Doug Ford insists Brampton won’t get ‘shafted by Mississauga’ in a Peel Region breakup

Premier Doug Ford is warning Brampton is “not going to be shafted by Mississauga or anyone else” in the possible reorganization of Peel Region.

With Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie advocating for independence from Peel — amid a provincial review of the region’s two-tiered government — Ford stressed Thursday “the decision hasn’t been made.”

“Brampton and Mississauga are large cities that can stand alone,” the premier told reporters at the opening of a new GO Transit station in Bramalea.

“But I’ll guarantee you that Brampton will always be taken care of and they’ll be made whole — and so will Mississauga and Caledon as well,” he said.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, who was with Ford at the transit opening, said he welcomed “the province looking at this if we can look at ways to remove duplication there.”

“There is duplication — we have two planning departments,” Brown said of the cities and the region.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’m frustrated where there’s a major housing project on a transit corridor that’s being held up and there’s a regional planning ‘commenting period’ that holds up major investment,” he said.

But Brown insisted Brampton residents stand to lose some $1 billion worth of shared existing infrastructure — in two water treatment facilities and the Peel Regional Police headquarters — if Mississauga goes its own way.

“If the mayor of Mississauga thinks she can leave and not pay her bill, the residents of Brampton would be outraged. Any notion that the mayor of Mississauga could walk away from that and stiff the residents of Brampton is offensive.”

Crombie countered that “for 50 years, Mississauga has been the cash cow” for Peel, paying more than 60 per cent of the costs, yet only having half the votes at the region.

“Mississauga taxpayers have been overpaying to support services in Brampton and Caledon to the tune of $84 million a year, primarily for their roads and policing needs. This isn’t fair to Mississauga taxpayers,” the mayor said.

“Any assertion that Brampton has paid for our growth and infrastructure is fundamentally untrue. Our growth was paid for through development charges. If separation were to happen, Mississauga would no longer be forced to subsidize the growth of Brampton and they would be left to fund it on their own,” she said.

“Because Mississauga has been paying for Brampton’s growth, Mayor Brown has been afforded the luxury of freezing taxes locally for four of his five years of passing a budget,” said Crombie, adding “it’s fiscally irresponsible and will catch up to them if they were to become a stand-alone city.”

Amalgamation or revamping of Peel is fraught with political headaches for Ford.

His Progressive Conservatives represent every riding in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon, setting up potential conflicts within cabinet and caucus.

Further complicating matters is Ford’s rivalry with Crombie, a popular mayor who won 77.1 per cent of the vote last fall and is often mentioned as a potential candidate for the Ontario Liberal leadership.

Caledon Mayor Annette Groves, meanwhile, has said she prefers the status quo because “a new governance structure would mean taking on debt and transitional costs.”

“Regional government was developed to service municipalities as they grew, and in Peel that work is not yet finished. Caledon is currently experiencing the growth that the other municipalities have already experienced and benefited from,” Groves said earlier this year.

In the 2021 census, Mississauga had a population of 717,961 to 656,480 for Brampton and 76,581 for Caledon.

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