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Ontario close to final plan for Peel Region which could cost Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon
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Ontario close to final plan for Peel Region which could cost Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon


Ontario close to final plan for Peel Region which could cost Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon

Taxpayers in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon will be just weeks or months away from learning what impact the dissolution of the now-abandoned Peel Region could have on their wallets.

Ontario Housing Minister Paul Calandra says the province is almost ready to release details of its walking split from Peel Region that would have left Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon as autonomous municipalities.

Reportedly, the updated plan will see each of Peel’s three municipalities footing the bill for their own roads and waste collection, while water and sewer services in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon would be managed by a new provincial agency.

Peel Region would continue to oversee social services like child care, as well as Peel Regional Police and paramedics.

The original The municipal breakup plan was a promise Ontario Premier Doug Ford made to former Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion. on her deathbed — a vow the premier broke after Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and others expressed concerns that the plan could result in a 70 per cent tax increase.

Instead, Calandra “recalibrated” the split to move regional services like roads, waste management and water out of the region – a move that local politicians say will still result in higher taxes.

Brown has not been a strong supporter of the split, but has said he favors reducing duplicate services at both the city and regional levels. The mayor said last week he was “pleased” with the work being done behind closed doors which “will ensure that what is done best in the region stays in the region and that what can be done more effectively at the local level is done at the local level. level,” according to Global News.

INsauga.com reached out to Brown multiple times for comment, but no response was received.

A five-person board of directors was appointed in 2023 to guide the three municipalities in the dissolution of Peel, but the board is now reduced to four after chairman John Livey “voluntarily resigned…to pursue other opportunities” about nine months after the board received new marching orders.

Board member Tracey Cook replaced Livey as chair, and the board reportedly informed Peel Region’s three mayors of their recommendations.

The province said details of the embargo would be made public “over the coming weeks and months” and that “discussions with municipalities and the region are ongoing.”

Prior to the board’s updated mandate, Brown called the dissolution a “financial disaster” due to an estimated $1.31 billion cost to the city and a massive tax increase, emphasizing shared services such as water treatment, waste disposal and emergency services.

Last January, Peel Region said it expected council to present its recommendations in the spring.

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