Peel Region divorce: Battle over police funding set to be a major sticking point as cities split

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie and Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown say Peel Regional Police should remain intact after the municipalities break up, but disagree on how it will be paid for.

thestar.com
May 23, 2023

The mayors of Brampton and Mississauga want to keep Peel’s police service intact despite the looming breakup of the region, but disagree on how it should be funded.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie wants to move to a pay-per-use model, while Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown wants to hang on to the current assessment-based funding formula, for a police service with 3,300 uniformed and civilian members and an operating budget of $524.6 million.

And while Brown said he’s not opposed to the police service continuing to operate as is, he remains open to other alternatives, although he did say the “OPP would be an unlikely option.” Caledon currently contracts out its policing to the Ontario Provincial Police.

“I like the idea of a joint police force as it allows for greater expertise,” he said. “As long as Brampton is treated fairly” in the breakup he says is still shrouded with unanswered questions.

“I’ve not seen a plan and this is supposed to be enforced (as of Jan. 1, 2025),” Brown said Saturday about the province’s decision to dissolve Peel Region and turn Caledon, Brampton and Mississauga into stand-alone municipalities. Mississauga had long lobbied for the move.

Crombie said she’s aiming for a seamless transition.

“My goal is not to change anything, other than the funding model,” she said. “I want to move to a user-pay model, which is fair. If you use the service, you pay for what you use.”

Crombie told the Star it’s time for Mississauga to stop paying more than 60 per cent of all shared regional costs, including policing expenditures. In 2022, Mississauga registered barely 1,000 more calls for service than Brampton, which had 110,663, according to figures provided by Brown.

While the demand for police services is relatively equal in the two cities, Crombie said Mississauga is saddled with additional costs under the assessment-based formula because it generates a higher tax levy from its larger pool of households and businesses.

“And that’s the problem,” she said. “We just need to look at other funding models that make it more equitable.”

The 2023 Peel Region budget puts the cost of policing at $339 per capita.

“We have carried the lion’s share of the burden,” she said.

She said, however, that Mississauga won’t leave Brampton on the hook for newly proposed police facilities, which were already approved in the capital budget.

In the meantime, Brown said he’s not a fan of the headquarters being in Mississauga and wants his southern neighbours to pick up the tab for the marine unit based in Mississauga.

Brown said Brampton is still playing catch-up with capital project funding earmarked for proposed sites, including the redevelopment of the Hurontario-based station and a new police station to be built in the west end of Brampton over the next five years, both of which are expected to boost police response times.

Brown is concerned the projects, which have funding allocated but have yet to be opened to request for proposals from contractors, could see costs jump higher due to inflationary pressures.

“The premier (Doug Ford) has assured us that Mississauga will not be able to walk away from their bill,” he said.

The look and makeup of the police services board, which oversees policing in Peel, also stands to change, because the representative from Caledon and the regional appointee could be dropped as a result of the divorce.

Peel police spokesperson Heather Cannon said Peel Region’s 1.5 million residents need not worry because “we will continue operations as normal. This has been echoed by Peel regional chair, the mayors and the premier.”

Cannon said the province will appoint a transition board to oversee the dissolution of Peel Region, and “it is expected that the preservation of shared front-line services and workers will be prioritized.

“We are committed to equitably serving all residents irrespective of whether they live in Brampton or Mississauga, and the Police Services Act provides provisions where one police agency can provide service to multiple jurisdictions,” Cannon said.

The divorce and its impact on the delivery of policing is being watched closely by the policing community, says Matthew Torigian, a former deputy solicitor general for Ontario, who also previously served as chief of police for the Waterloo Regional Police Service.

He said the regional breakup should be handled in a fashion that doesn’t set back the progress made by Peel police on important files such as its bid to address systemic racism and building on community partnerships that are key to enhancing community safety.

“It’s going to be important not to lose the efficacy of that work that’s already in play,” Torigian said.