Peel Region’s political split
Breakups aren’t easy or cheap, as the residents of Peel Region are likely soon to discover.
As the province embarks on dissolving the regional government in Peel, the divorce analogy is not far off. Already there are claims and counterclaims as the province, together with Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon, embark on the daunting task of undoing the regional government.
Done right, it could launch each municipality on an independent future. Done wrong and this political breakup could saddle each of them — and their residents — with a costly financial hangover.
No more is Peel a region of quaint villages surrounded by fields and farmlands. This is a thriving, bustling urban region of more than 1.5 million people.
By that measure, the regional government — established in 1974 by then premier Bill Davis to help steer the rapid growth of Mississauga and Brampton in particular — has been a success. Now, Queen’s Park, long urged by Mississauga, seeks to wind back the clock and dissolve that regional government.
In taking this action, the Ford government was persuaded by the arguments of Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who has carried on the campaign of her predecessor Hazel McCallion in advocating for her city’s independence. Crombie’s justification is financial. “For 50 years, Mississauga has been the cash cow for the Region of Peel,” she wrote in the pages of the Star.
Given their size — both Mississauga and Brampton rank among the country’s top 10 biggest cities — the time does seem ripe for each to be freed from the upper tier government.
Still, this will be an urban experiment. Municipal reforms have typically gone the other way in the form of amalgamations. For example, six cities and a regional government came together in 1998 to form the city of Toronto. In 2001, the city of Ottawa was born from the cities that made up the region of Ottawa-Carleton.
A 2019 report done for Peel Region by Deloitte on governance options pointedly noted that dissolving a regional government is a rare occurrence. Nor is it done with the goal of saving money since it is “intentionally moving away from desired economies of scale provided by a regional government,” the report states.
It also noted that under such a scenario, “significant effort will be required among local municipalities to negotiate how assets and services should be divided.”
Those tensions are playing out. Fair to say that Brampton and Caledon are less-than-enthusiastic partners in this breakup. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown says the two municipalities will be out of pocket. “These costs are real — and they are enormous … Brampton welcomes independence, but we expect to get our fair share,” he stated in his own piece in the Star.
That sets the stage for what is sure to be difficult negotiations to divvy up regional assets and liabilities and to sort out how services now provided regionwide, such as waste management, housing services, maintenance of arterial roads, will be delivered in the future. Already Mississauga and Brampton disagree on how to apportion policing cost, the Star’s Jason Miller reports, giving a taste of the discussions yet to come. (Caledon is policed by the Ontario Provincial Police.)
All that needs to be sorted quickly. Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark has set a deadline to have it all done by Jan. 1, 2025. He’ll name a transition board to ensure that decisions are done in the “best interests” of the public and the three municipalities. He’s also made clear that he expects municipal leaders to play nice during this period.
“Just as we expect Peel, Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon to work together during the transition process, we also expect them to collaborate with the transition board,” Clark said.
He’s promised that the affected municipalities will be “made whole.” That’s especially important for Caledon, the smallest of the municipalities.
The municipal reforms may not stop here. Clark said that he intends to soon appoint facilitators to review the governance in York, Halton, Durham, Waterloo, Niagara and Simcoe County regions.
We’ll take a moment then to mourn the passing of regional governments. They have been instrumental in the growth of the regions. In the process of tackling issues that transcended municipal borders, they were forced to look beyond the parochialism of local councils. That is a loss. As these reforms play out, municipal leaders in the Greater Toronto Area will need to make an effort find ways to co-operate and lobby senior governments on shared issues.
The consequences of a botched dissolution in Peel Region are very real, certain to impact property tax bills for years to come, perhaps even interrupt the provision of vital services. It’s incumbent then that all the players get this right and ensure the divorce is amicable and orderly.