was paid almost $360,000 more than what was approved by council and much of the work was never done.
Jennifer Innis has failed to take action on the controversial St. Mary’s Quarry and in the past has supported aggregate projects opposed by most of her residents. After supporting the industry for years, she was booed while on stage last week when Caledon voters demanded action.
Now, after working against their interests, with six days before the election, she has pushed for a special council meeting to suddenly change her stance.
While provincial governments play an important part in determining a healthy and affordable housing market, experts are saying there’s more work that needs to be done by Peel’s mayors and council members as the rising cost of living is seeing more families struggling across the region.
A recent article in The Pointer Niagara detailed Freedom of Information documents that exposed the extent of backroom activity between mayor Walter Sendzik, developers and senior staff who tried to push a major mixed-use community on the contaminated former GM lands, with little regard for the public’s health. They need to be held accountable for how they have mishandled the project.
Arjun McNeill is a 24-year-old Caledon resident who is trying to break the status quo on October 24.
McNeill, one of the youngest candidates running for a council seat in this year’s municipal election, is hoping to infuse his sustainable ideals into local politics.
Mayoral contender Nikki Kaur went to Queen’s Park on Thursday asking for provincial officials to launch investigations into Patrick Brown’s growing number of scandals and controversies inside City Hall.
He terminated six forensic investigations after damning evidence of widespread wrongdoing was found.
Former councillors Annette Groves and Jennifer Innis both want to be Caledon’s next mayor.
They have served on Caledon council together, but their views on development, urban sprawl and the environment offer two vastly different approaches to managing the massive growth that will define the municipality over the next three decades.
Mississauga’s long-time Ward 11 councillor George Carlson is retiring from City Council after over two decades in the chair, opening the door for a new face to take on the area’s unique set of challenges.
The mayoral candidate is also a lawyer and senior staffer inside City Hall; she says Brampton can not afford four more years with Brown at the helm, after he spent most of the last term trying to find a way out of the city, to pursue his federal political ambitions.
Kaur vows to restore accountability and address the issues Brown ignored while trying to make his exit, including crime, affordability and healthcare.
Residents of Wards 3 & 4 will get to choose from six candidates who want to represent constituents on the issues that matter most to them, as Jeff Bowman retires from municipal politics after doggedly trying for years to clean up a City Hall that saw one scandal after another under the leadership of Patrick Brown.
After more than three decades, Pat Saito is stepping down as councillor for Ward 9. Her departure has triggered the most contested battle among the city’s wards for a seat at City Hall with 11 candidates putting their name forward.
With the population expected to grow by about 50 percent by 2051, urban growth is inevitable across the Greater Golden Horseshoe. This will put immense pressure on our land, wildlife and watersheds.
A new tool developed by the Ontario Headwaters Institute provides a glimpse into the future of our province—for better or worse.
In February, six Brampton councillors called out Mayor Patrick Brown and senior staff after two years of controversy, an external investigation and widespread allegations of abuse inside City Hall under the leadership of CAO David Barrick.
In a special council meeting, Brown was accused of blocking votes from taking place during closed session meetings, forcing the majority bloc of councillors to vow dramatic action.
Between now and the October municipal election, The Pointer is republishing articles that highlight the troubling behaviour of Patrick Brown since becoming mayor of Brampton.
The anchor tenant (a partnership between University of Guelph and Humber College) of the planned Centre for Innovation, has pulled out of a proposed downtown Brampton campus.
The devastating news comes right after Brown, Rowena Santos and Paul Vicente sent out campaign-style literature advertising that 5,200 new University of Guelph-Humber students would be studying in Brampton. A spokesperson said the three were never given permission to use the names and logos of the post-secondary institutions in their political material.
As 96.5 percent of Canadian Union of Public Employees members across the province vote in favour of taking strike action against the Conservative government, Evelyn Blackwell, president of CUPE 1628, says the last thing education workers in Peel want is to be walking the picket line, but without a reasonable offer from the PC government, it may be their only option.
Nikki Kaur pledged to hire more officers to address rising crime and hammered Patrick Brown for what she called failed leadership, while he called her debate style, “mudslinging”.
She vowed to end his scandal riddled time in office.
This year has shown that climate change is no longer a distant threat, its impacts are here, and they are deadly.
Municipal candidates looking for council seats in Peel share their visions for moving forward on climate adaptation, mitigation and funding.
