Ongoing dispute has mayor of Mississauga again talking Peel split

If an ongoing dispute between Mississauga councillors and their regional counterparts in Brampton and Caledon continues to disrupt Peel business, Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish says that’s strong enough reason for the provincial government to revisit the idea of splitting up the region.

Two weeks ago, Brampton and Caledon councillors walked out of the June 12 Region of Peel council meeting after a disagreement with Mississauga over fees collected from developers. Their abrupt departure from the session prevented a vote from taking place that could have seen the reduction of fees paid by developers to Peel to cover the cost of services when new housing is built.

Mississauga regional councillors, led by Parrish, had proposed a fee reduction of 50 per cent, among other incentives, in an effort to kickstart construction of badly needed housing.

If Parrish’s words late Wednesday afternoon at Mississauga city council are any indication, the development fees matter remained unsettled on the eve of the next scheduled Peel council meeting.

Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish tells councillors at Wednesday’s council meeting she’s been told Brampton and Caledon municipal politicians might again walk out of Region of Peel council on Thursday.

The session is slated to begin at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning at Region of Peel headquarters in Brampton, but Mississauga’s mayor isn’t sure it will take place.

“I do have information from one of the councillors in Brampton that they’re going to walk out (of the council meeting) again, which is probably building a good case for the (Ontario) Premier to break up the region,” Parrish told Mississauga councillors at the end of Wednesday’s city council meeting.

She added she may ask during the approval of the agenda just prior to Thursday’s scheduled regional council meeting that important financial business be moved up to the beginning of the session “so that we do that while we’re fresh and before everybody walks out if, in fact, they plan to do so.”

Parrish said if Brampton and Caledon councillors walk out again, leaving important business on the table for a second consecutive council meeting, “then that’s a double pileup over a month and it sends a clear message to the province that they either have to intercede in this or they have to go back to the drawing board (on the political future of Peel).

“If they want to behave that way, let the world see how sophisticated they are.”

“If they keep insisting on walking out, a whole month of business not getting done, let them … If they want to behave that way, let the world see how sophisticated they are.”

With guidance from the province, Peel’s three member municipalities are currently moving forward on a new plan to deliver the various public works services in the region — waste collection, roads, etc. — by mid-2026.

It’s not the full-fledged political independence Mississauga had been seeking for some three decades — and had briefly been granted by the Ontario government in 2023 — but city officials have been working with their Brampton and Caledon counterparts and provincial representatives to put the new plan in place.

Still, it’s best described as a consolation prize, of sorts, for Mississauga.

After 30-plus years of pushing for a complete political split of Peel’s three member municipalities, Mississauga officials seemed to have gotten their wish for independence when Ontario Premier Doug Ford told them so in mid-2023.

However, in an unexpected turn of events in December of that year, Ford and the province backtracked on their promise. Had that plan stood, Peel would have split up on Jan. 1, 2025.