Megacity of Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon discussed as possibility

“The frustration we have on a Brampton level is sometimes the planning process gets delayed because of the redundancy by having planning departments at the Region of Peel and the City of Brampton. So, we do need to find ways to deliver services more efficiently,” Brown said.

Mayor Crombie has long advocated for Mississauga’s independence and yesterday (Feb. 14), at former Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion’s funeral, she mentioned the split from Peel again.

Crombie said she the last time she spoke to McCallion, the subject came up.

“When I asked her (McCallion) what would be next, she looked at me and she said…’independence’,” Crombie said while looking at Premier Ford.”‘It’s time for Mississauga to stand on her own two feet, a single tier independent city’ she said, ‘it’s long overdue.'”

And today, council passed her motion to reaffirm the position that Mississauga should be independent.

“As the 7th largest City in Canada, we are ready and capable to stand on our own,” Crombie said.

Today, Council unanimously supported my motion to reaffirm our position on #Mississauga's independence. As the 7th largest City in Canada, we are ready and capable to stand on our own. As a standalone city we'll save $1B/10 yrs, cut red tape and become more nimble and efficient pic.twitter.com/fCgBsR2Kkf

— Bonnie Crombie 🇨🇦 (@BonnieCrombie) February 15, 2023

This discussion has been going on for about 15 to 20 years, said Zachary Spicer, associate professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration at York University. Most recently, it was examined in a regional review in 2018.

But Spicer believes neither a separation or amalgamation will happen.

“So if you separate Mississauga, the question is, what do you do with the rest of Peel Region?” Spicer asked.

Caledon is rural and it doesn’t make sense to make Brampton and Caledon one city, Spicer told insauga.com. And Caledon isn’t likely sustainable as a single tier municipality.

One option is to move Caledon under Dufferin County but that would distort the politics of that region, which is also a two-tier government but works under the county government system.

“So I think part of the reason that we haven’t seen any action on this issue for 25 years is because successive governments both Liberal, Conservative and even NDP have just…as you start thinking about what happens next, the problems begin to mount,” Spicer said.

A snag could come when discussing money as Peel has covered costs for regional roads and water. Spicer likens it to a divorce.

“Nobody gets sort of leave cleanly after you spent 20 years mixing your income and assets.”

Another possibility is a partial separation where certain services currently under the Region of Peel such as the planning department could move to the Mississauga and Brampton levels.

“That is actually a viable option,” he said.

Shari Lichterman, Mississauga’s acting city manager and chief administrative officer, told insauga.com different possibilities have been discussed in the past.

“There is the option of either separating and becoming a standalone (city), or the possibility of amalgamation, which is what happened, of course, in Toronto and Ottawa,” Lichterman said.

She sees many issues with amalgamation.

“There’s been a lot of analysis on amalgamation over the last several years. And, you know, it hasn’t been demonstrated to reduce costs. It’s actually created a lot of complications,” she said.

Previous amalgamations have tended to bring smaller municipalities together under a larger city but Brampton, at a population of 656,480, and Mississauga, with 717,961 people, are two very large cities, each with strong identities, she added.

“The idea of putting Mississauga and Brampton, two of the biggest cities in the province together, right beside Toronto,” said Lichterman. “It doesn’t seem like that would be the best option to pursue.”

There are many advantages for Mississauga’s separation including taxes and faster service — the top ten are outlined here. The City of Mississauga feels they have been paying more than there fair share for some services.

But Lichterman said it would make sense to continue sharing some services such as Peel Regional Police. And services such as water and waste water could be moved to a utility provider.