Transit, healthcare and pandemic recovery on Brampton’s wishlist at AMO conference

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Published August 17, 2022 at 3:04 pm

brampton news

Brampton politicians, city staffers and advocates brought the city’s issues front and centre at the Association of Municipalities Ontario (AMO) Annual General Meeting and Conference this week.

The four day conference in Ottawa offered municipalities a chance to engage with government Ministers, officials and key stakeholders across the province, and gave the local delegation a chance to speak out on issues most important to Brampton.

From housing needs, healthcare, and more, the City identified a number of improvements on its “summary of asks” at the conference, including transit projects like the tunnel option for the Hurontario LRT, an expedited GO Rail expansion, and the Queen Street Highway 7 bus rapid transit study.

Healthcare needs were also high on the list, including funding for a third full-service hospital and establishing a medical school in Brampton.

The city says balancing growth with public expectations “is both a challenge and an opportunity,” and the conference was a chance to strengthen partner​ships with the regional, provincial and federal governments so the city can advance projects in Brampton.

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One other item on the AMO agenda is the so-called “strong mayor” powers, which could allow the mayors of Ontario cities to override council approval of a bylaw that would hamper a set of provincial priorities that will be set out later in regulations.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday he’s planning to expand strong mayor powers to municipalities other than Toronto and Ottawa as a way to get more housing built.

While speaking at AMO, Ford said the legislation will provide those mayors with additional tools to advance those provincial priorities.

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