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Will Mississauga finally have the ‘Mexit’ it has been seeking for decades? Or will there be a new City of Peel?

The area is on a quest for independence, but Brampton says it’s not that simple

Thestar.com
March 23, 2023
Noor Javed

Will it be a messy divorce -- or the birth of a brand new city?

The province is planning to launch a review of Peel Region’s two-tiered government that will determine whether three municipalities in the region -- Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon -- go their separate ways or come together to create a single large City of Peel.

They have yet to appoint a provincial facilitator.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, a strong supporter of an independent Mississauga (or “Mexit” -- a play on Britain’s departure from the European Union) said the provincial review was sparked by her questions on how the “strong-mayor” system now in place in Toronto and Ottawa would work once it’s rolled out to her city, with its two layers of government.

“Does the regional chair get a veto, or does a mayor?” said Crombie. “I think that caused them to pause and say, ‘That’s a point we need to consider.’ That led us back to this review.”

Crombie said Mississauga has “paid for the growth and development of Brampton and Caledon for the past few decades, and now that they are standing on their own two feet, it is time that we be permitted to reinvest in our city.”

According to Crombie’s calculations, her city would save a billion dollars in taxes over 10 years by not having to pay into the region to fund Brampton and Caledon’s future.

But some fear that splitting the region apart and dividing shared resources like water infrastructure, waste collection and policing would end up being costly for taxpayers. It would also leave Brampton and Caledon struggling to meet housing and growth targets without the financial support of Mississauga taxpayers.

Mississauga is the third-largest city in the province and almost all built out. Brampton has the fastest-growing population in the country with more than 650,000 people. Caledon is also projected to have immense growth over the next decade -- from nearly 70,000 to 300,000 residents.

While an amalgamated City of Peel might be more economically powerful on a provincial scale and possibly more efficient and accountable, it wouldn’t address the bureaucratic and cost-sharing concerns of Mississauga.

Both scenarios leave little room for Caledon in the region -- and the mostly rural community could be punted off to Dufferin County or York.

“Caledon is like the problem child that nobody wants to deal with given all the growth we have coming,” said Caledon resident Cheryl Connors. “There’s no way that the 70,000 people who live here would be able to pay for the infrastructure needed to support the development.”

As for her town joining a neighbouring region, Connors said, “I am not sure if Dufferin or York would want to bear the cost of Caledon development at the rate that they expect it to happen.”

Local governments have control over issues like planning, while the region handles garbage collection, water and wastewater, public health and policing (for Brampton and Mississauga). Taxpayers pay into both levels of government -- with 42 cents of every dollar going into the region.

Moaz Ahmed, a Mississauga resident, said few residents really understand the two-tier system and “if the Region of Peel was to cease to exist, they probably wouldn’t have much of a problem with that.”

He said it’s difficult to really understand which option -- independence or an amalgamated Peel -- is a better deal for residents.

“Which option will lead to more job creation, more affordable housing, more investment in community services and transit? It’s unclear if that would be done better by a City of Peel or by the independent cities of Brampton and Mississauga.”

Brampton resident Jaskaran Sandhu fears it will end up being “a very expensive divorce” with residents on the hook for the cost of splitting of services and new infrastructure. “It just doesn’t make sense how you can make any of this economical by splitting the cities up.”

Brampton’s business community is also concerned about Mississauga -- the province’s second-largest economy after Toronto -- going its own way.

“Mississauga might be able to stand alone, but Brampton cannot -- without significant contribution from the province,” said Tod Letts, CEO of the Brampton Board of Trade, who favours amalgamation.

“Independence might be good for Mississauga, but would the province choose to burden Brampton’s taxpayers to do so? It’s unlikely.”

The mayors of the two largest municipalities in the region have sharply differing views on the best way to divide the assets.

Brampton’s Mayor Patrick Brown said if “the province is going to be reviewing the region, I don’t want any funds to be stolen from Brampton,” referring to infrastructure like water treatment plants in Mississauga that his city uses.

“If we are going to have a separation and not have access to our own water treatment plant, we expect to be repaid in terms of what it will cost for us to build our own facility,” said Brown.

He said that if Mississauga becomes independent, he estimates it would owe Brampton a billion dollars for what taxpayers have paid in to build Mississauga.

Crombie said Brown’s numbers don’t add up -- as Mississauga has paid for most of its own growth through development charges and other levies.

In 2018, the province announced a review of regional government, and appointed experts to study all municipalities to find ways to make government more “efficient and reliable.”

The extensive report was never made public, and no major changes were enacted.

In a statement, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing spokesperson Melissa Diakoumeas said, “We will be appointing provincial facilitators in some of our fastest-growing regions, including Peel, who will work with local governments to identify how we can better support local decision-making in high-growth regions across the province.”

Caledon Mayor Annette Groves hopes things stay as they are: “We believe being part of the Region of Peel, with some improvements to the system, continues to be in the best interest of Caledon,” she said in a statement, adding that 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.”

Crombie agrees that the three cities are “at very different stages of growth,” she said, and no one really wants an “option that would force us to merge together unwittingly.”

Crombie said after years of waiting, it’s time for the province to let the cities go their own way: “It’s time to do the right thing. It’s time for Mexit.”