Doug Ford poised to reverse decision to dissolve Peel Region: sources

Premier Doug Ford is poised to cancel his plan to dissolve Peel Region, breaking his deathbed promise to former Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion, sources told the Star.

thestar.com
Dec. 6, 2023

Premier Doug Ford is poised to cancel his plan to dissolve Peel Region, breaking his deathbed promise to former Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion, sources told the Star.

Amid mounting alarm that taxes may rise and services could suffer if Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon become stand-alone municipalities, Ford is considering a rethink of the dissolution, which is now being examined by a five-member transition board he appointed.

Insiders, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal deliberations, say the premier was concerned when Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown released data recently suggesting property taxes there would have to jump by an additional $1.3 billion over a decade.

In a brief interview after the Star broke the news Tuesday afternoon, Ford would only say he'd have more to disclose in coming days.

"The regional dissolution financial train wreck would be an albatross around the necks of taxpayers in Peel Region," Brown said earlier Tuesday.

"It would lead to the largest tax increase in taxes in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon history. It would seriously compromise public health, paramedic services, long-term care and policing in Peel. It could put lives at risk," the Brampton mayor said.

"The arrangement made between the previous minister of municipal affairs and outgoing mayor of Mississauga needs to have be relooked at," he said.

That's a reference to ex-minister Steve Clark, who resigned in September in the wake of the Progressive Conservatives' Greenbelt land swap scandal, and to Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who was elected Ontario Liberal leader on Saturday.

Under questioning from NDP Leader Marit Stiles in the legislature Tuesday, Clark's replacement, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra, hinted the Tories are looking for a way out.

"The government is continuously focused on reducing taxes, building more homes. It has been at the core of what we have been doing since 2018. We will certainly never allow a community to raise taxes so that the people in that community can’t afford to live there," said Calandra.

But Crombie, who was at Queen's Park for her first Liberal caucus meeting, disputed Brown's numbers and said people expect Ford to keep the pledge he made to McCallion shortly before she died in January at 101.

"When I visited her in her final days, she kept saying to me, 'I'm talking to the premier about it, Bonnie, don't worry, I'm going to get a promise from him,' " said the Mississauga mayor, who was close to McCallion.

Indeed, when the Tories introduced the Peel dissolution legislation in May, it was named the Hazel McCallion Act and was designed to reduce red tape to enable housing and transit to be built more quickly by clearing planning roadblocks.

Premier Doug Ford is poised to cancel his plan to dissolve Peel Region, breaking his deathbed promise to former Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion, sources told the Star.

Amid mounting alarm that taxes may rise and services could suffer if Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon become stand-alone municipalities, Ford is considering a rethink of the dissolution, which is now being examined by a five-member transition board he appointed.

Insiders, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal deliberations, say the premier was concerned when Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown released data recently suggesting property taxes there would have to jump by an additional $1.3 billion over a decade.

In a brief interview after the Star broke the news Tuesday afternoon, Ford would only say he'd have more to disclose in coming days.

"The regional dissolution financial train wreck would be an albatross around the necks of taxpayers in Peel Region," Brown said earlier Tuesday.

"It would lead to the largest tax increase in taxes in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon history. It would seriously compromise public health, paramedic services, long-term care and policing in Peel. It could put lives at risk," the Brampton mayor said.

"The arrangement made between the previous minister of municipal affairs and outgoing mayor of Mississauga needs to have be relooked at," he said.

That's a reference to ex-minister Steve Clark, who resigned in September in the wake of the Progressive Conservatives' Greenbelt land swap scandal, and to Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who was elected Ontario Liberal leader on Saturday.

"The government is continuously focused on reducing taxes, building more homes. It has been at the core of what we have been doing since 2018. We will certainly never allow a community to raise taxes so that the people in that community can’t afford to live there," said Calandra.

But Crombie, who was at Queen's Park for her first Liberal caucus meeting, disputed Brown's numbers and said people expect Ford to keep the pledge he made to McCallion shortly before she died in January at 101.

"When I visited her in her final days, she kept saying to me, 'I'm talking to the premier about it, Bonnie, don't worry, I'm going to get a promise from him,' " said the Mississauga mayor, who was close to McCallion.

Indeed, when the Tories introduced the Peel dissolution legislation in May, it was named the Hazel McCallion Act and was designed to reduce red tape to enable housing and transit to be built more quickly by clearing planning roadblocks.

At McCallion's state funeral, an emotional Ford recounted their last conversation, hours before she died.

"I did what any friend would. I took her hand and offered her as much comfort as I could. I told her, 'I love you, Hazel.' Those words will stay with me until my last moment. I love you Hazel, forever. Rest easy, my friend," the premier said in February.

On Tuesday, Ford emphasized to the Star that he visited McCallion many times in her final days, claiming he was there more often than Crombie.

In May, Ford had said: "I've always been for an independent Mississauga. You can’t have a city the size of Mississauga --- close to 800,000 people and it’s continuing to grow --- being tied into other jurisdictions."

Under his law, the premier decreed that Peel Region would cease to exist on Jan. 1, 2025.

"The premier and I don't agree on a lot of things, but we do agree on the dissolution of the Region of Peel," said Crombie, noting Mississauga taxpayers cover 60 per cent of Peel’s costs and spend $84 million annually to subsidize services in Brampton and Caledon.

"He has made it his mandate to cut red tape and eliminate duplication and all those great things. Eliminate waste duplication and cut red tape and this is precisely what the dissolution of Peel does --- and always having a second layer of government creates a secondary bureaucracy," she said.

But in a statement Tuesday, Caledon Mayor Annette Groves said "it would be encouraging if the province rethought the dissolution of Peel Region."

"At this time, there are too many unknown costs to fully understand the true impact to taxpayers if Peel dissolves. It is also uncertain how dissolution will negatively impact the town's ability to reach its housing pledge and the provincial goal to build 1.5 million new homes (by 2031)," said Groves.

Unravelling Peel, which dates back half a century, is complicated because the transition panel must determine how to deliver policing, garbage collection, public health, social services, water treatment and roadworks in the three municipalities and dismantle a 24-member regional council.

Peel Region chair Nando Iannicca has worried about the almost 10,000 municipal workers --- including police and paramedics --- impacted by the change.

The New Democrats' Stiles, for her part, said the Tories' reversing "yet another major policy decision (is) a victory for people in Peel Region, who are facing massive tax increases because of the Ford-Crombie deal."

"Doug Ford and Bonnie Crombie are making bad deals while the NDP is fighting for relief from out-of-control costs," she said.