Brampton Mayor calls Mississauga’s numbers ‘flawed’ in tweet during Peel separation Town Hall

Yorkregion.com
April 10, 2019
Graeme Frisque

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown jumped into the discussion via social media during a town hall meeting in Mississauga on Monday night about that city’s desire for independence from Peel Region, calling Mississauga’s numbers “flawed.”

Brown used one of the town hall Twitter hashtags to weigh in on the debate as it was happening.

• @patrickbrownont
• For those attending the #SaugaTownHall please remember facts matter & the recent @regionofpeel Deloitte Report clearly states the numbers being used by #MissExit are flawed. In #Brampton, we love our neighbours in #Mississauga & #Caledon. Let’s stick to facts over misinformation!

Hundreds of residents gathered in council chambers at the Mississauga Civic Centre and on social media on April 8, for an update and to offer input regarding a March 20 Mississauga council motion in principle asking the provincial government to grant its exit from the region.

Shortly after Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie announced the motion, Brown suggested Mississauga had its numbers wrong, and that it would owe its regional partner in Brampton and Caledon “hundreds of millions of dollars” to pay back shared regional monies used to build infrastructure in Mississauga.

Crombie called that allegation false. Shortly thereafter, at its March 28 meeting, Peel Region council voted in favour of making public a financial analysis by Deloitte Canada, which in part reviewed an earlier Mississauga staff report. The Deloitte report called parts of the data and some of the assumptions made in Mississauga’s report “flawed.”

"The Deloitte report shows Mississauga's numbers are flawed. It specifically says that. I am glad the truth is out," Brown told the Brampton Guardian on April 5

Mississauga still maintains its position that separating from the region is best for its taxpayers, pointing to a part of the Deloitte’s analysis confirming Mississauga would fare best in a regional split. The report also said dissolving the region would be the most expensive option for Peel taxpayers as a whole. However, that didn’t move Crombie.

“The Region of Peel is broken, it doesn’t work for the residents of Mississauga,” she said. “I represent the residents of Mississauga.”