Heated Comments from Mississauga Residents About Leaving Peel Region

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Published April 9, 2019 at 10:55 am

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Mississauga Council Chambers was packed this past Monday night at a public town hall meeting about the merits of the city leaving Peel Region and becoming a single tier municipality.

Residents filled the chambers and overflow rooms as they heard from City Manager Janice Baker and Mayor Bonnie Crombie about a recent report commissioned by the city suggesting that Mississauga was subsidizing Brampton and Caledon by $85 million per year and various reasons why Mississauga as a stand alone city would be feasible.

Although it was not on the agenda, there was talk and mention of a subsequent report done by Deloitte that was recently published online by the Region of Peel (without council approval) that disputed Mississauga’s findings, suggesting that it would be more costly to either dissolve the region or amalgamate it into a single city.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown tweeted out a reminder about that report while the meeting was going on.

Baker’s presentation touched on some of the familiar reasons why Mississauga leaving Peel would be a good idea: saving money and increasing efficiency by eliminating an entire level of government (to those of you who were wondering if Mississauga’s exercise would mean dissolving Peel, that line pretty much confirms it), streamlining all policies, procedures, by-laws through one jurisdiction, and “civic pride”.

Although Crombie, council and staff made their decision well before conducting this public meeting for feedback, it was clear that not all residents and vested interests in Mississauga were lining up in lockstep with their elected officials.

While organizations such as the Mississauga Board of Trade endorsed the city’s position, those from ratepayers associations (represented by MIRANET) wanted more time to analyze more information, such as clear budgets and the procedure of ‘unscrambling’ the existing structure as well as what will happen to property taxes. One representative called for a citizens’ referendum on Mississauga separation.

Others were more optimistic, such as Natalie Hart (a former council candidate in Ward 1) who said she hoped an independent Mississauga would be ‘more nimble’ in providing affordable housing options, in contrast with Toronto (which needs billions of dollars ‘just for maintenance’ of existing housing stock).Joe Horneck, who ran in Ward 6, gave an impassioned speech about communicating the city’s position properly to the province. He set up a website with information and a petition to the province asking that Mississauga become a separate, independent city, simplifying the process for those who may find filling out the province’s online consultation a bit tedious.

The petition so far has garnered 31 out of a goal of 500 signatures, and includes information such as the city’s reasons for separating as well as quirky memes such as…“End the $85 million giveaway,” Horneck said during his presentation, saying Caledon and Brampton have more green space to develop while Mississauga has to ‘suck in the density’. “Giving away that much money doesn’t make sense to me,” comparing it to installing a pool in your neighbour’s backyard with your own money, instead of just lending them a hose.

Horneck cited the study done under Hazel McCallion’s time that said Mississauga could save around $32 million and compared it to the $85 million, saying “if you do the differential between those two amounts over the last 15 years, we must have sent $900 million to the Region.” He concluded by imploring councillors to hold public meetings and rally the residents around the idea so as to make it clear to the province of what Mississauga wants.But Crombie, while passionate about this issue, can get herself carried away when she publicly berates residents who don’t agree with her. One of the arguments for Mississauga leaving Peel Region was it would reinforce and strengthen Mississauga’s “identity” and spur on civic pride. A man named Michael didn’t agree that Mississauga had an identity, more like a collection of cultural communities living together in a bedroom community.

“I’ve lived in Canada for about 50 years; Mississauga has always been a ‘non entity’; it’s where the overflow from Toronto goes,” he said, saying he was disappointed there was no serious discussion over identity, only turf and money. This got Crombie off on a bit of a tangent, giving a mini version of her well worn speech about how great Mississauga is, the statistics behind job numbers and the various amenities. “I’m ashamed of you, sir”, she concluded, responding to Michael’s comments about Mississauga’s lack of identity.

Michael continued saying he had moved to Mississauga to be closer to his parents who were in a nursing home, and had changed his mind about the city, finding it livable and providing a sense of personal freedom.Another resident, Rahul Mehta (who coincidentally penned some recent articles on insauga.com), had his own remarks to council. He was disappointed that the whole discussion seems to exclude the concerns of young people who don’t think it was affordable to live in Mississauga, as well as how one sided the council is coming into the town hall.

“Being comfortable sitting in council doesn’t give you the right to think everything is okay,” Mehta said, a jab at the longevity of some members of council who have been in office for decades (although statistically only three members of the current council have served over 10 years).

“If you’re guaranteeing that we’re going to get back $85 million by separating, then you’re lying to yourselves and you’re lying to the residents of this city. If you want to put your candidacy on the line, then please do. You have no idea how much is going to cost and how assets are going to be reallocated.”

Mehta compared this entire exercise to Brexit and the ‘stoking of fear’ by Donald Trump, saying the council could have clearly presented all available options instead of choosing one. Crombie asserted that she and council wanted to present a clear position before hosting a town hall to get residents’ feedback and suggestions.

If I could interject my own opinion here, I’m not sure if Mehta’s comparison of this exercise to Brexit is rather disingenuous and not entirely accurate. Crombie is not the perfect public figure (her little outburst earlier at Michael is an indication of that), but comparing her to Donald Trump makes no sense at all; she’s not calling for a wall unlike some people.

The other thing is Brexit encompasses a litany of issues and factors beyond just administrative governance and money, but also fuels anti-immigration sentiments as well as possible border disputes. One of the reasons Brexit has taken such a long time is because of the historical border issue with Northern Ireland and its place in Europe and Britain in a Brexit arrangement.

At the end of the day, the borders between Mississauga and Brampton will remain the same and there’s no anti-immigration feelings driving Mississauga’s campaign to exit Peel unlike Brexit and whatever Trump is up to these days.

The third exchange that was noteworthy was a man got up and just flat out said he didn’t know who to believe, Crombie or Patrick Brown. To which Coun. Carolyn Parrish replied to the man with this hypothetical scenario: “If you’re the Mayor of Brampton and you believe your city was subsidizing Mississauga to the tune of millions of dollars, wouldn’t you want us to go?”. The man flubbed and couldn’t really answer Parrish’s question.

Brown had quipped that Mississauga would owe bailout money to Brampton should they leave, adding that his city paid for Mississauga’s growth over the years. Mississauga’s report disputed that idea, outlining how development charges paid for the city’s growth in the last four decades.

Parrish, always a blunt and controversial character, got a response on Twitter about those remarks that were equally blunt and colourful.The town hall meeting can be seen on the City of Mississauga Facebook page, or below:

Did you think Mississauga residents got enough information about the idea of separating from Peel and becoming an “independent” stand alone city?

Cover photo courtesy of Twitter / @DaskoWard1

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