This is How Much Doug Ford’s Government Cost Mississauga
Published October 19, 2018 at 5:47 pm
The election for Peel Regional Chair that was to have taken place alongside the current round of municipal elections has now come back with a hefty price tag.
According to Tatiana Marmora, a Communications Specialist with the Region of Peel, the cancellation of the election cost regional taxpayers over $26,000 for the period from July 2017 to August 13, 2018.
Marmora provided this list to insauga.com outlining the individual expenses, and as you can see planning an election at the Region of Peel is more tedious than it sounds.
Close to $20,000 was spent on advertising, a water bill insert was over $4,800, catering for the candidate info session that took place last spring was over $600, and various other expenses were paid for things like office supplies, debt machine charges, timestamps, foam boards, flyers, election law books and Association of Municipalities of Ontario courses.
The Better Local Government Act, otherwise known as Bill 5, came into effect on August 14. Besides slashing the size of Toronto City Council in half, the bill cancelled the regional chair elections for Peel, York, Niagara and Muskoka District.
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While the issue of the number of councillors in Toronto raged on for a few weeks with appeals and a threat from Premier Doug Ford to utilize the rarely used notwithstanding clause to pass his contentious legislation, the Peel regional chair race remained cancelled, which ended up forcing then candidate Patrick Brown to try a political comeback by running for mayor of Brampton.
Marmora indicated in a subsequent email to inbrampton that the provincial government has not offered to cover the election expenses, and the Region to date has not made a decision about approaching the province to cover them. As of now, the position of Peel Regional Chair goes back to being an appointed role.
Nominations for the appointment can be made during the first Regional Council meeting scheduled on December 6.
Would you like to see Queen’s Park pay back the Region of Peel for cancelling the election?
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