During last summer’s contentious regional review process, forced by Premier Doug Ford, Brampton and Mississauga clearly stated their positions. Brampton wanted to retain the status quo while Mississauga longed for independence.
While the province eventually killed the idea of breaking up some regions, and Peel remained as is, Mississauga continues to add to its status as an economic powerhouse, and Brampton stumbles forward with no clear path to attract future investment.
While the initial proposal for Bill 108 and its Community Benefit Charge seemed to signal less money for libraries, community centres and other soft services regularly underfunded in city budgets, new changes offer some hope.
Now, the province is suggesting these facilities, alongside parklands, could be entirely funded by development charges.
The Doug Ford PC government has made a huge investment, with an additional $202 million, to fight the devastating crimes of human trafficking and child sexual exploitation. It will add to increased education and awareness among stakeholders who are trying to take a more comprehensive approach to fight sophisticated crime rings, including many operating across Peel Region.
The overt examples of bias that infest two of the major institutions serving Mississauga and Brampton are by-products of deep-seeded prejudices that can only be exposed and expelled by a new approach to policing and education.
Brampton's public health units, paramedic services and long-term care homes are all reeling from a lack of resources. Provincial cuts are set to make already dire situations worse. Now, the city is joining other municipalities to ask Ontario to reconsider funding changes.
In 2019, Mississauga's residential construction was worth $1.79 billion, the majority of which came in the form of apartments in high-rise buildings. Elected officials hope density and height can provide enough supply to douse the city's inflamed housing market.
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For many victims of domestic violence in a region as diverse as Peel, the odds are stacked against them. Often, they have to choose between living with abuse or living in poverty. Many victims from a range of backgrounds require unique strategies and solutions. In Peel, a lack of resources is stopping service providers from getting help to the people who desperately need it.
Think global cities and you’re likely to evoke New York City, London and Tokyo but certainly not Mississauga.
That could change soon, says Mayor Bonnie Crombie, eager to sell an audience of business professionals on the city’s financial potential.
While its economy continues to grow, unresolved pressures loom ever larger on the horizon, such as an anticipated population crunch and the need for infrastructure renewal.
Plans for the massive $275 million Lakeview Village waterfront development are underway. But residents living nearby have lingering concerns — including odour from a wastewater treatment plant, traffic congestion and density— about the project, which has been radically altered since its inception.
Last week, Elizabeth Gallant, a relative of the Harrison family, addressed the police services board.
She demanded the release of what’s likely to be a scathing report by the independent watchdog over the failure of Peel police to adequately investigate the suspicious deaths of three family members.
Another finding of racial discrimination is the latest blow to the police force that patrols two of the most diverse cities in the world. Its officers are overwhelmingly white, while residents are overwhelmingly non-white.
The latest case of race-based discrimination is drawing more attention to this troubling imbalance, after a Grade 1 student was forcibly confined by officers who handcuffed her.
Brampton is counting on Foreign Direct Investment and has taken to the world stage to market itself as a place for businesses to expand their operations and grow. As automation replaces jobs, the city has ambitions to balance its residential population with economic opportunities.
It’s well-documented that Peel is ground zero for human trafficking. While police have directed considerable resources toward investigating and prosecuting offenders, victims are often left to fend for themselves.
A new study reveals the wide gap between the help human trafficking survivors need and the services available to them.
As Brampton's court system ails from a lack of staff to keep up with municipal and provincial responsibilities, the city’s 2020 budget hasn’t allocated any money for resources to help the situation.
Photo radar is coming and with it, an increase in speeding tickets that could hinder the courts from seeing cases in the mandated timeframe.
Illegal turns, restricted parking, distracted driving and other hazardous road practices have plagued Brampton school zones. In turn, children and youth are at significant risk for injury and death.
Principals are requesting the city ensure violations are better enforced, after multiple site inspections and reports have yet to result in substantive change.
For years, Peel police have been shrouded in controversy, including everything from theft to fraud, breach of trust and sexual assault.
With the hiring of a new chief, the force pledged to address officer misconduct, increase diversity in its ranks and overall, be transparent and accountable. So it seems strange that both it and its union have said so little about Peel Regional Police Association President Adrian Woolley’s drunk driving conviction.
Canada needs to implement a renewal energy model that is already being installed by more progressive nations around the world.
In doing so, we won’t have to continue scarring our beautiful landmass with wasteful and destructive projects like the Alberta oil sands, and can begin work toward reconciliation.
For years, Metrolinx planned to bring two-way, all-day service to its Kitchener Line, with stops in Brampton’s downtown, Mount Pleasant, Bramalea and Malton.
However, in the whirlwind of LRT debates and excitement for the 2040 Vision, it's not clear if Peel’s cities are planning to take full advantage of the line’s potential.
