City names new director to navigate Brampton’s split from Region of Peel

The city has a new director to help prepare Brampton for the upcoming split from the Region of Peel and transition the city into a stand-alone municipality.

The province made the decision to separate Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon from its regional framework in May – a move championed by the late Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion until her death earlier this year.

The split is expected to take effect in January 2025, but the announcement has led to questions about how shared Regional services like water treatment, waste disposal and policing, and squabbles between Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and Mississauga’s Bonnie Crombie.

To help ease the transition process, Brampton has named city staffer Christopher Ethier as its new director of municipal transition and integration, overseeing engagement between the provincially-appointed Transition Board and the City of Brampton.

Ethier will head up a team that will include Vincent Rodo, Brampton’s director of organizational performance and equity, diversity and inclusion, bringing proposals and recommendations to city council and Brampton’s corporate leadership team to find a “smooth and stable transition towards independence,” the city said in a release.

“Mr. Ethier and Mr. Rodo, together bring a wealth of knowledge of government process and advocacy, and financial management experience to their respective roles, ensuring Brampton continues to evolve as a dynamic city,” the release reads.

Mississauga is also moving ahead with its transition preparations as city officials recently announcing that more health and human services staff have been brought on board in order to prepare for the split, while the Town of Caledon is slashing its number of departments by more than half in a “restructuring” that will free up more than $1 million in the budget every year ahead of the Peel region split.

News of the dissolution was welcomed by Crombie but saw her butt heads with Brown, who has repeatedly said that Brampton could be on the hook for some $4 billion in the split – claims which have been called “nonsensical” by members of Mississauga City Council.

Questions have also been raised about the future for Region of Peel workers, and just last week more than 80 non-profits voiced concerns about how dissolution will impact vulnerable residents relying on public services that are currently funded or supported by the Region.