As Patrick Brown announces bid for reelection as mayor, observers reflect on the turmoil at Brampton council

Thestar.com
July 25, 2022

Catherine Fenech has closely followed the ups and downs of Brampton politics for years and can’t seem to recall a council quite as “toxic” as this one.

With the beleaguered Patrick Brown at the helm, the 11-member council may have started the term off cordially, but, in recent months, city hall has spiralled into complete chaos with disagreements being played out in the national media and city business at a complete standstill.

Amidst the political turmoil and power struggle taking place at city hall, there is one thing everyone, including politicians and residents agree on: Brampton taxpayers are getting shortchanged.

And with Brown announcing his re-election bid for mayor this week, some residents say they are concerned the drama of the divided council will carry into the next term putting the focus on council scandals, rather than what Brampton, as the fastest growing city in the country, needs to thrive.

“Our council has been divided in the past, but never like this,” said Fenech, who has lived in Brampton for 18 years. “We are the most underserved community in the GTA -- especially when it comes to health care. We need a council who will fight for us.”

“Right now, the council is fighting with each other, but no one is fighting for us,” she said.

Since June, the divide on council has escalated as two factions have taken turns boycotting several council meetings, going public with scandals by issuing press releases outlining accusations and allegations about the other side, with one even going as far as to hold a press conference asking the RCMP to intervene.

Current Ward 9 and 10 Councillor Harkirat Singh agrees the drama has taken over the work of the city.

“Meetings aren’t taking place, so city business isn’t happening. It’s quite bad right now,” he said.

Two emergency council meetings were cancelled last week, after half of council failed to show up, citing preplanned vacations and time off. The opposing faction boycotted several meetings in June, while the courts deliberated over a contentious decision to appoint a councillor to a seat that had not officially been declared vacant.

Singh says, instead of closing out major infrastructure projects, council gets into a cycle “where we get personal and focus on small things and the city’s big projects keep getting pushed to the side.”

“The focus of council is being misdirected into an area that I don’t think residents are honestly as concerned (with),” said Singh, referring to the call for audits and forensic investigations.

But the faction of five councillors who have called for audits and a RCMP investigation into Brown’s financial dealings inside the city say “residents have the right to an open, transparent and accountable government.” Without that, they say “democracy will suffer.”

Singh says frosty relations between the two sides are unlikely to improve anytime soon.

“I think, after election day, you hit the reset button. Until then, it will be very, very tough,” he said.

On Friday, Brown issued a press release saying he would pass a motion to penalize councillors who continue to boycott meetings.

“The residents pay our salaries and staff are ready to work,” said Brown, who added that he would move a motion saying “that councillors who miss five meetings in a row will be retroactively docked pay.

“No councillor should receive a pay cheque while not showing up to work.”

The boycotting of meetings has become the most obvious example of a council in crisis.

Other controversies this term include (and this is by no means an exhaustive list): allegations of financial irregularities in an effort to bring a university to Brampton; close relationships between Brown and city staff including the former CAO; the public firing of the city solicitor and integrity commissioner; and the attempt to pre-emptively fill a council seat. (Earlier this month, an Ontario court ruled the move illegal.)

The drama at city is hall is not new to Brampton residents.

Susan Fennell’s four-term tenure as mayor was tainted with allegations of reckless spending, contentious contracts, and infighting, and Linda Jeffrey’s mayoralty faced criticism over the council’s rejection of a fully funded light-rail transit through the city.

Brown’s first term as mayor, thus far, has received mixed reviews from the public.

Fenech says it’s hard to believe the former MPP for Barrie has a real vision for the city.

Critics of Brown say he was virtually an outsider -- his father runs a law practice in the city -- when he made a last-minute decision to run for mayor in 2018, squeaking out a narrow win over incumbent Jeffreys.

His decision came months after he was forced out of his previous job as leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives over allegations of sexual misconduct, which he continues to deny.

“How do you just show up one day and say you understand the needs of a city? How can you advocate for a city you don’t know?” said Fenech. “We need a council who will advocate for us, not those who are caught up in petty fights with each other.

“At this point, I think they should all go.”

But resident and community activist Jaskaran Sandhu, who worked as a staffer during Jeffrey’s leadership, says Brampton politics has two sides to it: the happenings at city hall and the sentiments of the community.

“If you focus on the politicking of city hall, you miss out on what’s happening on the ground,” said Sandhu.

“Brown is incredibly popular within the community. He’s found success because he has chosen to listen to communities who have either been ignored or overlooked by politicians for decades,” he said.

“So the fact that he has found success in a place like Brampton might confuse the mainstream … but the mainstream has never really understood places like Brampton.”

Sandhu says, under Brown’s leadership, Brampton has seen a four-year property tax freeze; diversity in recreational facilities; and funding for a new urgent care centre and a medical school. Brown has also “gone out on a limb” to take on issues important to the community, suh as fighting Quebec’s secularism bill, Bill 21, which prohibits public servants from wearing symbols of their faith such as a turban and a hijab.

So far, there are three other candidates registered to run for mayor.

The deadline to sign up to stand for the October election is August 19.

Some observers say Brampton’s messy politics are simply a reflection of a municipality facing growing pains as it matures from a bedroom community for Toronto into the fourth largest city in the province.

“Brampton has grown really fast, and there is a challenge between people who see the city as it was, as it is and people who see the city where they want it to go,” said Moaz Ahmad, a city hall observer, based in Mississauga.

“There’s a lot of tension there, and for whatever reason, those tensions are being manifested in council.”

Ahmad said: “There’s a lot of frustrations in council and from the public around this drama, because it’s distracting from the ambitions of the city.”

Gurpartap Toor, 29, said it was this frustration that motivated him to throw his hat into the upcoming election to run for regional councillor for Wards 9 and 10, and push for change at city hall. He hopes residents “tired” of the drama are also motivated to vote for change on election day.

“The average person in Brampton is saying: ‘I pay taxes. I want my services, my taxes put to good use, and my politicians working hard for me,’ especially as we come out of a difficult pandemic,” said Toor, 29, who worked as a staffer under former mayor Linda Jeffreys.

“People want to be proud of Brampton. They want to see good for the city,” he said. “But now it feels like there’s a large cloud hanging over us.”