Change can be hard, but Brampton’s library system has embraced modernity with open arms.
On a shoestring budget, the system provides resources to residents in tech, coding and 3D printing, and of course literacy — a skill with rates dropping in young students across the province.
Brampton envisions itself as a city that has it all — economic development, low taxes and infrastructure investment.
But a second consecutive tax freeze means challenges lie ahead for a municipality that needs the money to keep up with major healthcare, transit, education and infrastructure projects to support its growing population.
On Tuesday night, parents and community members gathered inside a board meeting to protest anti-Black racism in Peel schools.
After one trustee said he feared for his life, PDSB chair Brad MacDonald opted to summon police, further inflaming tensions between the school board and community.
Brampton’s firefighters require ongoing education and training to properly serve a rapidly changing city.
From high-rise developments to the opioid crisis and illegal secondary units, new safety risks emerge with a rising population, requiring more staff and stations. To foot the bill, a sustainable financial solution needs to be found.
More and more Brampton residents are registering their secondary units with city hall. While partially solving one problem, it creates two more.
Staff are swamped with trying to keep up with the paperwork required for inspections and approvals, and just because these units are legal, it doesn't lessen their burden on civic infrastructure. It's an issue for a 2020 budget that is big on savings for taxpayers, but sparse on serious investment for the future.
Will a near zero tax hike in the 2020 budget act as a generator to attract new businesses, or is this an unproven and fatally flawed plan?
This short-term fix will have long-term implications and Brampton eventually has to come up with a funding formula based on “wealth building.” This is the best way of keeping our future taxes low, says one of the world’s most trusted voices on city-building.
Responses from a recent Forum Research survey suggest the new council has yet to win the hearts and minds of Brampton residents.
Priorities at the top of people’s lists remain the same two years into council’s term, and wavering public opinion could worsen, as the city wrestles with a budget that has short-term gains and long-term consequences.
The United Way Greater Toronto has announced a new partnership between eight agencies that could bring relief to Peel’s underfunded social service system.
In a rapidly growing region with rising poverty, housing unaffordability, homelessness and food bank reliance, this initiative could provide better aid to those who desperately need it.
Six years ago, Inspiration Lakeview was a true watershed initiated and led by Mississauga residents. City staff and locals cooperated on the innovative plan that would benefit the people — not just developers — with a museum, Great Lakes research campus and a vast waterfront park where low buildings maintained views of Lake Ontario. But as planning progressed and things began to look taller and denser, Lakeview Village was born.
Queen’s Park is set to release its review of anti-Black racism allegations against the Peel District School Board by the end of February, when Black History Month celebrations will culminate weeks of honouring monumental contributions to Canadian society.
The review could show the public that Doug Ford’s PC government is serious about being a progressive force in Ontario politics and in the province’s struggling public education system.
Dating back to Doug Ford’s disastrous first budget as premier of Ontario, Mississauga Legal Services and legal clinics like it across the province have been fighting cuts made in that document, compromising the crucial work these services provide.
Now they have a new problem, as Conservative legislation threatens to shake the foundation of everything legal aid stands for.
The Region of Peel receives nearly six times less money than the City of Toronto for mental health and addiction supports.
This means thousands of people are left to suffer and fend for themselves, which often results in crisis and police apprehension — a scenario that has become increasingly common. But a new rapid response team is intervening, keeping people out of cuffs and emergency departments.
The Brampton Transit budget is getting a 14 percent bump in 2020, the largest of any city department. As ridership has grown by more than 50 percent over the last four years, the city is continuing to invest in its public transit system.
Numbers suggest it’s time to expand, but a closer look at the budget indicates council isn’t planning too far ahead.
The four-night Brampton 2040 Speaker Series was an exercise in indifference. Despite the rolling out of some of the most thoughtful and exciting urbanists on the planet, and the beautiful Rose Theatre as a venue, the public and political response was disappointing. The idea was to keep the momentum going for the 2040 Vision that will be incorporated as a strategic plan over the next decades. So, who’s to blame for the tepid response: organizers, citizens, or representatives on council who decided to stay home and disengage from the city-building gatherings?
After the old Ontario Municipal Board was overtaken by developer interests, it was replaced by The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT), a provincial body set up to mediate planning disputes between developers, citizens and cities. Designed as a last resort, the decisions it makes hang over council members and city planners.
Surprising staffing moves recently under the Ford government appear to have shifted the LPAT back to a developer-friendly agency. In Mississauga, the addition of significant height and density to its community-planned Lakeview Village project illustrates the indirect power the LPAT holds.
As the ongoing review of anti-Black discrimination continues at the Peel District School Board, another of its teachers has been suspended for discrimination against Muslim students.
