‘Halloween could be really interesting for the GTA’: Caledon mayor says regional review result on way

Will Caledon remain in Peel? Will the City of Peel happen? Answers are on their way

Yorkregion.com
August 28, 2019
Matthew Strader

An announcement on the results of the province’s review of regional government should come just after Canada decides on its federal leader, Caledon Mayor Allan Thompson said from Ottawa this week.

Elected officials at Ontario’s municipal and provincial level spent the beginning of the week meeting at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, but answers for one of the biggest questions facing Ontario didn’t come.

A timeline for those answers did, however.

“They’re not going to announce it until after the federal election,” Caledon Mayor Allan Thompson said. “So, Halloween could be really interesting for the GTA.”

Ontario politicians gathered in Ottawa for the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference. The AMO conference is an opportunity for municipal elected representatives to sit down with their provincial counterparts and lobby for their community’s needs. It’s also typically a hotbed for provincial announcements.

On Jan. 15, the Doug Ford Conservative government announced it would be reviewing eight regional governments in Ontario spanning 82 municipalities, including the Region of Peel and its member municipalities, Caledon, Brampton and Mississauga.

With the actions of the Ford government the previous July, in which it drastically shrunk the City of Toronto government and ended the election of regional chairs, reaction to the announcement resulted in anxiety from elected officials as to what the results of the review would be. And it has seen affected municipalities make public pleas for what they believe the result should be.

According to Thompson, the anxiety at least, should be over at the end of October.

“Whether it’s going to be a trick, or a treat, we don’t know what we’re in for.”