While a few party nominations remain unannounced, your choices on the Oct. 21 ballot are becoming clearer.
A look at the contenders for Brampton’s five federal seats, currently held by four Liberals and an Independent.
Ontario’s former privacy commissioner says she’s satisfied Metrolinx’s plans to share “aggregated” data on transit riders with companies will not violate the privacy of individuals.
But Metrolinx’s rollout of its plan to seek corporate investment through naming rights and data-sharing wasn’t handled with proper transparency, critics say. And Brampton MPP Sara Singh isn’t convinced that riders whose movements are tracked on their Presto cards won’t see negative effects.
The city has initiated a study of 5G wireless technology, which if implemented has the potential to put Brampton at the forefront of a sweeping transformation of business and daily life.
But super-fast wireless internet speeds could also open the door to breaches of privacy on a grand scale.
The Sault Ste. Marie-based university’s increasing presence in downtown Brampton will boost the student body to 1,000 with a mix of high-demand programs designed to attract local high school grads.
It’s a modest but hopeful step toward achieving the city’s longtime dream of a university-level post-secondary campus downtown.
It’s just over a week before the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference, a sort of speed-advocacy forum where cities make their case to the province for a range of funding needs. Mayor Patrick Brown says that if the Ford government doesn’t deliver on some key issues, the ruling Conservatives will end up going the way of their predecessors and lose their seats in Brampton.
Councillors plan to approach Minister of Municipal Affairs Steve Clark on Aug. 18 with a plea not to break up — or amalgamate — Peel Region after the province’s current review of regional government.
The annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference offers a rare opportunity for city leaders to buttonhole provincial ministers, if only for 15 minutes on a Sunday evening.
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Less than a year ago, Brampton’s hopes for a thriving university campus downtown were dashed by a $90-million snub by the Doug Ford government. Councillors meeting today will ponder a proposal that could renew those hopes. Algoma, a tiny Northern Ontario university, hopes to grow its Brampton campus by introducing “high demand” programs in fields such as computer science, psychology and community economics for at least 1,000 students.
Sidhu, the only applicant, has been acclaimed as the Liberal nominee for Brampton East, which means he will run against ex-Liberal Raj Grewal.
For voters, he’s a mystery man; he has said little about himself publicly, and there appears to be no information about his candidacy online. But much of this is more common than you’d think.
If the federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau goes ahead with a ban on single-use plastics, it will have plenty of local support, judging from The Pointer’s informal survey of residents. Climate change and the health of our oceans are big concerns for lots of people. But most say they want to make sure good options are available when the ban goes into effect starting in 2021.
Recent research raises concern about the state of our youth, particularly girls and young women. Increasing rates of anxiety and self-harm are being reported across the country. But researchers are unsure of the cause.
Increased time on screens and the expectations created by many social media platforms, or other unknowns that lurk in the dark corners of the cyberworld, could be part of the problem. But no one seems to know exactly why rates of anxiety among youth are increasing so dramatically.
He’s the best person for the job. That’s the message about incoming Peel police chief Nishan Duraiappah, who takes over at the start of October. He has a rocky hill to climb, with a force plagued by recent controversies.
A status quo approach to stick with an internal hire was the politically safe move for Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie and Brampton’s Patrick Brown. But they chose instead to do the right thing. Public safety and building trust with the community drove the two leaders to find their man, despite all the pressure they faced.
Brampton’s international Global Twenty20 cricket tournament being played over two weeks at the CAA Centre, attracting some of the best bowlers and batsmen around the globe, highlights the game’s promise in a country that has long had a fringe interest in the sport.
Speeding it up for 21st century tastes might just be the key to growing a wildly popular pastime that enjoys a cult following in many other parts of the world.
It has been four years since an infamous vote in 2015 effectively killed the Main Street LRT. It has since been revived, but the debate has changed: will it run on the surface or in a tunnel? A whole host of issues will need to be pored over before any shovels go in the ground to build the better transit Brampton needs.
A $108-million processor to be built on Orenda Road in Brampton will change the way composting is done in Peel Region, producing not only agricultural fertilizer but a non-fossil form of natural gas — and in a way that eliminates the “stinky air” issue.
It’s all part of Peel’s ambitious plan to divert 75 percent of curbside waste collection from landfills.
A Sri Lankan-born officer with a sterling reputation as a deputy chief in neighbouring Halton Region will take over the helm of the Peel Regional Police Service in October.
Duraiappah is being hailed as “an inspirational and aspirational leader” and the “next generation of leadership,” who will bring fresh perspectives and innovation to policing in Peel. His hiring offers a chance for a police service living under a cloud of systemic discrimination, inside and outside, to open a new chapter.
An ongoing study finds financial instability may be one reason for a seemingly high incidence of sex-for-money trades by international students studying at Sheridan College and elsewhere in Peel Region.
That raises concern about the vulnerability of students to becoming victims of sex trafficking in a region with a human trafficking rate double the national average.