It’s yet another indication of widespread issues that exist in the local school board and the significance being placed on the provincial review as a harbinger of change.
As the second fastest growing city in Canada, Brampton has a big problem. The city’s infrastructure gap is widening and it doesn’t have enough money to keep up. While no, or minimal tax increases look good on paper, what does this mean for a city with major healthcare, transit and infrastructure needs?
Tens of thousands of Peel residents, including adults, youth and children, are not receiving an adequate level of care for mental health due to a historic lack of provincial funding, say advocates, and that number is sure to increase if a solution isn’t found soon.
Sparks flew during City Council’s first day of budget deliberations with questions of cuts, unfunded projects and a lack of trust all thrown around the council chamber.
The dramatic first day of discussions could be a preview of what’s to come as council debates a budget that might be popular in the short-term, but could have serious implications for the city’s future if approved in its current form.
Each year, Canadians throw away enough food to feed four million people. Food waste has a significant effect on the environment, resulting in methane gas that accelerates climate change. One organization is hoping to change that by saving food from the landfill and getting it into the hands of the hungry.
Waitlists for daily programs provided by the Region of Peel — which are relied upon by seniors requiring complex care — are hundreds of names long, with backlogs lasting up to a year. Much of the problem lies with inadequate provincial funding, which has not risen beyond the rate of inflation.
Land in Mississauga is a scarce commodity. Regardless of whether it is purchased to construct a restaurant or a condominium tower, its price increases every year. For developers and businesses, that means there is little urgency to build and simply owning acres is enough to make more money.
Recently, the Region of Peel moved to discourage ownership of undeveloped land, while in Mississauga, the mayor is worried this phenomenon is choking the market’s supply of new housing.
Facial recognition software, using billions of images scraped from online sources, is being increasingly used to help solve cases. But there are questions of privacy and the potential unethical application of the new technology, which forces like Peel’s are finding difficult to answer.
For months, Brampton residents have waited to learn where the proposal for Phase-2 expansion of Peel Memorial stands. Now, city staff say — following discussions with William Osler Health System where it became obvious the two sides had very different ideas about the project — it is too early to start saving funds, making a hospital levy unnecessary this year.
Brampton and Mississauga are both taking part in innovative projects to test the limits of green transit. Brampton is one of three municipalities piloting a standardization of electric charging facilities, while Mississauga is exploring how it could power its bus fleet using hydrogen.
Now, the group masterminding these projects has been given a funding boost, offering even greater opportunities to its champion stakeholders.
In Ontario, there are approximately 80,000 people living in long-term care, but not enough personal support workers to handle the daily responsibilities that bolster their health, well-being, safety and quality of life. In short-staffed facilities, where resources are stretched thin, the situation is dire and residents are left to suffer.
But the job has a high turnover rate, as wages remain low and the workload continuously increases. Overworked staff are stuck waiting upwards of ten years to receive a full-time position, left with no benefits and no one to cover their paid time off in the meantime.
In Peel, home ownership is near impossible, rentals are scarce and homelessness is rising. In response, the region has okayed additional funding to flow into its long-neglected shelter system in the hopes of addressing chronic overcapacity. As well, new measures are being taken to encourage the development of basement apartments and other affordable housing options.
Brampton taxpayers will once again be on the hook for unsustainable City Hall salaries, but a proposed budget with a minimal property tax increase recommends cutting to the bone instead of funding a growing list of projects that had been planned to keep the city running smoothly.
Mayor Patrick Brown has made clear that low taxes are his priority, but what remains unclear is how he expects to attract jobs and investment if Brampton’s infrastructure falls apart.
Brampton’s 2040 Vision, a document mapping out plans for the city’s modern future, is approaching its second birthday. Over the last two years, City Hall has made repeated references to its content, despite having spent little energy actualizing its goals.
During the latest event in the 2040 Speaker Series, renowned planner Gil Penalosa said realizing the vision is simply a matter of priorities and putting people first.
Brampton’s Eco Park Strategy hopes to bolster human interaction with nature by conserving and enhancing local green spaces and the environment.
To achieve this, the city needs a clear plan of implementation, but like many of its initiatives put forth recently, things appear to be one step forward, two steps back.
After years of neglect, Malton is at last attracting the type of community investment and interest needed to boost its profile and serve the needs of its diverse and fast-growing population. There’s still a lot of work left to be done, say champions for the neighbourhood.
As the dispute between Ontario teachers and the province continues, strike action has been impacting parents. Many have been forced to make tough decisions with the sudden absence of care for their children during school hours.
In Brampton, this problem is especially pronounced as a result of the city’s limited child care options, which are the second worst in Canada. The city’s zoning laws, which do not generally permit child care in residential areas, create a major problem for parents.
