One year in, everything’s coming up Crombie
Fledgling Mississauga mayor scores high marks for taking a bold stand on tough issues
What’s the name of that mayor who ran Mississauga for decades? You probably haven’t forgotten Hazel McCallion. But you soon might, if the city’s new boss, Bonnie Crombie, keeps the pressure on major files the way she has in her first year. Here’s a subjective grading of her performance on key issues. Affordable housing Crombie has confronted Mississauga’s affordable housing crisis in a bid to tackle wait times among the longest in Ontario. Recognizing that the city’s draw of those dependent on housing assistance isn’t going to slow, she backed veteran Councillor Carolyn Parrish’s move to guarantee that all future development projects in the city include a minimum percentage of affordable units. A staff report is expected soon. Grade: A Police carding In June, while the issue of police carding heated up in Toronto, not much was being said about it in Peel until Crombie, at a Peel Police Services Board meeting, demanded a full review by Chief Jennifer Evans. After analysis of data obtained by the Star showed black individuals in Peel were three times more likely to be carded, Crombie led a board vote to suspend carding. Evans ignored the direction, but Crombie later publicly lauded the province’s move to end random carding. Grade: A+ LRT One of the biggest shadows over Crombie’s early days was the proposed $1.6-billion Hurontario light rail transit line. No money had been committed. Crombie admitted that if the funding didn’t come through, the LRT probably wouldn’t move forward. But in the spring the province announced it would fully fund the project, after Mississauga council had done the lion’s share of work to get it on the province’s radar. Crombie said the city needs to now budget for its share of costs, but the project seems on track. Grade: A New mosque, Syrian refugees When a proposed new mosque was approved by council, Crombie refused to let a resident get away with Islamophobic messages he had spread online. “It was uncalled for, it was un-Canadian, it was heinous and it was wrong,” Crombie stated, calling him out at a council meeting.
The action came shortly after a September meeting of community leaders that Crombie organized to help raise $5 million to support 32 Syrian refugee families. Crombie was widely lauded for representing her city’s considerable diversity. Grade: A+ Transit promises The only major issue Crombie doesn’t score high marks on is moving ahead with her campaign promise of more rapid transit. But, with the Hurontario LRT dominating the city’s transit file, Crombie gets a pass for not taking action on her ambitious — if lightly researched — pledge for a 10-station LRT or bus rapid transit line along Dundas St., eight new GO train stations and another rapid transit line along Derry Rd. connecting the Meadowvale GO station with Pearson airport.
To avoid future low marks, Crombie will have to take action. Grade: Incomplete Crombie’s own take “I have spent the past 12 months partnering with council, the Wynne government, and now the new Trudeau government, to move Mississauga forward. This includes investing and building regionally integrated public transit, such as the Hurontario LRT and the Missing Link (a freight rail line); safeguarding and elevating the quality of life for residents with access to new affordable housing; and remaining an inviting, open and inclusive community . . . Working together, over the past year, Mississauga has demonstrated that city-building is serious business that requires both consensus building and urgent action. As mayor, I have no plans of slowing down.” Overall mark for Bonnie Crombie’s first year in office: A