Electoral Change Looms: Key open races in Region of Peel

NRU
March 19, 2014
By Sarah Ratchford

Taxes, transit and urbanization will be key challenges for a new crop of political leaders seeking election this fall in the Region of Peel. Nowhere are the issues - and generational change - more evident than in Mississauga, where the race is heating up to replace one of the Canada’s most iconic politicians.

After 36 years on the job, 93-year-old Hazel McCallion will not be seeking re-election on Oct. 27 as mayor of Mississauga, Canada’s sixth-largest city. In Caledon, after three terms, mayor Marolyn Morrison has announced her intention not to run again.

Regional chair Emil Kolb, who has held the appointed post since 1991, has announced his plans to retire. McCallion’s retirement sets the stage for what many believe will be a closely-watched contest between two political veterans. McCallion has indicated she will remain neutral in the race to succeed her. But in an interview with NRU, she remains outspoken on what she sees as a top priority for Mississauga and the Toronto region.

“We need funding to solve the congestion in the GTA. Not just in Mississauga, but we need transit funding for all of the GTA.” In order to do that, she says, new revenues will be needed.

“It can’t be done on property tax,” she says, and says there will need to be additional revenues either locally, or at the federal level.

Meanwhile, Steve Mahoney, a former Mississauga councillor who later served as an Ontario Liberal MPP and a federal MP, registered this week to run for mayor.

In an interview with the Toronto Star, Mahoney said he hopes to address the city’s $1.5-billion infrastructure deficit and explore the potential for private-public partnerships. Mississauga only began borrowing last year after decades of operating debt-free.

Meanwhile, an announcement is “imminent” on Mississauga councillor Bonnie Crombie’s expected bid to succeed McCallion, according to FleishmanHillard senior vice president and senior partner John Capobianco, a top advisor to Crombie.

Capobianco says McCallion’s retirement after 36 years on the job comes at a transformative time for Mississauga, as it evolves from a mature suburban community looking to intensify its urban profile. Whoever becomes the next mayor of Mississauga, he says, will need to lay out a vision for transit expansion, infrastructure renewal and growth that wins support from councillors and the public.

“Hazel’s not running again, after 30 plus years. There will be a new mayor for Mississauga, and how that is going to affect council is going to be important,” he tells NRU.

Transit will be a top issue for Mississauga’s next leaders, he said. Mississauga and Brampton are currently holding public consultations on plans for the proposed Hurontario-Main light rail transit project.

A key question for the next generation of Mississauga leaders, says Capobianco, is: “How does Mississauga fit into the GTA transit system?”

CAA government relations specialist Caroline Grech agrees, citing road congestion as a top priority for her members.

“Traffic congestion is a huge issue. The 905 has grown up and with that comes expensive infrastructure projects,” she tells NRU.

As recommended by the province’s transit investment advisory panel, chaired by Anne Golden and with a CAA representative as a member, Grech says there’s a need for dedicated transit funding.

“The burgeoning growth is great; it’s great for the economy, and great for municipalities,” she says. In terms of planning, it means taking the suburban [footprint] and turning it urban [in form].”

“I think [the GTA} has grown so fast that now it’s trying to catch up with that growth,” she adds. [The GTA is becoming more] prosperous and now big-city challenges are coming to the suburbs.”

The identification of “viable transit options” - such as allday GO service - and how to fund them would be helpful developments, says Grech, given that multi-modal choices for riders can decrease congestion.

Meanwhile, in speaking to NRU, McCallion was blunt about the options ahead on transit funding.

“Let’s put it this way: We have two choices. We can do nothing, and just let [congestion] grow,” she said. “The federal government can continue to make no contribution, the province can make no contribution, and we can just let it go. Or we can do something. Those are the choices, and the people have to respond.” with congestion or put pressure on the federal and provincial governments to contribute transit dollars to ease gridlock.

McCallion has managed to keep taxes relatively low throughout her terms, but warns that an increase in taxes will be unavoidable as the city grows.

“Running a city is no different than running a house. The costs have gone up, so where does the money come from?” she asked.

“You just have to keep the taxes in line with the increased cost of the operation.”

McCallion says she wants her successor and the next term of council to continue to keep infrastructure up to date and commit to “investing the money in it even if it means going into debt.”

She said she also hopes the next council will make a concerted effort to keep Mississauga as green as possible.

Under McCallion’s leadership, Mississauga has transformed itself into an increasingly dense urban centre with eye-catching high-rises, such as the Marilyn Monroe towers. McCallion’s successor will likely have to address challenging questions about the degree of density in the future and how to ease traffic gridlock.

The way Mississauga fits into the GTA without Hazel is going to be a key factor, too,” says Capobianco. In the past, McCallion led a largely united council and commanded a national presence in the media. In future, says Capobianco, Mississauga will have no choice but to solidify its changed identity, provincially and nationally, under the leadership of a new mayor.

Capobianco says people are generally happy with the city’s progress under McCallion. But with the city assured of a new leader, the task will be to navigate a course for an evolving city.

He predicts that taxes will be a major issue in future.

“Hazel didn’t really raise new taxes. She ruled with an iron fist,” he says, and a new mayor could face a council more divided than in the past on taxes and other politically-sensitive issues.

Brampton mayor Susan Fennell is the only Peel mayor seeking re-election. Some controversy had dogged her mayoralty, including spending of $185,000 on travel at public expense over a five-year period. She tells NRU her some of her priorities are “investing in public transit and breaking gridlock” for the next term of council.

Fennell says all levels of government need to “work together to find solutions to break gridlock, without new taxes and fees.” She points out that Zum, Brampton’s bus rapid transit system, is funded by all three levels of government, and says the same approach should be used to fund other major transit projects, such as the proposed Hurontario-Main LRT.

BILD vice-president of policy and government relations Paula Tenuta said she hopes that candidates for elected office in Peel recognize the importance of the OMB and the need to keep of development charges in check.