Monday’s announcement that the province would work on developing a “needs-based” support program in consultation with parents and experts came as welcome news to families with autistic children who have protested sweeping changes to autism support. Minister Todd Smith apologized for the anxiety a misbegotten plan had caused. But the changes won’t come until next spring, leaving many families in Brampton and across the province in limbo.
Brampton will be getting eight electric buses as part of a trial for new “plug-and-play” recharging equipment that may make it possible to keep them on the road nearly non-stop.
But Monday’s federal announcement by Environment Minister Catherine McKenna echoes a very similar one from the province a year earlier, when the Kathleen Wynne government promised $13 million towards the same thing.
A Gage Park protest against the Doug Ford government’s deep cuts to Legal Aid Ontario drew, among others, Catherine Fenech and Annie Zhang, two people injured on the job and grateful for the help of legal aid.
They talked to The Pointer about what motivated them to turn up and speak out.
Uncertainty over regulations following the controversial changes brought in by the More Homes, More Choice Act is said to be stalling building applications in Toronto.
But Brampton, with its ample supply of land for building, is bucking that trend. Will it be a wash, or will the legislation disparaged as nothing more than a gift to developers actually increase the supply of affordable housing?
Bramptonians often cite the same dismal statistics when talking about hallway medicine and demanding improvements to the state of healthcare in the city. The Pointer has gathered some more numbers the public should be aware of — including some surprising positives.
Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward wants the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal abolished. She’s encouraging other mayors to join her in the fight against an “anti-democratic” institution the Doug Ford government just strengthened.
For Brampton, a city trying to shift away from developer-controlled planning, the future of the LPAT will have sweeping implications.
Maxime Bernier, leader of the People’s Party of Canada, jumped into the crucible of multiculturalism Wednesday and emerged unscathed from a rally at a hall in Malton. He brought a clear message to voters that reducing immigration to this country is a priority. He laid out the economic and societal reasons why and that struck a chord with his roomful of supporters. Those who fear that Bernier might steal some Conservative votes could be miscalculating the real threat, to Liberals. Ours is a country, like much of the western world, now confused about immigration and national identity.
An innovative idea for a tiny-house village from SHIP, one of Peel Region’s providers of housing for people in precarious living conditions, is one example of the imaginative thinking that could help solve a problem facing thousands of lower-income households.
But Peel’s ambitious goal of seeing 75,000 new affordable housing units built over the next 10 years won’t be achieved without support from upper governments and cooperation from the private sector.
Faith Manor is one of the recipients of new beds in a current redevelopment project.
Its director looks forward to a revamped space under new design criteria, which he says might even help reduce violence among residents.
A group of teens showed up at Norton Place Park on Wednesday, but not to just hang out.
They were there to plant trees in this well-travelled piece of green space, and to learn more about the full story of what’s going on underneath their feet.
A slow nomination process may not be as much of a drag on the party’s chances this fall as some suggest. But there’s no doubt the three hopefuls announced at an NDP nomination rally on Sunday have their work cut out for them in challenging the Liberal incumbents and Conservative candidates chosen months ago.
The party itself appears to be struggling to get its act together as the October election looms.
After months of complaints by the city and the federal government that the province was withholding vital infrastructure dollars from municipalities, the government of Doug Ford has finally opened up applications for the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.
The city had hoped to get $47 million from the federal fund’s Public Transit Stream to replace aging buses and expanding the Brampton Transit fleet. But staff were forced to ask for interim funds from city taxpayers in place of the federal dollars.
Golf is slowly pulling itself free from its exclusive and restrictive past and attracting a new wave of diverse players. The straight shooters on the executive of the Punjabi Golfers Association, yes, the PGA, are playing their part in growing the sport at a time when it needs help.
With many Brampton schools bursting at the seams, Education Minister Stephen Lecce’s announcement of funding for school construction and renewal comes as a relief to Peel school boards.
But it’s unclear how much of that money will come to the region, with four much-needed new school projects already in the queue for provincial support.
Charges of perjury and obstruction of justice against Leora Shemesh were dismissed last year, but the criminal defence lawyer isn’t prepared to let what she regards as a blatant attack on her integrity and reputation go that easily.
She’s suing Peel police and Crown attorneys who laid the charges, claiming they colluded against her in retaliation for her efforts to expose police wrongdoing.
The 17-year journey to complete an LRT in Kitchener-Waterloo was realized on June 21, when the ION light rail officially opened to the public. To get to this point, the region endured long construction periods, unexpected archeological discoveries and attempts to torpedo the project by a disgruntled business community. The benefits, including $3.2B worth of development, are already evident.
The provincial government says it’s chopping a program to help people with combined mental health and addiction issues find jobs because it’s not working.
But some municipalities that have formally assessed the Addiction Services Initiative’s success in getting people off social assistance beg to differ.
To Kill a Mockingbird, with its white-saviour perspective on racism in the Deep South, may be a book that has passed its best-by date, says education professor Carl James. But in designing education that respects, supports and empowers Black students, context is everything.
