The Region of Peel will be dissolved by January 2025, the Ford government announced, as the province revealed its plans to restructure the local and regional governments and convert Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon into single-tier municipalities.
The province also suggested the separation could serve as a blueprint for the elimination of other regional governments, with provincial facilitators examining the need for the regions of York, Durham, Halton, Niagara, Waterloo and Simcoe.
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark tabled legislation at Queens Park on Thursday — the Hazel McCallion Act — that lays out the process and the parameters to detangle Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga from the Region of Peel.
“We’re committed to working with all our municipal partners to ensure that they have both the tools and the autonomy to deliver efficient and effective services to their constituents,” Clark said in the legislature.
Government to appoint transition board
The government said a five-member “transition board” — paid for by local property taxpayers in Peel Region — will be appointed in 2023 to oversee an “amicable and fair dissolution process.”
The transition board would be tasked with reviewing the finances of the three municipalities, as well as the region, determining how to detangle shared services, and exploring new property tax arrangements to fund overlapping services. The services currently shared in the region range from some roads and transit offerings to affordable housing, policing and water.
As part of that process, the board, likely made up of experts in financial, labour and governance issues, will have wide-ranging power to seek information, inspect documents and ask for assistance and expertise from municipalities which will have to comply.
The board would also be given extraordinary control over financial matters, including the power to direct the region and municipalities to reverse, modify or not proceed with long-term contracts or financial decisions that could impact the future of the process.
The transition board is expected to make recommendations to the Ford government in the summer or fall of 2024, before the dissolution is finalized by Jan. 1, 2025.
Separation anxieties in Peel
Separating the two cities is seen as a complex undertaking because of the list of services Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon share through Peel Region including police, public health, roads, social services and wastewater.
Caledon is also set to become its own independent local government. With a population of around 80,000, however, compared to just over and under 700,000 people in both Mississauga and Brampton, it is unclear if it would be allowed to join another upper-tier government such as York Region.
The Ford government’s legislation would focus on two key objectives: ensuring the dissolution process is fair and that front-line services would operate “uninterrupted” until the transition is finalized.
While Premier Doug Ford previously indicated that three cities would be taken care of financially if the province follows through with the split, the government wouldn’t say whether Queen’s Park would cover the difference in costs.
Treasury Board President Prabmeet Sarkaria, a Brampton-area MPP, did not answer questions about if the province has budgeted for a split or the costs associated with eliminating Peel Region.
“We’re going to make sure Mississauga, Caledon and Brampton, everyone has been consulted and there will be a process for that,” Sarkaria told Global News.
What’s also unclear is the fate of the 5,065 full-time employees who currently work for the Region of Peel.
The government did not provide clarity about future employment other than to guarantee jobs would be intact until Jan 1, 2025.
Reasons behind the split
Mississauga’s quest for independence dates back to the early 2000’s when then-mayor Hazel McCallion commissioned a citizens’ task force which recommended a split from the Region of Peel.
The long-standing complaint centered around the “disproportionately” high level of funding Mississauga had to pour into the region’s coffers for shared services which, the city argued, hampered its ability to make independent decisions.
“We are ready to control our future in a way that will benefit all residents and businesses – as a vibrant, mature city that can manage its affairs with one level of local government,” McCallion argued in 2004.
The goal to gain independence by 2006 languished for years — including a brief spell in 2019 when Ford appeared interested in splitting the region and commissioned detailed studies, eventually deciding to settle for the status quo. Then, in its second term, the Ford government decided to sever the municipalities in order to streamline the approvals process for housing development and achieve the Progressive Conservative promise of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.
The government said the goal of separation is to give the municipalities “the tools and autonomy they need to deliver on local priorities, including meeting the ambitious housing pledges they have agreed to.”
Once the separation is complete, Clark indicated the mayors would also be granted new powers, allowing the to overrule city council in matters related to provincial priorities.
“All three of the municipalities, Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon all are part of our expansion of strong mayor powers … and they’re ready for success,” Clark said.
Future of other regions
In the weeks ahead, the Ford government will also begin reviewing whether other regional governments can be disbanded with their responsibilities downloaded onto the individual municipalities.
The government said it will appoint regional facilitators to review Durham, Halton, Niagara, Simcoe, Waterloo and York regions with mandate of determining whether lower-tier municipalities can stand on their own without the regional support.
“These facilitators will be tasked with reviewing whether the upper-tier regional government continues to be relevant to the needs of its communities or whether the
lower-tier municipalities are mature enough to pursue dissolution,” a government document stated.
The province did not provide a timeline for that process to be completed.