City Hall documents show $180,800 paid by Brampton taxpayers to a third-party company went to lawyer Howard Winkler.
Winkler represented Brown in his lawsuit against CTV following allegations of sexual misconduct and defended him in a lawsuit filed by senior PC MPP Vic Fedeli against Brown following the release of his tell-all memoir in 2018.
Impaired driving is on the rise across many of Ontario’s large urban centres, and a new survey from MADD Canada shows that young males are largely to blame.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission delivered its final report to Ottawa in 2015, after eight years of work. The 94 “calls to action” are crucial to the wellbeing of First Nations communities and other Indigenous peoples who have endured centuries of trauma caused intentionally by governments across the country and historically by the British and French.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald has stressed the need for immediate action to implement these desperately needed changes. But she says at the pace the government is moving, following decades of criminal-like behaviour, it will take 40 years before any real benefits of so-called reconciliation are seen.
The Pointer’s Alexis Wright has created a virtual walk of reflection to consider our collective obligation to First Nations communities and other Indigenous peoples.
An update by forensic auditors reveals they were in the process of investigating the relationship between the mayor and one of the failed Brampton University project’s main consultants—who was paid almost $360,000 more than what was approved by Council—when Patrick Brown moved to cancel the investigation.
The update shows Rob Godfrey, his close friend, was paid before work was done, and much of it was never completed.
The dead of a Canadian winter is an unforgiving time for dogs not made for the harsh climate. But more and more have been forced to the streets in recent years, often abandoned or escaped. Many end up starving and succumbing to the cold, dying in horrendous conditions.
Rescue organizations across the globe have taken on the responsibility of saving these animals. Advocates in Canada, a major importer of rescue animals, fear the just instituted ‘blanket ban’ on animals from certain countries where rabies is a risk only hurts those following all the precautions in the first place, to ensure a safer future.
A group of 11 candidates in Brampton, all members of the city’s diverse Black communities, are using their election platform to call on the Peel Regional Police to immediately take meaningful action to address the use of force against Black residents, which continues to impact them at a rate three times higher than other groups.
The Great Lakes Forum in Niagara Falls getting underway this week will bring together scientists, government officials and interested citizens from Canada and the United States to discuss the current state, and the ongoing threats to the Great Lakes Basin.
The warming climate and its impact on the lakes—present and future—will be a key topic of discussion as climate change adds to ongoing challenges faced by the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem.
Meet the 13 candidates who are campaigning for the chance to represent the residents of Wards 7 & 8.
Taking over the now vacant seat of Brampton Centre’s MPP Charmaine Williams will come with a demanding agenda, after the one-term former councillor took a hard stance on community safety, a key local issue ahead of the October 24 election.
An “alarming” increase in drug and human trafficking has the Niagara Regional Police Service looking for new tools to fight gang activity that is increasingly spilling over from the GTA.
A provincial grant approved earlier this month will help fund a new set of CCTV cameras to help make Niagara “unwelcoming” to these transient gangs who arrive in the region to commit their criminal acts before fleeing.
A three-day forum starting tomorrow will bring together stakeholders and researchers to discuss the current state of the Great Lakes ecosystem.
While climate change and invasive species are ongoing threats, the surging population of the Greater Toronto Area and the stress it is placing on Lake Ontario and the Great Lakes Basin will dominate many of the discussions.
Documents obtained by The Pointer show a developer trying to build a mixed-use residential project on the contaminated former GM site in St. Catharines was working with Mayor Walter Sendzik and senior staff two years ago, to “pressure” the local conservation authority for help, while the City claimed it was committed to protecting the public and before the extent of contamination was even known.
The documents also show the developer, mayor and senior staff were secretly working to have residents cover some of the builder’s costs, possibly millions of dollars, after taxpayers had previously been on the hook for the original developer’s property taxes.
The once hyped plan to build a university in Brampton is floundering with little to report after more than two years. The City has spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on consultants with almost nothing to show for it.
While the community has seen no benefits from the wild proposal, the two men that won contracts to work on BramptonU have links to Mayor Patrick Brown and Councillor Rowena Santos, who have gone silent after pushing the ill-conceived idea.
Between now and the October municipal election, The Pointer is republishing articles that highlight the troubling behaviour of Patrick Brown since becoming mayor of Brampton.