Brampton Councillor Rowena Santos says those ubiquitous election signs are a polluting, expensive waste of money that doesn’t move sluggish voters to the polls. But others say her effort is nothing more than political gamesmanship to gain an advantage at the polls. Though council voted in favour of her motion asking city staff to look at banning them, the city may not have authority to prevent signs from sprouting on Brampton lawns.
As Ottawa ponders how to spend $86 million set aside for quelling “unbelievable” violence directed mostly at women, Mississauga Councillor Chris Fonseca wants to get backing from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to ensure cities are part of the discussion.
It’s not clear yet what Peel Region would prefer to do with its share, but human trafficking and domestic disputes are both huge and growing issues here.
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh returned to his political roots when he visited this year’s Carabram festivities over the weekend.
He’s promising two major items for Brampton but faces an uphill battle to get elected this fall, especially with a party whose nomination process seems in disarray.
Peel Region’s decision to redevelop an aging long-term care centre into a broader service hub for seniors is a good move, says an expert on age-friendly communities. But the long-term challenge is to offer practical alternatives to living amid suburban sprawl that leads to isolation, loneliness and dependence for thousands of people in their golden years.
A 30 percent slash in funding for Legal Aid Ontario means many of Peel Region’s most vulnerable residents will be cut off from access to a lawyer for help in dealing with life-changing crises.
The cuts, says the co-director of a Mississauga legal clinic, don’t just challenge the fairness of our legal system, they’ll end up costing Ontario taxpayers a lot more than they save.
In too much literature, in the example of some so-called political leaders and across our consumer-corporate society, male power is still glorified, even celebrated. The Jeffrey Epstein case is the latest example of how deeply entrenched attitudes toward women and girls force many of them down a dark path into the lairs of those men who prey on their vulnerability.
Amid the province’s sweeping reorganization of how healthcare is administered, staff are encouraging Peel Region council to get involved early in shaping the three new Ontario Health Teams expected to run the system across the region.
Jumping in immediately will help ensure the region’s priorities are heard — even if the “efficiencies” touted by the governing PCs fail to be realized.
Queen Street between Etobicoke Creek and Highway 410 is a low-rise, low-density, unappealing suburban thoroughfare that’s practically unwalkable. The city is steps away from zoning changes that could reshape this traffic-heavy major street into a denser, more livable and economy-stimulating city-centre.
The federal and provincial governments have both asked the region to provide temporary shelter for people fleeing their homes. It’s getting to be a regular thing, since Ottawa requested help in easing the strain on Toronto’s refugee services last year.
The Region of Peel says it will have to increase property taxes by more than 6 percent on its share of the bill next year to maintain current service levels, largely because of cuts being planned by Queen’s Park that will download many costs onto municipal property owners. In Brampton, which faces a growing infrastructure deficit at the local level, homeowners could be on the hook for a massive tax increase in 2020.
While Brampton council tries to figure out what to advocate for this fall, the bad blood between the federal and provincial governments over who’s hoarding infrastructure money meant for cities has come to a boil over layoffs at the Bombardier facility in Thunder Bay. The mud-slinging between the federal Liberals and Ontario PCs isn’t helping Brampton, which is still waiting to get transit money that’s already been budgeted for, but hasn’t materialized — with many more infrastructure needs on the growing wish list.
A review of city employee culture ostensibly being carried out by the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion has sunk below Brampton Council’s radar since it was first instituted by the city’s moribund Inclusion and Equity Committee more than two years ago.
Brampton City Council’s meeting today will consider a list of priorities to bring before federal candidates as they come a-courting. Election campaigns are among the few times the city seems to come to the attention of the federal parties, with frequent visits the typical pattern as leaders compete for votes from the city’s cultural communities.
What’s decided today could help shape the future of the city’s relationship with the party that’s ultimately successful in forming the next Parliament.
The shocking Jeffrey Epstein human trafficking case has grabbed the international spotlight, but sadly it’s the high-powered people close to the American billionaire driving much of the attention.
Those fighting the rapidly growing demand for the trafficking of women, many of them teenagers and younger, say the case shows just how far-reaching this devastating criminal activity has become.
The Ontario NDP Deputy Leader and Brampton MPP is dealing with a former party riding association president who has admitted his romantic feelings for her. Singh has had to file a formal harassment complaint and recently sent the man a cease and desist letter. It’s 2019, but many women in politics still have to put up with attitudes of privilege that continue to define a Mad Men world of male entitlement. But when Hurricane Hazel McCallion blew into town decades ago, she put men in that world on notice: don’t mess with this new force that’s only going to get stronger.
In a case that once again raises the spectre of developer influence over city hall, Peter Cipriano, founder of the Gold Park construction group, donated $10,800 in total to nine Brampton candidates last fall — more than double the legal limit. Brampton’s citizen-run Election Compliance Audit Committee, unswayed by Cipriano’s apology for what he called an honest mistake, decided to go ahead with legal action. Meanwhile, Nick Cortellucci, part of an influential developer family recently profiled in The Pointer, got a slap on the wrist for also violating the contribution limit.
